March 5, 2025 - Are you looking to hire for your finance or accounting team? It might not be as easy as you think.

According to a Bloomberg analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the U.S. has 340,000 fewer accountants than in 2019. On top of that, 93% of accounting and finance leaders say finding skilled talent in today’s job market is a major challenge.

This leaves middle-market companies in a bit of a bind.

Decision makers need advanced financial reporting, forecasting, and budgeting to make the best decisions about their company's direction. Plus, technology is changing at a lightning pace, and you need staff who are trained in modern, technology-driven decision-making.

But at the same time, it is more difficult than ever to hire in-house talent that has the capabilities to ensure a company is keeping pace. This ongoing accountant shortage — and the resulting struggle to build an in-house finance team — has serious consequences for companies.

In this article, we explore what that means and how companies can navigate the challenge of the accounting talent shortage.

The Real Costs of the Accountant Shortage

The effects of insufficient accountants are far-reaching. For one, it can delay financial reporting. In-house teams are often swamped with work and struggle to complete their tasks, so they may push tasks like the month-end close and reporting back. This can cause them to miss their deadlines for creating and publishing these financial statements.

According to Intelligize data, 71 public companies delayed releasing their annual reports in 2024, up 40% from 2023. Companies like Tupperware and Mattel have specifically attributed this holdup to internal control issues caused by the accounting shortage. This delay can cause investors to lose confidence and shares to crash. For example, Mattel’s shares in extended trading dropped 3% after their announcement.

Even when companies do manage to publish their reports on time, they risk committing errors. Gartner found that due to increased workload, 59% of accountants make several substantial errors per month.

Last year, multiple companies made mistakes in their earnings reports as a result of “clerical error” and had to correct the mistakes with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Why is this bad?

“Financial errors can have tangible business consequences. When accountants make errors — and those errors make their way into the monthly or quarterly close — the enterprise may make business decisions based on incorrect data or, worse, issue inaccurate financial statements,” says Mallory Barg Bulman, Sr Director Analyst in the Gartner Finance practice.

Furthermore, it can lead to penalties and fines by the SEC, affecting the company’s reputation and stock price.

Strategic Outsourcing Solves the Talent Shortage

Modern finance outsourcing solutions cover everything from low-cost transactional accounting to outsourced CFO services and everything in between. For many middle-market companies, outsourcing can be more efficient and effective than hiring full-time staff. It gives you access to specialized talent on demand and allows you to scale your team as needed. This helps management better control a key overhead expense.

A recent Robert Half report shows that 68% of finance organizations in the United States plan to increase their use of contract professionals. That said, not all outsourcing solutions are the same. Broadly, there are two main types: outsourced bookkeeping services and a full-service outsourcing model.

Outsourced Bookkeeping Services

Outsourced bookkeepers offer basic accounting services. They will balance your books, record accounts payable and receivable transactions, reconcile cash, and provide a standard balance sheet and profit and loss (P&L) reports.

To keep their services low-cost, they standardize their service and technology platform across their clients and try to keep those systems and processes consistent across their client portfolio. This can be a viable low-cost, low-touch option for simple business structures with basic accounting needs.

Full-Service Outsourcing

A full-service outsourcing model is more custom-tailored to your company’s needs. Engaging a full-service outsourcing solution can help you build better processes, achieve a deeper and more insightful level of financial decision-making, and select and integrate the right technology to help you achieve faster, more accurate reporting.

They can bring in industry specialists as needed to support or augment your team, stay current on the latest changes to both GAAP accounting standards and operating best practices, and help train and upskill your existing finance staff. Working with a full-service provider like our Business Process Outsourcing Practice (BPO) allows you to work with a team who can help scale up or down your service package as needed.

In essence, if you want to strive for the highest level of financial maturity and stay ahead of your competitors, you should opt for the full-service outsourcing option. If you just need bookkeeping services, the outsourced bookkeeper model might suit you better.

How Citrin Cooperman Can Help

While the finance and accounting talent shortage does not show signs of improving anytime soon, there is a lot that you can do in the meantime to shore up their essential functions. Outsourcing some or all of your accounting and finance functions is one step you can take to help future-proof your business. Our Business Process Outsourcing Practice can help elevate your finance and accounting functions to provide timely and meaningful information, helping simplify your decision-making process.

Read our free guide to understand more about finance outsourcing services, the benefits of full-service outsourcing for mid-market companies, and how an outsourcing provider can help you reach financial maturity.

To learn more about full-service outsourcing for your business, reach out to your Citrin Cooperman representative.