A CFO Pulse Survey conducted by Personiv, which provides accounting support services, found that the accounting talent shortage is getting worse. Specifically, 83 percent of the financial leaders who participated in the survey said that there’s a talent shortage, up from 70 percent in 2022 and 63 percent in 2020. Ten percent of those who said there’s a talent shortage said that it’s getting worse.

There were 278 respondents to the January-February 2024 survey, coming from finance and accounting leadership roles. These respondents came from more than 20 industries, including advertising and marketing, agriculture, business support and logistics, education, finance and financial services, government, manufacturing, telecommunications, and technology, internet and electronics.

Ninety percent of the CFOs surveyed said they are already outsourcing, and 90 percent of those respondents said that they can easily find qualified accountants when they need them.

One survey respondent said, “Key factors to consider when deciding what resources to use are the nature of the financial task, what knowledge and/or experience is needed and how much explanation and/or instruction might be needed.”

Across all senior leaders surveyed, half of those who don’t already outsource said they’d consider doing so for accounts payable, billing and expense reporting.

In addition, many CFOs and other leaders are still in “wait-and-see mode” regarding artificial intelligence. Some are already using AI-powered automation in accounts payable, and it’s likely that the numbers will rise as leaders test and get comfortable with this new technology.

The report cited AICPA findings that the number of graduates earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting fell by 7.8 percent in 2022 compared to the previous academic year, and the number of graduates earning a master’s in accounting dropped by 6.4 percent.