The CPA shortage isn’t temporary. So why are hiring models still treating them that way?
For years, the CPA shortage has been framed as a temporary disruption within the accounting profession. A short-term talent shortage caused by economic cycles, automation, or shifting priorities during.. Many accounting firms and corporate finance teams assumed the pressure would ease hiring normalized.
That assumption has not held up.
Across public accounting firms, CPA firms, and professional services organizations in the United States, the shortage of accountants continues to intensify. Qualified candidates remain scarce. Hiring managers struggle to expand their headcounts. Finance leaders face growing workloads and mounting burnout across finance teams. Yet many hiring strategies are still built around the belief that permanent, fulltime hiring alone will eventually solve the problem.
The reality is more complex. The CPA shortage is structural, long-term, and deeply tied to changes in the talent pipeline, the CPA exam, and expectations around work life balance. Treating it as temporary is no longer just inefficient. It is risky.
A talent crisis rooted in the accounting profession
The accountant shortage did not emerge overnight. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and analysis from the AICPA, the supply of accounting professionals has failed to keep pace with demand for years. Baby boomers continue to retire from the accounting profession faster than they are replaced. At the same time, the number of accounting graduates entering the workforce has declined, even as financial reporting requirements and regulatory complexity increase.
Accounting degrees have become less attractive to entrylevel candidates, particularly when compared with alternative career paths in technology, consulting, or finance. The CPA exam remains a significant barrier, with exam candidates facing time, cost, and workload pressures that delay or derail licensure. Fewer exam candidates translate into a smaller CPA talent pool.
This combination has created a persistent talent crisis. Public accounting firms, CPA firms, and corporate finance teams are competing for the same limited group of accounting professionals, senior accountants, and specialized skillsets.
Why traditional hiring models no longer fit the market
Despite these trends, many hiring managers still rely on traditional models built around fulltime, permanent hiring. When a role opens, the assumption is that it can be filled with a qualified candidate within a reasonable period. If that does not happen, the default response is often to wait.
That approach creates several challenges.
First, time-to-hire accounting roles have increased significantly. Competition for accounting talent means searches for senior accountants and CPA roles often stretch for months. During that time, workflows do not slow down. Financial reporting deadlines remain fixed. Client expectations do not change.
Second, workloads within accounting firms and finance teams are uneven by design. Tax season, audits, system implementations, pricing reviews, and regulatory initiatives create predictable spikes in demand. Hiring permanently to cover peak workloads can lead to inefficiency during quieter periods, making fulltime expansion difficult to justify.
Third, candidate expectations have changed. Many accounting professionals now prioritize flexibility, control over workload, and sustainable work life balance. Not all qualified candidates want traditional fulltime roles, particularly in public accounting. Hiring strategies that assume every CPA wants a long-term permanent position fail to reflect the reality of today’s talent pool.
The hidden cost of treating the CPA shortage as short-term
When the CPA shortage is treated as a temporary inconvenience rather than a structural issue, the consequences often surface quietly.
Finance teams absorb additional workloads for extended periods. Senior accountants and managers become bottlenecks in workflows. Bookkeepers and entry-level staff are asked to stretch beyond their intended scope. Over time, burnout increases, and retention suffers.
This creates a vicious cycle. As experienced accounting professionals leave, the talent shortage deepens. Accounting firms lose institutional knowledge. Finance leaders face higher risks around compliance, accuracy, and delivery timelines. What begins as a staffing challenge escalates into a broader operational and financial reporting risk.
These pressures are particularly acute in public accounting firms, where client service expectations remain high, and pricing pressure limits the ability to simply add headcount.
Rethinking staffing through flexibility and planning
Organizations navigating the CPA shortage most effectively are not abandoning permanent hiring. Instead, they are redefining how staffing fits into long-term workforce planning.
Interim and contract staffing models are increasingly used alongside full-time roles. Temporary CPAs, senior accountants, and specialized accounting professionals are deployed to stabilize workloads, support peak periods, and protect core teams during prolonged searches.
This shift reflects a broader change in how the accounting profession engages with talent. Interim roles are no longer seen as inferior or reactive. For many accounting professionals, they offer clarity, defined scopes, and improved work life balance. For employers, they provide access to experienced skillsets that may not be available through permanent hiring alone.
The role of outsourcing and interim support
Outsourcing and interim staffing are often discussed together, but they serve different purposes. Strategic outsourcing can support transactional workflows, while interim CPA staffing provides hands-on expertise embedded within finance teams.
Used correctly, interim staffing allows organizations to:
- Maintain continuity in financial reporting
- Manage peak workloads without permanent over hiring
- Access specialized accounting talent during regulatory or system changes
- Support retention by preventing chronic overwork
This approach acknowledges a reality many CPA firms already face. The shortage of accountants is not going away, and waiting for the talent pipeline to refill is not a viable hiring strategy.
Talent pipelines and the limits of long-term fixes
There are ongoing initiatives aimed at strengthening the accounting talent pipeline. The AICPA and industry groups continue to promote accounting degrees, revise career path messaging, and explore changes to licensure requirements. Accounting enrollment has shown modest signs of stabilization, but progress will take years to translate into meaningful workforce relief.
In the meantime, hiring managers must operate in the market as it exists today. Talent pipelines take time to rebuild. Entry-level hiring alone cannot solve immediate capacity gaps, particularly when senior level expertise is required.
Finance leaders who recognize this are moving away from binary hiring decisions and toward blended staffing strategies that combine permanent, interim, and project-based roles.
Why this matters across industries
The CPA shortage affects far more than public accounting firms. Corporate finance teams, family offices, regulated industries, and professional services organizations all rely on accurate, timely financial reporting.
As compliance requirements expand and business complexity increases, the cost of understaffed accounting roles grows. Delays, errors, and overstretched teams create downstream risk that extends beyond finance.
Hiring strategies that fail to adapt to the realities of the accounting talent market risk leaving organizations exposed.
A more realistic approach to hiring strategies
The most resilient organizations are reframing how they think about staffing. Rather than asking when the CPA shortage will end, they are asking how their hiring models can function effectively within it.
That shift includes:
- Accepting the long-term nature of the talent shortage
- Planning for workload volatility rather than reacting to it
- Protecting finance teams from chronic burnout
- Using staffing partners to access qualified candidates quickly
- Aligning hiring strategies with how accounting professionals want to work
This is not about lowering standards or compromising quality. It is about aligning hiring models with the realities of the US accounting labor market.
Get in touch
If your organization is reassessing how, it approaches staffing in the face of the CPA shortage, SR Staffing can help. We work with accounting firms, public accounting firms, and corporate finance teams across the United States to provide flexible staffing solutions that reflect today’s talent market.
Whether you need interim CPA support, experienced accounting professionals, or a more adaptable hiring strategy, get in touch with SR Staffing to discuss how we can support your finance teams, protect workloads, and build resilience into your hiring model.
