Accountant Shortage Wreaks Havoc On Publicly-Traded Companies, Threatens Financial Statements and CFO Stability

Think getting your taxes done is a headache? Ask a CFO how they feel. Over 300K accountants and auditors have retired or left their jobs in the past two years, leading to a 17% decline in industry employment in the US. This shortage is impacting the quality of publicly-traded companies’ earnings reports.

• In 2023, 720 businesses cited insufficient accounting staff as a factor in errors, a 30% jump from 2019.
• According to the WSJ, these kinds of deficiencies generally increase the odds that a company’s CFO is replaced — which means turnover in this critical position could become more common.

=SUM(ERROR): Businesses and accounting firms can’t fill open jobs fast enough, as fewer college students enter accounting careers due to long hours and poor pay. Since the 2008 Financial Crisis, new grads in accounting have faced stagnant salaries despite rising education costs. To address these issues, trade groups such as the National Pipeline Advisory Group have proposed alternative certification options for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, but no changes have been made yet. This means investors may have to endure accounting uncertainty for the foreseeable future.