If you’re hiring for an accounting or finance role right now, you’ve probably noticed something: the process is taking longer, the “we’ll circle back” candidates aren’t circling back and the salary range that worked two years ago isn’t landing the way it used to.

That’s not a coincidence, and it’s not going to correct itself.

The math has changed

Accountants and auditors currently sit at roughly a 1.0% unemployment rate, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That’s not a typo, and it’s not normal. When unemployment in a specific profession drops that low, it means nearly everyone qualified for the role is already working, and likely isn’t actively looking.

Layer in a supply problem that’s been building for a decade: the number of people sitting for the CPA exam has dropped roughly 30% since 2016, per AICPA pipeline data. Fewer people are entering the pipeline every year, while demand keeps climbing. The result is exactly what you’d expect. CPA-required roles are now taking around 73 days to fill on average, about 41% longer than roles that don’t require the credential.

Meanwhile, recent Robert Half hiring surveys show the majority of finance leaders are still planning to grow headcount this year. Everyone is fishing in the same shrinking pond, and the ones who move fastest and pay closest to market are the ones actually landing hires.

Why “saving” on salary usually costs more

Here’s where most hiring managers get the math wrong. When a candidate’s ask comes in a few thousand dollars above budget, it’s tempting to hold the line. But holding the line rarely saves money. It just moves the cost somewhere less visible.

Consider a role budgeted at $10,000 under a candidate’s ask. The candidate walks. The role sits open for two or three months instead of two or three weeks. During that stretch, someone on the existing team is doing double duty, unpaid overtime that shows up as burnout later, not as a line item now. If the gap gets bad enough, a contractor gets brought in to bridge it, often at a rate well above what the salaried hire would have cost. And when a replacement is finally found, months later, the new hire frequently costs more than the original candidate would have, because the market moved while the search dragged on.

Add it up, and the “savings” often turns into a net loss several times the size of the raise that got declined in the first place.

What actually works right now

A few patterns are holding up consistently across the searches we’re running:

Speed matters more than perfection. A three-week interview process routinely loses strong candidates to a company that moves in one week. In a market this tight, speed is itself a competitive advantage.

Contract-to-hire is filling faster than direct-hire. Companies that are open to bringing someone on as a trial run, rather than insisting on a fully committed hire from day one, are seeing shorter time-to-fill and better long-term retention.

The strongest candidates aren’t on job boards. Most of the people worth hiring right now are employed, not actively applying anywhere. Reaching them takes direct outreach and real relationships, not a job posting and a waiting game.

The bigger picture

If your accounting or finance team feels stretched thin right now, you’re not imagining it. The market is genuinely this tight, and it isn’t loosening anytime soon.

The companies that will win the talent they need this year are the ones asking a harder question upfront: not “how do we get this role filled cheaply,” but “what does it actually cost us if this seat stays empty for another two months?”

Most hiring managers haven’t run that number. The ones who have tend to make faster, better offers, and end up filling the role once, instead of twice.

Need to fill a seat without adding to that number?

If you’re navigating an accounting or finance search right now and the market feels tighter than it used to, that’s because it is. We work with companies across Greater Boston to move faster on the right hires, whether that’s a single critical seat, temp coverage to bridge a gap, or a broader search that’s stalled elsewhere.

Reach out to ACE to talk through what a search like this actually looks like in today’s market.