The impacts of the pandemic still affect businesses across multiple industries almost four years later. Luckily because of the resilient, in-demand nature of the accounting and finance industry, it continues to grow and be relatively stable, and the 2022 statistics gathered by moneyzine.com prove it:
- 90% of accountants feel there was a cultural shift in the industry.
- The volume of work done remotely has increased by 43% for accountancy firms.
- The accounting market is predicted to reach $735.94 billion by 2025.
- 60% of bigger accountancy firms share that technology is helping them retain staff.
- Tax (38.9%) and auditing services (42.1%) are the biggest performers in the accounting industry.
- The number of Americans employed by the U.S. financial industry grew from 6.09 million in 2016 to 6.55 million in 2022.
- There are over 1.3 million jobs available in the finance industry.
A Needed Change For Employees
Even with these outstanding statistics that does not mean that the financial industry did not have to adapt and overcome a post-COVID, technology-driven world. The bulk of the issues are not the fact that people are not in need of these services, but it is more on the employment front.
Organizations must worry about staffing, a labor shortage, and the changing needs of employees. Though most organizations found adapting their everyday practices and processes has helped ease most of the transition to a more employee-focused business. Some ways the accounting and finance industry had to change were having more flexibility for their workers, offering remote work, creating a better work-life balance, an increase in pay, focusing on employee morale, expanding their financial talent-hiring pool, and hiring younger people who have the skill set they need even they lack the experience they desire.
Even with the talent shortage that is exacerbated by high turnover rates, the need for finance and accounting professionals does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, according to indeed.com, the following 13 finance roles are the most in-demand and are about to experience a continuing increase in job growth over the next several years.
Position – Job Growth – National Salary
Auditor – 7% Growth – $57,522/yearly
Accountant – 7% Growth – $57,680/yearly
Credit Analysis – 6% Growth – $62,367/yearly
Financial Examiner – 18% Growth – $63,084/yearly
Financial Analyst – 6% Growth – $70,289/yearly
Treasury Analyst – 6% Growth – $74,281/yearly
Treasurer – 17% Growth – $76,864/yearly
Risk Analyst – 17% Growth – $79,496/yearly
Senior Tax Accountant – 7% Growth – $80,821/yearly
Management Consultant – 14% Growth – $81,180/yearly
Accounting Manager – 17% Growth – $81,486/yearly
Financial Manager – 17% Growth – $95,947/yearly
Controller – 17% Growth – $101,016/yearly
What Candidates Need To Land The Job Now
Landing a job in accounting or finance has moved past just needing the experience and know-how of numbers and moved to emphasize more interpersonal skills as well. Some of the requirements to land the role are factors include the following:
- Accounting Knowledge/Skills
- Analytic Thinking Skills
- Financial Decision-Making Skills
- Financial Reporting Skills
- Investment Knowledge/Skills
- Business Acumen
- Financial Certifications
- Certified Internal Auditor
- Certified Management Accountant
- Chartered financial Analysis
- Soft Skills
- The Willingness to Learn
- Communication Skills
- Critical Thinking Skills
- Leadership Abilities
- Adaptability
- Time Management
- Collaboration
Hiring candidates who possess the experience and skills necessary combined with a business that is employee-focused helps a variety of accounting or finance organizations battle high-turnover rates and low employee morale. This in turn helps with overall productivity, efficiency, and the bottom line for the organization.
How The Day-to-Day Changes
Aspiring and current accounting and finance professionals can also experience some new trends coming into their day-to-day work life which seem to be shaking up the industry but are necessary for a business to thrive in today’s economy.
Cloud Computing Replacing Desktop Software
Cloud computing has been an important factor in successful business for years now but in the last several years the increasing demand for migration to accounting in the cloud was fueled mainly by the post-COVID economy and the need to keep up the requirements of a new digital age. Shifting from desktop to cloud is a guaranteed trend that most financial and accounting institutions will find themselves needing to utilize in 2023.
Integration of Accounting Software with ERP Solutions
As we all adjust to the new business normal, organizations are finding the need to implement centralized business management and intelligence systems that can combine tasks like bookkeeping, inventory management, order tracking, human resource tasks, and customer relations. Cloud-hosted accounting and management systems like QuickBooks are an increasingly popular option to do just that.
Data-Driven Predictive Analysis
Data is important and how to collect and utilize increasing volumes of data is becoming extremely critical in day-to-day business. Businesses need to adopt software and instruments that can support an influx of data and provide accurate forecasts, business insights, and track all aspects of bookkeeping easily.
Introducing AI
AI technologies are all around us at a global scale and now in 2023, they will be playing a growing role in accounting software solutions due to the growing demands of not only the industry by the adoption of digitization around the globe.
Meeting New Standards
In 2023, we can expect new accounting-related government rules and compliance requirements to be introduced. These regulations are motivated by a transition from COVID-related measures as well as a continuous shift towards a more remote workforce. These measures and shifts have already sparked the need for changes in tax requirements due to more home-based offices.