You may have heard that the U.S. market is running short on accountants. The truth is, we’re in the middle of a talent crisis that’s been building for most of a decade. Retiring Baby Boomers and fewer students choosing accounting are colliding at the same time to create a new hiring crunch. That’s why a growing number of firms are turning to offshoring and remote staffing partners, including specialized providers like Southwestern Talent, to get through busy season and keep core operations running smoothly.
Let’s start with the root of problem, which is simple math. Fewer students are graduating with accounting degrees, and fewer are going on to become CPAs, plain and simple. This trend actually started several years ago. According to the AICPA’s 2023 Trends report, U.S. colleges awarded about 47,000 bachelor’s degrees in accounting in 2021–22, a 7.8% drop from the prior year. Master’s degrees in accounting also fell 6.4% to 18,238 over the same period.
Additionally, AICPA data shows first-time CPA exam candidates fell from 48,004 in 2016 to just 32,188 in 2021, a drop of around 33% in five years. All that means is, this shrinking pipleine isn’t a temporary blip; it’s a shift in how the next generation is viewing the profession and its desirability as a career, compared with previous generations.
So, given the overall stability and importance of the profession – which no one can really argue with – why aren’t more students and early-career professionals jumping in? A few themes keep coming up:
To become a licensed CPA in most U.S. states, candidates need 150 credit hours, effectively a fifth year of education beyond a standard bachelor’s degree. That’s more time and more tuition, without a guarantee of much higher starting pay. The shortage has become so noticeable, however, that the AICPA has now dropped its opposition to changing this standard and is exploring alternative, competency-based pathways to licensure that are not strictly tied to university credit hours. We’ll see if it pays off.
This is a big one. Accounting’s reputation for intense busy seasons and long hours is very well-known. Meanwhile, younger professionals can often earn more, with flashier growth trajectories and large bonuses in tech, consulting, or investment banking. Many industry articles and surveys point to long hours, burnout, and stagnant compensation as key reasons younger accountants leave public practice or avoid it altogether.
In addition, studies show Gen Z tends to value flexibility, clear boundaries, and meaningful work. Some large firms have adapted to this, granted, but not all. U.S. audit leaders have noted that hybrid and remote work have disrupted the traditional “apprenticeship” model where juniors learn side-by-side with seniors, and that this, combined with heavy workloads, has made retention even tougher.
Unfortunately, this downward trend in graduates decided to hit just as the profession started to experience a historic retirement wave. The AICPA announced that around75% of its membership was eligible to retire in 2020. And as of last year, 300,000 accounting professionals had actually retired or exited the profession in that time. This is consistent with broader demographic trends: roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day, and close to half of all Boomers have already retired. Accounting firms, which historically relied heavily on long-tenured partners and managers, are now seeing decades of experience walk out the door in a somewhat compressed timeframe.
The result is a smaller core of seasoned professionals, an undersized bench of mid-level staff, and not nearly enough new graduates to backfill the gap.
Despite the routine headlines on social media about Artificial Intelligence (AI) or layoffs at large professional services firms, the underlying demand for accounting talent remains strong.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects employment of accountants and auditors will grow around 4–5% over the next decade, roughly in line with (or slightly faster) than the average for all occupations. More importantly, BLS expects about 124,000–126,500 job openings for accountants and auditors each year through the forecast period, largely due to replacements – that is, professionals retiring or leaving the field.
At the same time, actual employment in accounting roles has fallen. BLS data cited in a 2025 Reuters report show that about 1.78 million people were working as accountants in 2024 – roughly 10% fewer than in 2019. So companies need more work done, but there are fewer professionals to do it. And they’re turning to offshoring solutions to fill that gap
Now, if you talk to firm owners and CFOs, they don’t need all this to tell you there’s a problem. They’re feeling it, especially around busy seasons. One CPA Trendlines survey found 42% of accounting firms are turning away work because they don’t have enough staff. In addition, Caseware’s global survey reported more than 90% of accounting firms and internal audit teams see hiring and retaining skilled talent as one of their fastest-growing challenges.
For many organizations, this shows up as chronic overtime, burnout among the people who are still there, rising salaries and signing bonuses, and tough decisions about which clients or projects to prioritize.
Given the talent crunch, it’s not surprising that more firms are leaning into remote and offshore solutions rather than waiting for the domestic pipeline to fix itself. With today’s remote work environment, many finance teams are ready working remote/hybrid, making the option of hiring offshore supporting help easier than ever – here’s why.
Offshore hubs such as South Africa, Western Europe, East Asia and parts of Latin America have large numbers of English-speaking, degree-qualified accountants and finance professionals. South Africa in particular has a high English/cultural match with U.S. business counterparts, and their SAICA qualification is globally recognized as being on par with standards such as the CPA designation in the U.S.
Offshoring isn’t only about finding cheaper labor, but cost can be a pleasantly surprising part of the equation. Studies of offshoring overall find that it provides excellent value, with typical operational cost savings as high as 30%, and that the average offshoring project cuts costs by around 25% compared with doing the same work domestically.
One of the hardest things about the accounting business is seasonality. And building a full-time domestic team sized only for peak season is increasingly unrealistic. Offshore and remote staffing models let firms ramp up for tax season, audits, and project spikes, then dial back without carrying that full cost year-round.
Leveraging teams across multiple time zones makes it possible to serve a wider time window of client service, as work can keep progressing even when the domestic U.S. team is offline. Countries like South Africa in particular have a partially shared workday with the U.S. eastern coast, which is ideal, unlike Asian counterparts that may have a 12-hour time difference.
All this is why many firms and finance teams are turning to specialized partners whose entire business is building high-quality, integrated offshore teams for accounting and finance. Rather than starting from scratch, firms can tap into pools of professionally trained accountants who are familiar with U.S. GAAP, tax rules, and busy-season realities.
At Southwestern Talent, we exist specifically to bridge this gap. We connect U.S. firms and corporate finance teams with carefully selected offshore and remote accounting professionals, then help integrate those professionals into existing teams. Instead of burning out local staff or turning away work, firms can boost their capacity during busy season and maintain a sustainable model the rest of the year.
Want to hear more about how we can help your team? Let’s connect for a free consultation to see if our services are a good fit!