2027 Hiring & Salary Trends: Finance & Accounting Insights
Excerpt from Addison Group’s 2027 WORKFORCE PLANNING & SALARY GUIDE
Key Takeaways
- Demand for finance and accounting roles continues due to regulatory needs and retirements; moderate salary increases of 6% are projected through 2027.
- AI fluency is becoming essential across all finance roles, with many job postings requiring AI or machine learning skills.
- Employers face challenges in hiring due to economic caution and should streamline their processes to attract top candidates.
- Offshoring is increasing as companies seek to fill talent gaps and manage regulatory complexities during AI strategy transitions.
- Finance roles with AI experience command higher salaries, but a skill shortage persists in the market.
2027 Hiring & Salary Trends: Finance & Accounting Insights
Hiring Stabilizes; AI Skills Become Non-Negotiable
Increased regulatory and compliance needs, combined with a wave of retirements, continue to drive strong demand for finance and accounting roles. Growth in private equity and venture capital funding is also fueling demand, especially among AI-oriented startups and for mid-to-senior finance, accounting, reporting, tax, and analytical roles. Moderate salary increases of about 6% are projected into 2027.1
AI fluency is quickly moving from a nice-to-have skill to a job requirement, across every role from accounts payable to reporting. Many finance leaders say that AI training is more valuable today than an MBA2 and nearly a third of finance job postings call for AI or machine learning skills.3 Senior roles demanding AI-finance leadership experience command premium salaries, yet candidates remain scarce. Entry-level data entry roles keep shrinking as automation grows, yet most employers are still far from capitalizing on that shift.
“Candidates who are at least AI literate — regularly using Claude or ChatGPT to write prompts or even better, using sophisticated AI tools, will win the day.” – Heather Tarrillion, President of Finance & Accounting, Addison Group
AI Ambition Ahead of Readiness
Today, 74% of companies are still in early stages of AI readiness, using it only in pockets,4 and looking for specialized talent to accelerate their AI transformation. Candidates who showcase strong data analytics skills and experience with finance AI tools such as FloQast or HighRadius will rise to the top. In-demand roles will include data auditors who use AI to manage regulatory and cybersecurity pressures, and data quality analysts who help clean up data as organizations move toward AI transformation.
Employer Hesitancy Is Losing Candidates
The skills gap is only part of the equation — broader economic caution is shaping hiring speed too. Companies are now less focused on predicting the next market swing and more on pragmatic growth, despite shifting labor reports and tariff exposure. Yet even as employers move to hire, many still underestimate the tight talent pool, losing top-level candidates to faster-moving competitors. Recruiting managers should keep in mind that unemployment in finance and accounting roles remains at 2%, well under the 4.1% national average.6
Employers who limit interviews, group multiple stakeholders into a single interview, and create clear evaluation guidelines can improve hiring rates. As nearly half of organizations report paying an 11% –15% premium to secure AI-skilled talent,7 hiring managers should be prepared to offer top candidates above their stated compensation. Remote work is still in demand for contract positions, while hybrid and in-office arrangements are the norm for permanent full-time roles. With domestic talent this hard to secure, many employers are looking beyond U.S. borders altogether.
Traditional accounting knowledge (52%) still ranks ahead of AI governance skills (35%), signaling that the market wants people who can bridge old and new, not pure technologists.5
Addison Group AI Automation Survey, 2026
Related content
- Finance and Accounting Talent for Year-End Close: 7 Roles to Hire Now
- Compounding Interest in AI: Why Finance & Accounting’s AI Ambitions Are Outpacing Readiness
- How Finance Can Partner with IT to Strengthen Controls
“Offshoring can be a highly effective strategy to buy clients time and reduce financial pressures while they work out their automation roadmap,” Phil Gaddis, President of Finance & Accounting Executive Search Practice, Addison Group
Offshoring Helps Fill the Gap
As finance leaders manage increasingly complex compliance and regulatory reporting amid talent shortages, offshoring is a growing opportunity for companies to scale efficiently with a skilled global workforce. While this strategy has been used for years in the information technology space, it is surging in finance and accounting as a stopgap measure as organizations finalize their AI strategy. Addison Group has found that offshoring has also become a core strategy to offset the significant loss of CPAs based on mass retirements in the last few years.8
Top Finance and Accounting Salaries
| CFO | $269,750 |
| Chief Accounting Office | $258,500 |
| VP of Finance Transformation | $257,405 |
| Head of Treasury | $217,500 |
| Finance Director | $213,505 |
| VP of Finance | $208,750 |
| Controller | $205,500 |
| Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Manager | $203,511 |
| Internal Audit Manager | $178,500 |
| Director of Corporate Accounting | $178,000 |
Contact us today to optimize your workforce strategy and secure the skilled talent your business needs.
For more valuable insights and national averages of salaries across hundreds of roles in administrative, digital marketing, finance, accounting, healthcare, human resources, and information technology, download your complimentary copy today.
- https://www.cfodive.com/news/finance-salaries-rise-6percent-talent-crunch-controllers-council/824742/
- https://www.staffingindustry.com/news/global-daily-news/ai-skills-more-valuable-than-mbas-86-of-finance-executives-say
- https://www.cfo.com/news/more-finance-job-listings-seek-ai-expertise-but-pay-offers-are-mostly-down-controller-cfo-pay/815737/
- Addison Group AI Automation Survey for F&A Leaders, 2026
- Addison Group AI Automation Survey, 2026
- https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_08072026.htm
- https://www.cfodive.com/news/nearly-half-firms-willing-pay-premium-ai-skills-kpmg/816182/
- https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2025/jul/the-case-for-outsourcing-3-ways-to-win/
FAQ
Demand comes from several forces at once: more regulatory and compliance work, a wave of retirements, private equity and venture capital growth, and more AI-focused startups. The strongest need is for mid- to senior-level finance, accounting, reporting, tax, and analyst roles. Moderate salary growth of about 6% is expected through 2027.
AI fluency is moving from a nice-to-have skill to a core job requirement. Nearly a third of finance job posts now ask for AI or machine learning skills, and finance leaders value AI training more than they used to. Candidates who can use Claude, ChatGPT, FloQast, or HighRadius and still apply core accounting knowledge are well placed because employers want people who can connect old finance work with new automation and analytics.
Employers should move faster and cut friction. Limit interview rounds, bring key stakeholders into one interview, and use clear scorecards. With finance and accounting unemployment at 2%, slow decisions or rigid pay bands can cost top candidates.
Data, compliance, and AI-readiness roles are growing. Examples include data auditors who use AI to manage regulatory and security risk, and data quality analysts who clean and prep data for AI adoption. Senior finance leaders with AI-finance experience will also command premium pay because that talent remains scarce.
Offshoring is growing because companies face talent shortages, more complex compliance work, and a shrinking domestic CPA pool due to retirements. It has long been common in IT, but finance and accounting teams now use it to scale, tap global talent, and bridge gaps while they build out AI plans.
