How CFOs are overcoming the accountant shortage.

Is the accountant shortage here to stay?

Are you having a hard time finding good corporate accountants these days? Or, if you're a controller, do you feel like you’ve been shouldering more of the accounting burden lately? You're not alone.

According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 300,000 accountants quit their jobs between 2019 and 2021 (a 17% decline), creating a critical accountant shortage in the US. Additionally, the number of US accounting graduates is also on the decline as fewer students choose to make accounting their careers.

Businesses rely on accountants to optimize cash flows, meet ongoing tax and compliance mandates, and provide financial strategies that enable business growth, so the lack of accountants is nearing crisis levels. A recent wave of public accounting-related errors reaffirms the need for a strong accounting function.

Lyft, Planet Fitness, Mister Car Wash, and Rivian all recently had to correct quarterly earnings statements. Such errors shake investor confidence — and can result in SEC fines — and staffing issues may be to blame. In 2023, more than 720 companies said insufficient accounting staff was a reason for potential errors, up 30% from 2019, according to equity research firm Hudson Labs.

So why are so many accountants leaving the industry? Workloads, for one. The 80-hour workweeks grinding on manual tasks drive out talent and deter others from entering the field.

Accountants are in short supply, but the critical work they do isn’t going away. So what’s the move?

Since the accountant shortage looks more like the new norm, the realistic answer to the accounting shortage isn’t more accountants. It’s accounting automation.

Using automation to navigate the accountant shortage.

Which is worse — too few accountants to do the work or accountants too bogged down by manual work to do any strategic work?

A lack of accounting expertise in your company can cause financial instability, negatively impact cash management, and stifle business growth, not to mention its potential for creating tax and regulatory violations. But cumbersome expense management processes that monopolize accountants’ time similarly block any gains from that expertise.

Accounting automation creates the time and space to activate that expertise. Studies show that accountants automating spend management processes reduce data entry errors by 90% due to fewer manual employee inputs and reviews.

Plus, your entire business will benefit:

Brex is the leader in AI-powered spend management and accounting automation. We’ve built a platform for expenses and accounting that delivers industry-leading efficiency. See why our approach helps you simplify accounting, close the books nearly 7x faster,* and free up finance to be more strategic.

“We knew Brex would take our accounting team from reactive to proactive. Brex automates the submission of expense reports, so our accounting team will have everything they need to close the books in real time.”

— Patrick Lynch, Senior Vice President and Controller, Boston Celtics

How to automate accounting with Brex.

Why are almost 75% of accounting tasks ripe for automation? Because most organizations typically add more tools and processes to enable employee spending without fully understanding the downstream impact on accounting. Accountants are then left to reconcile the mess caused by:

Brex’s integrated platform replaces all of those tools, and our comprehensive solutions work together to automate work for employees and finance. Read on to see all the ground you can gain via Brex’s: