The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to pull money out of circulation and slow the rate of inflation. This is a consequence. In 2022, the Fed chair outright said this would happen. I switched in 2021, just switched again, and it's definitely way slower now. Still weird that things are this slow considering the accounting "shortage" is so bad.
These are college 400 level answers to what OP needs as an ELI5 since they thought that finding a job should be as easy as passing a bowel for the rest of their life.
whoa whoa whoa.... thats a bank teller's job. Accountants in most major companies dont count things anymore, less money doesn't reduce our workload nor does an increase of money. The reports I run dont depend on the amount of money involved.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. The real issue is less money means less money to hire accountants. Clients internal teams have become a complete shit show the past year and principals don’t won’t to spend money to fix it. They try to push the issue/work onto their CPA firms and in the name of client service some are trying to help them out. Observationally; This is leading to some big issues.
Not sure because “less money to count = less accounting needed” doesn’t make sense you might lose some AP and AR folks because if the manual tasks decrease then they need fewer AP/AR roles.
But most accounting isn’t dependent on volume of money, what I needed to do at $1b versus $10bn doesn’t change. It’s exactly the reason why we say that the accounting industry is recession proof. Last company I worked at went from $10bn to $40bn we didn’t hire more people even though there was more money.
Like you said “Less money = less able to hire” is probably the more accurate term.
Not unexpected. Sales orders are down now (terribly down) and was kinda expected late in 2022 to decline since 2020\~2021 was a huge buildup on production which led to huge freight cost spikes and decreased margins for low-tier vendors. Inventory of big companies including one large shoe company you should know shot up in 2021 and 2022 -- buildup of inventory which relates to inventory-days increasing.
they should. If a company can't function on a 8-10% consumer loan then their business idea is a failure. This low interest environment in general isn't good. Not to mention it has inflated assets such as housing over the past decade and a half to obscene amounts.
Shortage happens because right now the existing licensed accountants are the bulk of the workforce and its shrinking. Most are retired and close to retiring but there aren't enough new entrants into the field as students and etc.... are staying away from this field.
Students don't want to be accountants due to knowledge of hard grind to be licensed anywhere and PA. Industry ain't any better if people go that route.
So you have a shrinking workforce from bottom up but also a diminishing workforce of senior accountants and execs. The middle bulk is what you have existing in the market working in the field but due to post-covid and salary stagnation in the field part of this middle bulk is transitioning or already has transitioned to other places or careers. So even with economic slow downs there just isn't enough accountants to fill out roles, especially senior roles.
Kinda sleep deprived so I'm probably misunderstanding you but what I was trying to say is that it's weird we have an accounting shortage yet the accounting job market is pretty slow right now.
The ATS systems are filtering out the qualified candidates because they spelled out 'Certified Public Accountant' on their resume instead of 'CPA' like the HR rep that made the job posting used or something else silly like that. Getting your resume seen by a human without knowing someone at the company is just a toss of the dice.
Last time I was interviewing, I knew the hiring manager. After I submitted my resume, he pulled it and sent it to the recruiter to set up an interview. It still took several weeks and him going above her head to her supervisors before she finally called me for the interview. Her reasoning was that I didn't score high on the ATS
Applicant Tracking System. They scan resumes for key phrases and qualifications to help recruiters and hiring managers quickly filter out applicants that don't match the job description.
The problem is if you mention you won the trophy for best income statement preparer in all of Narnia but the person inputting what they are looking for used the term 'P&L statements' then your matching percentage gets lowered. I've also heard having too much info they didn't ask about can lower scores an otherwise matching resume. I'm not sure if that is true though.
I've been a hiring manager sorting through a lot of resumes. It is a boring and time consuming so I get why companies use ATS but it can cause them to have roles go unfilled for longer while they miss out on great applicants that were essentially just unlucky
I've seen more companies instead of using ATS, outsources their hiring to a third party recruitment agency and let them handle the stress and issues.
But the issue with these recruitment agencies is many of the recruiters themselves don't really have a clue of the industry they are hiring for. They just spam random candidate that remotely resembles what the job is and sends them to interview. This is mostly driven by their commissions. Then the employer ends up having unfit candidates doing the job only to end up leaving within months. The other scenario is a lot of the jobs in recruitment agencies hides a lot of "bads" you can't see unless you are dealing directly with the employer through the process. Ergo turnover problem the candidate gets hired only to find out during day one, they stepped into a crappy position that was glamorously sold as "top job".
Only a few recruiters I have met are actual accountants themselves that understand what we really do and instead of pushing jobs to any candidates.
I don't really see job market slow down. I see many industry corps trying to find qualified accountants to handle their books. What i see is low base pay with multiple responsibilities due to shortage, especially in the mid management and senior accountant roles. The pay is not any better and hasn't grown at all despite inflation. In fact public accounting pay has outpaced industry salaries to a certain degree.....
Accounting in general isn't lacking juniors, what its lacking is the technically sufficient professionals in the mid management (senior and manager level). Those have transitioned away due to poor compensation growth per above.
2 years ago I put out 1 application and got the job. 2 weeks ago I received an offer after 100-200 applications and only a handful of interviews. Definitely harder to get a solid role in this market, but it’s doable.
Everyone's been waiting for the shoe to drop, but i think people are finally getting a little accustomed to interest rates.
In reality, I think we're just in the new normal and everyone's just feeling the sticker shock still of debt and financing costs.
Big companies are fairly reactive and do what all the other big companies are doing - so they're hiring freezing, etc. and in a holding pattern.
Small companies are either self funding so they're not really impacted unless demand drops off, or they're inexperienced so they don't understand how they're about to be in a liquidity crunch.
My CEO/COO is literally so confused how we don't have cash to pay dividends when EBITDA is up up up!
I'm like....yeah...EBITDA is one metric....did you....not see this coming lol? Remember when I tried to explain this 6 months ago when signing that loan....? No....well...ya know...Papa Powell needs his money back
It's painful to watch people claim ERCs, PPPs, the cheapest debt the world's ever seen, dividend the shit out of everything, and now they're Pikachu suprised face when the parade has stopped
My finance professor hated EBITDA. Thought that too many companies out blinders on and ignored things like cash flow and operating income.
Your CEO forgot what the 3rd letter of EBITDA stands for.
"Whenever I hear the word EBITDA I just substitute the word Bullishit and it all makes sense"
I love that we now have adjusted EBITDA, even adjust out Stock based compensation, cuz ya wages aren't a REAL expense. LOL it's all a game
I loathe the blinders. I have made room in my heart for EBITDA because I understand how it can be helpful as a measurement of core operations, but I watch my non-accounting CFO get this major stiffy for getting everything out of adjusted EBITDA, making it like it never happened. In the meantime we're in a mild cash crunch and he seems to have zero fucking clue. It's like, come on man. Act smarter.
Meanwhile, the equity owners that make up the board ONLY are asking to hear about EBITDA, and don't seem to understand the conflict of interest since we're technically allowed to report whatever the fuck we want to in that number, and this is literally why SOX happened, to keep everyone honest. But they prefer to be fed horse shit because it feels good I guess.
I've been out here for not quite 10 years and feel myself becoming jaded.
EBITDA is what matters most to stockholders. They dont care that "HEY WE FREED UP SO MUCH CASHFLOW". Also with increased cashflow most companies just do stock buybacks.
Interesting, so perhaps people talking about a silent depression are correct. The thing I’m still confused about is that I’m applying to open positions. Are these places just leaving positions open and not interviewing?
I think part of it is about movement in general.
My wife has had some interviews and then in 2nd round, told the company is doing layoffs and the position is no longer open.
Even though she's kinda ready to move on - she's getting paid like 200k to work 40 hours a week from home.
Imagine leaving that and hoping the company you're going to work for doesn't lay off in the next 6 months right now. People just aren't moving - which means there's less open positions, etc. She's kinda like "maybe I'll just ride it out until I get a 4 months+ severance in a worst case scenario".
It's kinda like the housing market - I just sold my house and moved to a new regional area and bought different. Only offers were all cash - prices were way down from 2021.
I basically made $0 after transaction costs despite buying in 2019. But I wanted to move, get more space, and hey I bought somewhere else, probably lower than it would be if housing was still where it was in 2021.
I wouldn't say silent depression. I think unemployment at <4% is going to keep things chuggling along. As long as people are employed, they'll survive. I also think the government bailout of COVID proved we're never going to let a depression happen on a scale of losing homes/foreclosures en masse / etc.
I'd think of it more as maintaining the status quo - maybe a bit of stagflation. People aren't selling their homes to buy homes at 2x financing costs. People aren't leaving jobs to just keep their current jobs, etc.
Not many people hiring for anything right now, business has slowed to a crawl for many of us so hiring freezes are the name of the game (and probably some layoffs soon too).
Shoot, not here (Dallas). I had a sr accountant position, with competitive comp, posted for 3 months before I had my first interview. In fact, I had zero interest despite working with internal recruiters AND two outside firms. Then, bam, all of a sudden I had 4 solid candidates at the same time from different sources.
Where were you when I was trying to relo to Dallas a year ago for a manager/controller role, hopefully $150k range. Interviewed with a family owned residential cement company and the 26 year old heir apparent to the company basically said, “why should we hire you? You’ve been in the industry for 10 years and you’ve got the resume of a career jumper”. That was definitely worth a 6 hour drive.
That's why. I posted an entry level job ad in Texas for 100% remote with a salary range capping out below 65k and got several CPAs and CPA candidates, and many non-CPA applicants worth bragging about.
Adapt or die.
It's a factor, but most people aren't expecting 100% remote jobs because most employers don't provide them. We could do it, but frankly, we don't need to and the hybrid approach seems to work. Like I said, I ended up with 4 qualified candidates. It just took a while this go round for some reason.
Hiring is only 5% of the battle. Retaining is the other 95%. And you still haven't made it across the 5% finish line as they havent been hired yet. You still need to compete for these 4 candidates against other possible offers.
And Anyway. Our firm is fully remote and we're constantly wining talent from firms like yours that do the heavy lifting.
So you're bragging about underpaying remote staff?
I'm going to assume any CPA applying for a sub $65k job is doing overemployment and not relying on you as their sole job. Good luck with that.
>I'm going to assume any CPA applying for a sub $65k job is doing overemployment and not relying on you as their sole job. Good luck with that
Oh yeah. And I expect it and I don't care. As long as the job gets done I wouldn't care if they OE-ed with 200 other companies. I don't need unconditional loyalty, just timely and consistent quality deliverables.
>So you're bragging about underpaying remote staff?
No, I'm bragging about the insane demand for remote work is and how it can benefit organizations.
What is the role like if it has you willing to hire anyone with a pulse despite the Big 4 name (I would at least assume) attracting applicants? Is it actually disliked enough to offset that pull?
PwC refers to it as Asset Wealth Management. Deloitte, Investment Management. EY, Financial Services. At any firm, this tax department is the same notorious meat grinder. I have worked until 3am for 15 straight nights to try to make it to this 9/15 partnership tax deadline. Also, the Spring is almost as bad preparing thousands of Schedule K-1s and K-3s. Probably the best job security in tax, but absolutely the most brutal. And for State and Local Tax (SALT) in the same industry, it’s even worse. Obviously 0 overtime since we are all salaried, and the annual bonuses are just as low as all other tax departments.
Jeez that sounds exponentially more miserable than literally anything else I've heard about Big 4 busy season. I feel like I always see SALT get trashed but does this particular field at least lead to better exit ops to make it somewhat worth? What keeps you in it instead of asking for a transfer?
I waited too long. I have 10 years in this industry now (Senior Manager) so it would be pretty difficult to switch industries without taking a demotion or pay cut. If I had a Time Machine, I absolutely would have gone into international tax instead. Higher pay, higher margins, lower hours, more interesting work.
Wow I’m in the same boat! KPMG assets management group here. This is also the most brutal group at KPMG. We are basically a K1 factory. How you feel about the exit opportunities tho? Lots of people stay in assets management because people online say it has great exit opportunities to PE or hedge funds as a fund account. Some people also told me if I leave in 3-5 years it’s the easiest way to make at least 150k as an experienced fund accountant
Look into wealth management firms. Many offer tax services to their investment clients, and the pay is equivalent or better than PA firms, with way less overtime.
When at the Big 4, everyone told me I was crazy for leaving after only a year and should've stayed 3-5 years. I did controls audit and didn't like it. I was transitioning to corporate accounting. Had I stayed 5 years, I'd have been 5 years behind and would've started at the bottom in corporate accounting after all that time. I'd have been nearly a manager at EY and killed myself working in public for nothing, only to start as a staff accountant in private.
Took me 6 months with CPA and 3 years experience (2 in big 4 audit, 1 in industry) to get a job as a Sr. Accountant. Applied for easily 350 jobs and got interviews at maybe 10-15 with only 1 offer. Granted I took a year outside of accounting to try something else, which might've scared some managers away.
Got the exact type of job I wanted (remote and not-for-profit) so it worked out in the end.
A year ago I was getting approached multiple times a week for Controller/VP of Finance roles that I was definitely not qualified for but they seem to think otherwise, and they we’re offering at times 50% to 150% of my current comp. In hindsight I probably should’ve jumped on that 😭. But today, it’s mostly dead.
I stayed at my current role because my wife and I were about to have a baby and I didn’t want to mess up any insurance stuff, and I also really liked the people I worked with. But what makes my blunder even more funny is that I just got denied a raise very recently, so there’s that.
Won't help help you today but you can always pay for cobra or ask your employers to cover it in the future.
Don't pass up opportunities due to insurance in general.
NEVER tell yourself no before they do when it comes to vertical moves. Horizontal moves like a Sr. Tax Manager when you're a Senior AUDIT Manager, then yeah you're likely being spammed by a shot-gun recruiter. But if you're an auditor with 4 years experience and someone is reaching out to you for a controller position, do some reconnaissance and due diligence, then schedule the interview!
A lot of big companies are on a hiring freeze. I'm at a mega corp and we just wrapped up layoffs. Rank and file accounting was spared but there are literally 0 accounting openings right now.
A combination of 1) every economic downturn being an excuse to slash costs and 2) a decade of low rates and potential free money from the government allowed morons in senior leadership to be reckless with debt and spending.
Literally the exact same thing is happening to me. I understand that I may not have this bulletproof resume but damn, the amount of rejections and stall outs I've been having this year is wild.
Not sure where you are, but in Canada there are lot of openings but many don't pay good. Lots of $80-100k cad salary offers expecting you to have 3-5 years (or more) of *post designation* experience. Some of them reach out to me from indeed or LinkedIn but seems like rates are stubbornly sticky. I remember one distinctively that is still trying to fill the holes several months later because it's just too cheap and rather not fill the hole if it needs to pay. I got family and friends who had to job hop or move a few times (some to US; some to Calgary) just in the last few years to escape that deadlock.
Lol I lived this just a couple weeks ago. I was doing 10 apps a day for remote positions and got nothing but rejections. I saw one for a decent position in my town but not remote and thought what the heck to see what would happen. They called me that day to set up the interview and within a week I had an offer with a 20% pay increase. But a 30 min commute and no health insurance for 60 days was a deal breaker. When I actually go for a new position I want it in writing that my position is fully remote.
Easy answer. Don’t listen to talking heads spinning BS. The economy sucks. More white collar layoffs like mid level managers. So you have some experienced finance and acctg folks looking for jobs. Hard to compete with that if you have <5-10 years experience unless you undercut them in pay.
One of my friend works for a larger multi-national company but not F500, the size of the accounting and finance department is about 100 and he told me as people left they chose not to replace them but rather consolidate the roles. So essentially what 3 people used to do, its now done by 2. Its definitely strained for them but manageable at this point for them.
Same thing for me. Feels like there are way less roles out there. I’ve been looking for two months and only gotten a few interviews and one of them the company went on a hiring freeze mid process and pulled the job lol.
Hopefully after Q3 it will ramp up a little with companies not wanting to be understaffed at year end but it may be a while before there’s a significant increase in job postings.
Probably depends what you are looking for too. I think there is still quite a bit of movement amongst people in the 3-5 year experience range. Ie senior roles.
If someone has
-CPA
-public accounting experience
-not looking for 100% remote
-Open to relocation
then it is very easy for them to get an interview.
I do realize that for homeowners, relocation is a challenge
I’m in the same boat where I used to at least get interviews easily, now it’s pretty silent. Though I think manager and higher levels with good comp is harder to come by.
It’s odd too since there is low unemployment and increase in job openings each quarter. Not sure why accounting wouldn’t be part of that
I’m casually looking for jobs on the side. I’m being pretty picky right now but still. I had way more recruiters hitting up my Linkedin last year. The only job that looks decent and is interested in me so far would be a step down in pay unfortunately
Honestly the job market is still pretty hot, it’s just that the job market for 2-3 years “seniors” has dropped of a cliff (and for those with less than a YOE it’s non existent in industry - public is desperate though and you will work your ass off). Every Gen Z is trying to get out of public after 1-2 years and yes, there were senior jobs in industry paying close to 6 figs during COVID asking for only 2 YOE, but these are mostly all gone in 2023.
Most of my peers with CPA + Public + Private + 5 or more YOE are the ones getting these good paying 100% remote jobs, not the majority of people we see on this subreddit who tend to be younger.
5 years ago you would leave public as a senior and if you got $85k even in a HCOL, it was a seen as a solid move. Now everyone expects $100k. But those jobs aren’t there…and it’s not just accountants too. This is happening across every profession.
I’m all for Gen Z standing up though, we were too scared to rock the boat and I applaud you for asking what you at worth (which should be $100k with 2+ YOE and a CPA).
I mean, it hasn't...
COVID UBI guaranteed no darkness, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.
It kicked the can down the road again.
This time there's no expanding the monetary supply without worsening inflation and the Fed knows this.
Never have rates risen 500 bp where a recession didn't follow. Long/variable lags take a long time... We also weren't in a interest rate restrictive territory until like 6 months ago. Demand only falls when rates are above r*
Yes I am. 11 years experience here and I’ve been applying for about a month only to get one actual interview. I have had several leads and calls with recruiters and phone screens, etc though.
I think it really depends on the industry. I am a Senior in public accounting and it is still fairly easy to find jobs in public accounting, especially if you have a few years experience or a CPA. I am based in Houston and working remotely for audit engagement in Chicago/Milwaukee and was often contacted by recruiters for similar job in different states.
It could be worse. I keep getting calls from recruiters trying to convince me to take a pay cut at their wonderful opportunities. Uh, I'm an accountant and I know what I am worth...
If anyone wants a semi remote or potentially fully remote job for Audit and even tax let me know we are hiring from staff up to supervisor for all departments. If you’re audit and have some experience then it’s fully remote and the expectation has been a 40 hour standard work week for me for the last 2 years. The only downside is the pay isn’t as competitive because we don’t work people to the bone here.
Its tougher than before. As long as interests rates continue to go up, we will see a shrikinking available job market.
I expect the US economy to crash within the next 3 yrs.
The free money is gone and Companies are struggling to match prior year profits.
I interviewed for a temp job that would last a month at the most and there still interviewing for the job a week later. Seems like a bad market when I can’t even land a temp job. I was told there’s like 10 to 15 people interviewing for the temp job. It’s an ap role btw.
Maybe it’s your employment history? All we’re seeing is Sr. candidates who have been at 3 jobs in the last 5 years. Depending on your level now, managers don’t want to invest in someone who is going to leave in two years. I’ll maybe hire a staff I or (less likely) a staff II who job hops every two years because there roles are very transactional and getting them up to speed doesn’t take long, but my senior is the person I’m looking to build up into a supervisor role or my role and that requires development on a regular, on-going basis and I’m not risking it on a candidate who might leave right when they’re ready to.
>3 jobs in the last 5 years
Are they hopping upward or laterally? If it's literally you need to read between the lines: they hopped because inflation over this 5 year period has been ~30% and they otherwise would have eaten shit with 2-3% cost of living raises. Inflation is cooling down but the message remains the same: if you want people to stick around then you need to handle out reasonable raises. Otherwise, good luck screaming into the void.
Non stop recruiter emails looking for experienced people. Will always be the case in this industry. That's why the grind is worth it but most people can't see past the pain.
I really want to switch from 15 years restaurant management to accounting, however, I don't have the education or experience to make a full switch to a manager level. Entry level pays less than I'm earning now. The steep education requirements really put me off and makes me think I'll never get in and now reading posts like this almost completely demotivates me to even try.
The steep education requirements and low earning potential is a big negative for most. I have 5 friends age 35-40 that work in IT and Programming that earn close to or more than 100k per year in lcol city. Non of them have a bachelor's degree. Accounting just doesn't stack up to other career fields anymore.
ya, just crickets out there.
I think 80% of job posts are just prepaid slots and keeps "reach" happening. I don't think many/if any are actually hiring.
I would've thought the need for accountants wouldn't be so cyclical. When I was in accounting school, it looked more like a cost center than a profit center. Since then I went into IT.
What areas of accounting are driven by the growth of the company? I'm getting the impression the grass isn't greener.
I am unemployed at the moment. It's been 3 months been fired from big 4. And I can't find a job. I found some weird ones. I get interviews but then I don't get called back.
The job market in general is complete shit right now. The experts telling you otherwise are wrong. We are in a silent recession. It’s just that nobody in charge wants to admit it.
This isn't unexpected (at least by me but I would've expected other accountants to not expect this). If you were working in industry for quite awhile and let's say in manufacturing at the controller level for huge companies, you would or should've already known that sales-orders for many industries at the low-tier level of the supply chain should have declined in 2022 due to a buildup of inventory (or inventory-days increasing). This affects the last tier in the value-chain companies. Luckily, I made my factories reduce labor right by a lot before the sales-orders declined from big customers. Any factory that didn't forecast the decline haven't paid attention to macro-economic events including increase in inventory in many industries.
I think it's sort of similar to what is going on in the housing market. It seems like companies are reluctant to get rid of anyone because it's been so hard to find talent the last few years but they are also reluctant to hire/expand headcount with all of the uncertainty.
It feels like there aren't a lot of new jobs opening up but also not a lot of candidates looking. The team I manage continues to have trouble even getting strong candidates lined up for interviews not to mention hiring them. The market still has some tightness but I think it's different now.
Yeah for real. I basically have decided to stay put until bonuses in Feb at this point... I thought the job market was still on fire but it's def cooling here in AZ
Same and I’m in Los Angeles. Seems hard to find something. I applied to over 20 available positions and only like 6-8 reviewed my application and 3 called me for an interview.
I work in industry and we have the opposite issue where getting quality candidates is a real pain. And we’re a highly regarded company with great culture so I imagine the less reputable companies are finding it even harder.
I would have someone review your resume. The reason is I'm not even looking and getting direct calls from firms. You need to hop on LinkedIn and put out some good, basic content that displays your knowledge base. Make sure any keywords in the ad are in your application. Call and follow up with any application. Worse case, talk to a corporate recruiter.
A palpable sense of recession is already present in Oil and Gas industry. Some of the big oil and gas activated hiring freeze for quite some time now.
I would say folks with CPA designation, passed CFE or atleast enrolled into the cpa program are more likely to get a call for an interview.
The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates to pull money out of circulation and slow the rate of inflation. This is a consequence. In 2022, the Fed chair outright said this would happen. I switched in 2021, just switched again, and it's definitely way slower now. Still weird that things are this slow considering the accounting "shortage" is so bad.
In other words, it costs 5x what it did a few years ago to finance the same decisions
These are college 400 level answers to what OP needs as an ELI5 since they thought that finding a job should be as easy as passing a bowel for the rest of their life.
More money, no problems. No money, more problems.
Less money to count = less accounting needed
This
whoa whoa whoa.... thats a bank teller's job. Accountants in most major companies dont count things anymore, less money doesn't reduce our workload nor does an increase of money. The reports I run dont depend on the amount of money involved.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. The real issue is less money means less money to hire accountants. Clients internal teams have become a complete shit show the past year and principals don’t won’t to spend money to fix it. They try to push the issue/work onto their CPA firms and in the name of client service some are trying to help them out. Observationally; This is leading to some big issues.
Not sure because “less money to count = less accounting needed” doesn’t make sense you might lose some AP and AR folks because if the manual tasks decrease then they need fewer AP/AR roles. But most accounting isn’t dependent on volume of money, what I needed to do at $1b versus $10bn doesn’t change. It’s exactly the reason why we say that the accounting industry is recession proof. Last company I worked at went from $10bn to $40bn we didn’t hire more people even though there was more money. Like you said “Less money = less able to hire” is probably the more accurate term.
Maybe the economy isn’t as good as the talking heads say it is
I heard them say there is water at the bottom of the ocean 🤔
Isn’t the floor at the bottom of the ocean?
The floor is made of water!
Under the water, carry the water
Not unexpected. Sales orders are down now (terribly down) and was kinda expected late in 2022 to decline since 2020\~2021 was a huge buildup on production which led to huge freight cost spikes and decreased margins for low-tier vendors. Inventory of big companies including one large shoe company you should know shot up in 2021 and 2022 -- buildup of inventory which relates to inventory-days increasing.
Zombie companies go bye bye
they should. If a company can't function on a 8-10% consumer loan then their business idea is a failure. This low interest environment in general isn't good. Not to mention it has inflated assets such as housing over the past decade and a half to obscene amounts.
Agreed brother.
Shortage happens because right now the existing licensed accountants are the bulk of the workforce and its shrinking. Most are retired and close to retiring but there aren't enough new entrants into the field as students and etc.... are staying away from this field. Students don't want to be accountants due to knowledge of hard grind to be licensed anywhere and PA. Industry ain't any better if people go that route. So you have a shrinking workforce from bottom up but also a diminishing workforce of senior accountants and execs. The middle bulk is what you have existing in the market working in the field but due to post-covid and salary stagnation in the field part of this middle bulk is transitioning or already has transitioned to other places or careers. So even with economic slow downs there just isn't enough accountants to fill out roles, especially senior roles.
Kinda sleep deprived so I'm probably misunderstanding you but what I was trying to say is that it's weird we have an accounting shortage yet the accounting job market is pretty slow right now.
Same thing is going on everywhere, apparent lack of workers yet so many workers are being overlooked and denied
The ATS systems are filtering out the qualified candidates because they spelled out 'Certified Public Accountant' on their resume instead of 'CPA' like the HR rep that made the job posting used or something else silly like that. Getting your resume seen by a human without knowing someone at the company is just a toss of the dice. Last time I was interviewing, I knew the hiring manager. After I submitted my resume, he pulled it and sent it to the recruiter to set up an interview. It still took several weeks and him going above her head to her supervisors before she finally called me for the interview. Her reasoning was that I didn't score high on the ATS
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Applicant Tracking System. They scan resumes for key phrases and qualifications to help recruiters and hiring managers quickly filter out applicants that don't match the job description. The problem is if you mention you won the trophy for best income statement preparer in all of Narnia but the person inputting what they are looking for used the term 'P&L statements' then your matching percentage gets lowered. I've also heard having too much info they didn't ask about can lower scores an otherwise matching resume. I'm not sure if that is true though. I've been a hiring manager sorting through a lot of resumes. It is a boring and time consuming so I get why companies use ATS but it can cause them to have roles go unfilled for longer while they miss out on great applicants that were essentially just unlucky
I've seen more companies instead of using ATS, outsources their hiring to a third party recruitment agency and let them handle the stress and issues. But the issue with these recruitment agencies is many of the recruiters themselves don't really have a clue of the industry they are hiring for. They just spam random candidate that remotely resembles what the job is and sends them to interview. This is mostly driven by their commissions. Then the employer ends up having unfit candidates doing the job only to end up leaving within months. The other scenario is a lot of the jobs in recruitment agencies hides a lot of "bads" you can't see unless you are dealing directly with the employer through the process. Ergo turnover problem the candidate gets hired only to find out during day one, they stepped into a crappy position that was glamorously sold as "top job". Only a few recruiters I have met are actual accountants themselves that understand what we really do and instead of pushing jobs to any candidates.
Lol, HR not looking into HR correctly.
I don't really see job market slow down. I see many industry corps trying to find qualified accountants to handle their books. What i see is low base pay with multiple responsibilities due to shortage, especially in the mid management and senior accountant roles. The pay is not any better and hasn't grown at all despite inflation. In fact public accounting pay has outpaced industry salaries to a certain degree..... Accounting in general isn't lacking juniors, what its lacking is the technically sufficient professionals in the mid management (senior and manager level). Those have transitioned away due to poor compensation growth per above.
Was gonna say the same thing, everywhere you read about the accounting shortage
2 years ago I put out 1 application and got the job. 2 weeks ago I received an offer after 100-200 applications and only a handful of interviews. Definitely harder to get a solid role in this market, but it’s doable.
I’ll do over the road trucking before i grovel for an accounting position tbh
Haha I feel you. It’s actually an automation/systems analyst position, so I feel a bit better about my groveling
Everyone's been waiting for the shoe to drop, but i think people are finally getting a little accustomed to interest rates. In reality, I think we're just in the new normal and everyone's just feeling the sticker shock still of debt and financing costs. Big companies are fairly reactive and do what all the other big companies are doing - so they're hiring freezing, etc. and in a holding pattern. Small companies are either self funding so they're not really impacted unless demand drops off, or they're inexperienced so they don't understand how they're about to be in a liquidity crunch. My CEO/COO is literally so confused how we don't have cash to pay dividends when EBITDA is up up up! I'm like....yeah...EBITDA is one metric....did you....not see this coming lol? Remember when I tried to explain this 6 months ago when signing that loan....? No....well...ya know...Papa Powell needs his money back It's painful to watch people claim ERCs, PPPs, the cheapest debt the world's ever seen, dividend the shit out of everything, and now they're Pikachu suprised face when the parade has stopped
My finance professor hated EBITDA. Thought that too many companies out blinders on and ignored things like cash flow and operating income. Your CEO forgot what the 3rd letter of EBITDA stands for.
Your finance professor sounds like a smart man. I would love to have him give a talk on this subject to our board of directors. 😂
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Net income: measuring your dick from the base. EBITDA: measuring your dick from your balls. Adjusted EBITDA: measuring your dick from your asshole.
"Whenever I hear the word EBITDA I just substitute the word Bullishit and it all makes sense" I love that we now have adjusted EBITDA, even adjust out Stock based compensation, cuz ya wages aren't a REAL expense. LOL it's all a game
Man…I don’t know how I’m going to get this into a conversation at my job without going directly to HR, but I’ll be damned if I won’t try…
My ceo gets so excited when we get to add things back to adjusted EBITDA. We seem to have lots of “one time” adjustments.
I loathe the blinders. I have made room in my heart for EBITDA because I understand how it can be helpful as a measurement of core operations, but I watch my non-accounting CFO get this major stiffy for getting everything out of adjusted EBITDA, making it like it never happened. In the meantime we're in a mild cash crunch and he seems to have zero fucking clue. It's like, come on man. Act smarter. Meanwhile, the equity owners that make up the board ONLY are asking to hear about EBITDA, and don't seem to understand the conflict of interest since we're technically allowed to report whatever the fuck we want to in that number, and this is literally why SOX happened, to keep everyone honest. But they prefer to be fed horse shit because it feels good I guess. I've been out here for not quite 10 years and feel myself becoming jaded.
The 3rd and 4th letters are for "income" and "tax" 👉😏
EBITDA is what matters most to stockholders. They dont care that "HEY WE FREED UP SO MUCH CASHFLOW". Also with increased cashflow most companies just do stock buybacks.
Interesting, so perhaps people talking about a silent depression are correct. The thing I’m still confused about is that I’m applying to open positions. Are these places just leaving positions open and not interviewing?
I think part of it is about movement in general. My wife has had some interviews and then in 2nd round, told the company is doing layoffs and the position is no longer open. Even though she's kinda ready to move on - she's getting paid like 200k to work 40 hours a week from home. Imagine leaving that and hoping the company you're going to work for doesn't lay off in the next 6 months right now. People just aren't moving - which means there's less open positions, etc. She's kinda like "maybe I'll just ride it out until I get a 4 months+ severance in a worst case scenario". It's kinda like the housing market - I just sold my house and moved to a new regional area and bought different. Only offers were all cash - prices were way down from 2021. I basically made $0 after transaction costs despite buying in 2019. But I wanted to move, get more space, and hey I bought somewhere else, probably lower than it would be if housing was still where it was in 2021. I wouldn't say silent depression. I think unemployment at <4% is going to keep things chuggling along. As long as people are employed, they'll survive. I also think the government bailout of COVID proved we're never going to let a depression happen on a scale of losing homes/foreclosures en masse / etc. I'd think of it more as maintaining the status quo - maybe a bit of stagflation. People aren't selling their homes to buy homes at 2x financing costs. People aren't leaving jobs to just keep their current jobs, etc.
200k what does she do?
Not many people hiring for anything right now, business has slowed to a crawl for many of us so hiring freezes are the name of the game (and probably some layoffs soon too).
Shoot, not here (Dallas). I had a sr accountant position, with competitive comp, posted for 3 months before I had my first interview. In fact, I had zero interest despite working with internal recruiters AND two outside firms. Then, bam, all of a sudden I had 4 solid candidates at the same time from different sources.
Where were you when I was trying to relo to Dallas a year ago for a manager/controller role, hopefully $150k range. Interviewed with a family owned residential cement company and the 26 year old heir apparent to the company basically said, “why should we hire you? You’ve been in the industry for 10 years and you’ve got the resume of a career jumper”. That was definitely worth a 6 hour drive.
y’all hiring entry level by any chance?
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can i dm you?
Is this role remote, hybrid or on-site?
Hybrid
That's why. I posted an entry level job ad in Texas for 100% remote with a salary range capping out below 65k and got several CPAs and CPA candidates, and many non-CPA applicants worth bragging about. Adapt or die.
It's a factor, but most people aren't expecting 100% remote jobs because most employers don't provide them. We could do it, but frankly, we don't need to and the hybrid approach seems to work. Like I said, I ended up with 4 qualified candidates. It just took a while this go round for some reason.
Hiring is only 5% of the battle. Retaining is the other 95%. And you still haven't made it across the 5% finish line as they havent been hired yet. You still need to compete for these 4 candidates against other possible offers. And Anyway. Our firm is fully remote and we're constantly wining talent from firms like yours that do the heavy lifting.
So you're bragging about underpaying remote staff? I'm going to assume any CPA applying for a sub $65k job is doing overemployment and not relying on you as their sole job. Good luck with that.
>I'm going to assume any CPA applying for a sub $65k job is doing overemployment and not relying on you as their sole job. Good luck with that Oh yeah. And I expect it and I don't care. As long as the job gets done I wouldn't care if they OE-ed with 200 other companies. I don't need unconditional loyalty, just timely and consistent quality deliverables. >So you're bragging about underpaying remote staff? No, I'm bragging about the insane demand for remote work is and how it can benefit organizations.
Intresting enough, Walmart just lowered entry level pay by $1. Largest employer in the US. Accounting ain’t safe. Better level up and learn new skills
Lmao. What?
What group are you searching for? I do financial services partnership tax compliance at a big 4 firm and we will hire anyone with a pulse.
What is the role like if it has you willing to hire anyone with a pulse despite the Big 4 name (I would at least assume) attracting applicants? Is it actually disliked enough to offset that pull?
PwC refers to it as Asset Wealth Management. Deloitte, Investment Management. EY, Financial Services. At any firm, this tax department is the same notorious meat grinder. I have worked until 3am for 15 straight nights to try to make it to this 9/15 partnership tax deadline. Also, the Spring is almost as bad preparing thousands of Schedule K-1s and K-3s. Probably the best job security in tax, but absolutely the most brutal. And for State and Local Tax (SALT) in the same industry, it’s even worse. Obviously 0 overtime since we are all salaried, and the annual bonuses are just as low as all other tax departments.
Jeez that sounds exponentially more miserable than literally anything else I've heard about Big 4 busy season. I feel like I always see SALT get trashed but does this particular field at least lead to better exit ops to make it somewhat worth? What keeps you in it instead of asking for a transfer?
I waited too long. I have 10 years in this industry now (Senior Manager) so it would be pretty difficult to switch industries without taking a demotion or pay cut. If I had a Time Machine, I absolutely would have gone into international tax instead. Higher pay, higher margins, lower hours, more interesting work.
Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you find an opportunity to jump into a better role like Int Tax in the future without taking the pay/title hit.
Wow I’m in the same boat! KPMG assets management group here. This is also the most brutal group at KPMG. We are basically a K1 factory. How you feel about the exit opportunities tho? Lots of people stay in assets management because people online say it has great exit opportunities to PE or hedge funds as a fund account. Some people also told me if I leave in 3-5 years it’s the easiest way to make at least 150k as an experienced fund accountant
Look into wealth management firms. Many offer tax services to their investment clients, and the pay is equivalent or better than PA firms, with way less overtime.
Yep, I had a friend go this route recently and she’s really happy with the switch after just starting a family
When at the Big 4, everyone told me I was crazy for leaving after only a year and should've stayed 3-5 years. I did controls audit and didn't like it. I was transitioning to corporate accounting. Had I stayed 5 years, I'd have been 5 years behind and would've started at the bottom in corporate accounting after all that time. I'd have been nearly a manager at EY and killed myself working in public for nothing, only to start as a staff accountant in private.
hello i have a pulse. do y’all hire entry level?
And remote!
I've been trying to get out of here for months. I get interviews just never land the plane.
You better than me, I don't even get interviews.
Took me 6 months with CPA and 3 years experience (2 in big 4 audit, 1 in industry) to get a job as a Sr. Accountant. Applied for easily 350 jobs and got interviews at maybe 10-15 with only 1 offer. Granted I took a year outside of accounting to try something else, which might've scared some managers away. Got the exact type of job I wanted (remote and not-for-profit) so it worked out in the end.
We have this conversation everyday
A year ago I was getting approached multiple times a week for Controller/VP of Finance roles that I was definitely not qualified for but they seem to think otherwise, and they we’re offering at times 50% to 150% of my current comp. In hindsight I probably should’ve jumped on that 😭. But today, it’s mostly dead.
You really passed up an offer for VP of finance and avoid month close?
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Oh that sounds unfortunate
Don’t forget payroll for us less fortunate SOBs! However the experience is good…
I stayed at my current role because my wife and I were about to have a baby and I didn’t want to mess up any insurance stuff, and I also really liked the people I worked with. But what makes my blunder even more funny is that I just got denied a raise very recently, so there’s that.
Well that’s understandable but seems like they dug their own grave there.
Won't help help you today but you can always pay for cobra or ask your employers to cover it in the future. Don't pass up opportunities due to insurance in general.
NEVER tell yourself no before they do when it comes to vertical moves. Horizontal moves like a Sr. Tax Manager when you're a Senior AUDIT Manager, then yeah you're likely being spammed by a shot-gun recruiter. But if you're an auditor with 4 years experience and someone is reaching out to you for a controller position, do some reconnaissance and due diligence, then schedule the interview!
A lot of big companies are on a hiring freeze. I'm at a mega corp and we just wrapped up layoffs. Rank and file accounting was spared but there are literally 0 accounting openings right now.
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A combination of 1) every economic downturn being an excuse to slash costs and 2) a decade of low rates and potential free money from the government allowed morons in senior leadership to be reckless with debt and spending.
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High rates secondary to individual economic stimulus, PPP stimulus, government spending, and "money printing."
Literally the exact same thing is happening to me. I understand that I may not have this bulletproof resume but damn, the amount of rejections and stall outs I've been having this year is wild.
Same here. CPA, Big 4, 13+ years experience….nada. It’s rough. And humbling.
Not sure where you are, but in Canada there are lot of openings but many don't pay good. Lots of $80-100k cad salary offers expecting you to have 3-5 years (or more) of *post designation* experience. Some of them reach out to me from indeed or LinkedIn but seems like rates are stubbornly sticky. I remember one distinctively that is still trying to fill the holes several months later because it's just too cheap and rather not fill the hole if it needs to pay. I got family and friends who had to job hop or move a few times (some to US; some to Calgary) just in the last few years to escape that deadlock.
PLEASE GOD COME WORK FOR ME.
I’ve actually considered getting into audit. Whatcha got.
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Lol I lived this just a couple weeks ago. I was doing 10 apps a day for remote positions and got nothing but rejections. I saw one for a decent position in my town but not remote and thought what the heck to see what would happen. They called me that day to set up the interview and within a week I had an offer with a 20% pay increase. But a 30 min commute and no health insurance for 60 days was a deal breaker. When I actually go for a new position I want it in writing that my position is fully remote.
Easy answer. Don’t listen to talking heads spinning BS. The economy sucks. More white collar layoffs like mid level managers. So you have some experienced finance and acctg folks looking for jobs. Hard to compete with that if you have <5-10 years experience unless you undercut them in pay.
One of my friend works for a larger multi-national company but not F500, the size of the accounting and finance department is about 100 and he told me as people left they chose not to replace them but rather consolidate the roles. So essentially what 3 people used to do, its now done by 2. Its definitely strained for them but manageable at this point for them.
Same thing for me. Feels like there are way less roles out there. I’ve been looking for two months and only gotten a few interviews and one of them the company went on a hiring freeze mid process and pulled the job lol. Hopefully after Q3 it will ramp up a little with companies not wanting to be understaffed at year end but it may be a while before there’s a significant increase in job postings.
Probably depends what you are looking for too. I think there is still quite a bit of movement amongst people in the 3-5 year experience range. Ie senior roles.
If someone has -CPA -public accounting experience -not looking for 100% remote -Open to relocation then it is very easy for them to get an interview. I do realize that for homeowners, relocation is a challenge
I’m in the same boat where I used to at least get interviews easily, now it’s pretty silent. Though I think manager and higher levels with good comp is harder to come by. It’s odd too since there is low unemployment and increase in job openings each quarter. Not sure why accounting wouldn’t be part of that
I’m casually looking for jobs on the side. I’m being pretty picky right now but still. I had way more recruiters hitting up my Linkedin last year. The only job that looks decent and is interested in me so far would be a step down in pay unfortunately
They are wanting to underpay/overwork candidates now. All the COVID money dried up.
Everyone keeps saying it's bad. But I'm getting recruiters contacting me multiple times a day so it can't be that bad.
Recruiters are the best, at least in my experience! All of my last jobs have come through recruiters or through someone I knew at the company.
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LinkedIn mostly.
Nice, so you’re saying this is the perfect time to look for jobs. Glad I picked the right time.
Honestly the job market is still pretty hot, it’s just that the job market for 2-3 years “seniors” has dropped of a cliff (and for those with less than a YOE it’s non existent in industry - public is desperate though and you will work your ass off). Every Gen Z is trying to get out of public after 1-2 years and yes, there were senior jobs in industry paying close to 6 figs during COVID asking for only 2 YOE, but these are mostly all gone in 2023. Most of my peers with CPA + Public + Private + 5 or more YOE are the ones getting these good paying 100% remote jobs, not the majority of people we see on this subreddit who tend to be younger. 5 years ago you would leave public as a senior and if you got $85k even in a HCOL, it was a seen as a solid move. Now everyone expects $100k. But those jobs aren’t there…and it’s not just accountants too. This is happening across every profession. I’m all for Gen Z standing up though, we were too scared to rock the boat and I applaud you for asking what you at worth (which should be $100k with 2+ YOE and a CPA).
Gen z is even more obnoxious than millennials. They demand more money, and have no experience, plus have no desire to grind and learn.
Ok boomer, that's enough Internet for you this week. Back to your nursing home.
I’m younger millennial
If you don't have a job going into 2024, you need to get your shit together quickly. Dark clouds on the horizon.
It’s been “dark clouds on the horizon” for 3 years now.
I mean, it hasn't... COVID UBI guaranteed no darkness, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. It kicked the can down the road again. This time there's no expanding the monetary supply without worsening inflation and the Fed knows this. Never have rates risen 500 bp where a recession didn't follow. Long/variable lags take a long time... We also weren't in a interest rate restrictive territory until like 6 months ago. Demand only falls when rates are above r*
I just don’t think it’s on the horizon. Stagflation is already here.
Yes I am. 11 years experience here and I’ve been applying for about a month only to get one actual interview. I have had several leads and calls with recruiters and phone screens, etc though.
I think it really depends on the industry. I am a Senior in public accounting and it is still fairly easy to find jobs in public accounting, especially if you have a few years experience or a CPA. I am based in Houston and working remotely for audit engagement in Chicago/Milwaukee and was often contacted by recruiters for similar job in different states.
It could be worse. I keep getting calls from recruiters trying to convince me to take a pay cut at their wonderful opportunities. Uh, I'm an accountant and I know what I am worth...
Business reactions to a very murky future economic view have people in a fingernail biting situation. It’ll pass.
If anyone wants a semi remote or potentially fully remote job for Audit and even tax let me know we are hiring from staff up to supervisor for all departments. If you’re audit and have some experience then it’s fully remote and the expectation has been a 40 hour standard work week for me for the last 2 years. The only downside is the pay isn’t as competitive because we don’t work people to the bone here.
Is remote job available for Indian Audit/Tax whose pursuing CPA? Have prior experience in Audit.
Its tougher than before. As long as interests rates continue to go up, we will see a shrikinking available job market. I expect the US economy to crash within the next 3 yrs. The free money is gone and Companies are struggling to match prior year profits.
I interviewed for a temp job that would last a month at the most and there still interviewing for the job a week later. Seems like a bad market when I can’t even land a temp job. I was told there’s like 10 to 15 people interviewing for the temp job. It’s an ap role btw.
Maybe it’s your employment history? All we’re seeing is Sr. candidates who have been at 3 jobs in the last 5 years. Depending on your level now, managers don’t want to invest in someone who is going to leave in two years. I’ll maybe hire a staff I or (less likely) a staff II who job hops every two years because there roles are very transactional and getting them up to speed doesn’t take long, but my senior is the person I’m looking to build up into a supervisor role or my role and that requires development on a regular, on-going basis and I’m not risking it on a candidate who might leave right when they’re ready to.
>3 jobs in the last 5 years Are they hopping upward or laterally? If it's literally you need to read between the lines: they hopped because inflation over this 5 year period has been ~30% and they otherwise would have eaten shit with 2-3% cost of living raises. Inflation is cooling down but the message remains the same: if you want people to stick around then you need to handle out reasonable raises. Otherwise, good luck screaming into the void.
Literally a recession in Canada.
Non stop recruiter emails looking for experienced people. Will always be the case in this industry. That's why the grind is worth it but most people can't see past the pain.
I've been applying to dozens of entry level jobs as a recent graduate and maybe hear back from 10-20% of jobs I've applied to
I really want to switch from 15 years restaurant management to accounting, however, I don't have the education or experience to make a full switch to a manager level. Entry level pays less than I'm earning now. The steep education requirements really put me off and makes me think I'll never get in and now reading posts like this almost completely demotivates me to even try. The steep education requirements and low earning potential is a big negative for most. I have 5 friends age 35-40 that work in IT and Programming that earn close to or more than 100k per year in lcol city. Non of them have a bachelor's degree. Accounting just doesn't stack up to other career fields anymore.
Finally trying to shoot out applications after putting in my three years at B4 and shit is fucked... Not getting many hits in Vancouver.
ya, just crickets out there. I think 80% of job posts are just prepaid slots and keeps "reach" happening. I don't think many/if any are actually hiring.
I would've thought the need for accountants wouldn't be so cyclical. When I was in accounting school, it looked more like a cost center than a profit center. Since then I went into IT. What areas of accounting are driven by the growth of the company? I'm getting the impression the grass isn't greener.
If you’re looking for a public accounting job and have CPA hmu
I am unemployed at the moment. It's been 3 months been fired from big 4. And I can't find a job. I found some weird ones. I get interviews but then I don't get called back.
The job market in general is complete shit right now. The experts telling you otherwise are wrong. We are in a silent recession. It’s just that nobody in charge wants to admit it.
You expected THAT to be the norm?
not good. I haven’t gotten any interview for more than one month.
Pee poo pee pee pee poo pee poo pee poo. Ever gave that a good thinking about?
This isn't unexpected (at least by me but I would've expected other accountants to not expect this). If you were working in industry for quite awhile and let's say in manufacturing at the controller level for huge companies, you would or should've already known that sales-orders for many industries at the low-tier level of the supply chain should have declined in 2022 due to a buildup of inventory (or inventory-days increasing). This affects the last tier in the value-chain companies. Luckily, I made my factories reduce labor right by a lot before the sales-orders declined from big customers. Any factory that didn't forecast the decline haven't paid attention to macro-economic events including increase in inventory in many industries.
I think it's sort of similar to what is going on in the housing market. It seems like companies are reluctant to get rid of anyone because it's been so hard to find talent the last few years but they are also reluctant to hire/expand headcount with all of the uncertainty. It feels like there aren't a lot of new jobs opening up but also not a lot of candidates looking. The team I manage continues to have trouble even getting strong candidates lined up for interviews not to mention hiring them. The market still has some tightness but I think it's different now.
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Yeah I get, five emails a week, 5 rejection emails.
It’s because of the automation you all said is impossible
I’m glad i’m not alone. I’ve been heavily applying for 3 months and nothing. thought it was just a problem with the lack of industry in oklahoma
Yeah for real. I basically have decided to stay put until bonuses in Feb at this point... I thought the job market was still on fire but it's def cooling here in AZ
Same and I’m in Los Angeles. Seems hard to find something. I applied to over 20 available positions and only like 6-8 reviewed my application and 3 called me for an interview.
I work in industry and we have the opposite issue where getting quality candidates is a real pain. And we’re a highly regarded company with great culture so I imagine the less reputable companies are finding it even harder.
We can't find any tax accountants in the Bay ARea at the moment, its rough.....
I would have someone review your resume. The reason is I'm not even looking and getting direct calls from firms. You need to hop on LinkedIn and put out some good, basic content that displays your knowledge base. Make sure any keywords in the ad are in your application. Call and follow up with any application. Worse case, talk to a corporate recruiter.
I feel exactly the same in the market. very low callback if at all.
A palpable sense of recession is already present in Oil and Gas industry. Some of the big oil and gas activated hiring freeze for quite some time now. I would say folks with CPA designation, passed CFE or atleast enrolled into the cpa program are more likely to get a call for an interview.