When examined from a high level, the current state of the Finance & Accounting industry is clear. Open positions drastically outnumber available skilled professionals, resulting in a talent shortage that makes hiring difficult and skews compensation figures. However, the details of this phenomenon vary by location.​

As hiring managers and business leaders in the Finance and Accounting industry continue to grapple with a profound skills shortage, securing knowledgeable talent has never been more difficult. The field’s low, 2.2% unemployment rate has magnified this shortage, leaving hundreds of thousands of positions unfilled.

Good people are hard to find. It may be an old adage, but it accurately summarizes the dilemma of those hiring in Finance and Accounting. Making matters worse, when a great candidate is finally found after painstaking weeks or months of searching, a new challenge arises: Compensation.
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The ongoing skills shortage is not only driving up salaries, but is also making it more difficult than ever to determine the appropriate offer to extend to a candidate. Offer an exorbitant amount to “play it safe” and tens of thousands of dollars could be spent unnecessarily. Reach out with an offer that is drastically low and the candidate may immediately move on, leaving you with no counter offer or second chance. In order to level the playing field, let’s take a look at the salaries of some of the highest paying Finance and Accounting jobs in 2017.