According to a report from staffing agency Distinct, the return-to-office shift and an overall decline in job postings have reduced the availability of remote work in the accounting profession. Distinct focuses on staffing for public accounting, legal, and finance firms primarily on the East Coast.
Although the research in the report provides only a snapshot of public accounting jobs and job seekers throughout the country, it reveals a key trend—despite a dip in remote job postings, the demand from candidates for these positions remains strong.
Earlier in 2024, Distinct reported, online job directory FlexJobs released its annual ranking of the top remote roles in the U.S. Accountants took the top spot in 2023. Accounting also ranked sixth among the most searched jobs on the platform. The 2023 data also demonstrated that 12.7% of full-time accounting employees were fully remote, with 28.2% in hybrid roles.
However, this trend is shifting. A recent report from Resume Builder showed that 90% of firms plan to enforce return-to-office policies by the end of 2024. The main drivers for the change cited were productivity (86%), company culture (71%), employee well-being (57%) and retention (55%).
Distinct looked into data from Indeed Hiring Insights on key public accounting job titles, such as tax manager and audit manager, to compare job and job seeker volumes from July 2023 to July 2024.
The key takeaways include an overall decline in job postings. U.S. public accounting job postings dropped by 24.4% from July 2023 to July 2024, with remote roles experiencing an added 6.8% dip.
While the decline occurred, the demand for remote positions remained the same. There was stable candidate interest for remote roles—just 0.3% less than the 2023 figures. Meanwhile, the broader market experienced an 8.2% dip.
The report also mentioned a surge in job seekers’ interest in remote tax positions, which jumped to 134.5% of the levels in July 2023 despite a steep 6.4% drop in postings for remote tax jobs.
For CPA trends, job postings dropped by 34.6% across the country and 44.2% for remote roles. However, interest in remote CPA positions rose, with job seeker volumes rising to 118.3% compared to the previous year’s total.
In an article about the same report, CPA Practice Advisor focused on the number of candidates looking for remote tax roles in the accounting sector, which considerably outweighs the number of remote jobs available,
According to the report, clear trends were seen when looking specifically at tax-related positions, such as tax manager and tax senior. The drop in remote tax jobs is particularly steep.
The U.S. market saw a 17.8% decline in the number of tax-related jobs between July 2023 and July 2024, while the number of remote tax-related roles dropped by 24.2%. However, the number of job seekers looking into remote tax roles jumped to 134.5% of the prior year’s total. By contrast, the U.S. market increase was more modest at 102.8%.
By contrast, audit roles showed a consistent drop in job postings and seekers. The average number of remote tax jobs dipped significantly by 24.2%, falling from 102 in July 2023 to 76 in July 2024. By comparison, job postings nationwide experienced a less steep dip, dropping by 17.8% to 2,317 from 2,818.
This trend highlights the influence of CPA firms on preparing for the busy season. December and January, are the only months when remote job postings exceeded the average rate of decline seen in public accounting roles throughout the country, and the increase in January was less pronounced.
Meanwhile, CPA job postings saw a notable dip, with a 34.6% drop throughout the country and an even steeper 44.2% drop in remote roles versus July 2023 levels,
Despite fewer jobs available, the number of CPA job seekers stayed steady nationwide, holding at 101.8% of last year’s total. Interest in remote CPA roles jumped, with job seekers increasing to 118.3% of the previous year’s total. These reflect differences of 9.6% for job postings and 16.5% for job seekers, U.S. vs. remote specifically.