For many years, compensation dominated conversations about recruiting finance and accounting professionals. Competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits were widely viewed as the primary factors influencing whether candidates accepted an offer or remained with an organization.
Those fundamentals remain important, but today’s labor market tells a more nuanced story.
As finance organizations compete for experienced professionals in an increasingly constrained talent market, employers are recognizing that compensation alone rarely determines recruiting success. Candidates are evaluating organizations based on career growth, leadership, workplace flexibility, technology, and the overall employee experience alongside salary. The strongest employers are responding by building a broader employee value proposition rather than relying exclusively on pay increases.
The Corporate Finance & Accounting Talent Study 2026 illustrates that evolution. Competitive salary ranked as the most commonly used strategy to attract and retain finance talent, cited by 65 percent of respondents, narrowly surpassing comprehensive benefits packages at 61 percent. Training and development opportunities followed at 45 percent, closely ahead of company culture and employee engagement at 44 percent. Hybrid or remote work options were selected by 38 percent of respondents, while 37 percent identified automation and technology investments as an important recruiting and retention strategy. Flexible schedules rounded out the leading responses at 30 percent.
Taken together, these findings suggest that finance leaders are broadening their approach to talent management. Rather than asking what employees expect to be paid, organizations are increasingly asking why talented professionals choose one employer over another.
Compensation Remains the Foundation
It is no surprise that salary remains the leading recruiting tool.
The broader findings throughout the study demonstrate that finance hiring has strengthened, talent shortages have increased, and compensation has risen substantially during the past year. When demand for experienced professionals exceeds available supply, competitive salaries become an essential requirement rather than a differentiator. Organizations that fall behind market compensation often lose candidates before discussions about culture, development, or flexibility even begin.
Yet the relatively narrow gap between salary and benefits suggests employers recognize that financial compensation extends beyond base pay. Health insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave, bonus opportunities, wellness programs, and other benefits continue to influence employment decisions, particularly among experienced professionals evaluating long-term career opportunities rather than short-term salary gains.
Competitive compensation may open the door, but it rarely closes the deal on its own.
Career Development Has Become a Recruiting Strategy
Perhaps the most significant finding in this year’s survey is the prominence of training and development opportunities.
Nearly half of respondents identified professional development as one of their primary recruiting and retention strategies. That result reflects a broader change within the accounting profession. Finance professionals increasingly expect employers to invest in their careers, whether through continuing education, leadership development, CPA support, technical training, ERP certifications, or exposure to new technologies.
The expectation is understandable.
Finance roles continue evolving rapidly as automation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and changing regulatory requirements reshape day-to-day responsibilities. Professionals recognize that continuous learning has become essential for long-term career growth, making employers that invest in employee development considerably more attractive.
This trend also aligns with another important finding elsewhere in the study. Lack of career advancement opportunities ranks as the leading reason finance professionals leave their organizations. Organizations that emphasize development are therefore addressing both recruiting and retention simultaneously.
Culture Has Become a Competitive Advantage
Company culture and employee engagement ranked nearly equal to training opportunities, cited by 44 percent of respondents. Although culture can be difficult to define, employees consistently evaluate whether organizations foster collaboration, trust, professional respect, leadership accessibility, and meaningful work.
Finance departments are particularly dependent upon those characteristics.
Accounting professionals routinely work under demanding deadlines while managing responsibilities that require precision, judgment, and coordination across multiple business functions. Strong leadership, clear communication, and supportive working relationships often determine whether high-performing employees remain with an organization during periods of increased workload.
Culture also influences how effectively organizations develop future finance leaders. Employees who feel supported are generally more willing to assume additional responsibilities, participate in cross-functional initiatives, and pursue leadership opportunities that strengthen succession planning.
Culture, therefore, should not be viewed as a soft benefit. It is increasingly becoming a business asset.
Technology Has Become Part of the Employee Experience
One of the more revealing findings in the survey is the growing importance of automation and finance technology as a recruiting and retention tool.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents identified investments in automation and technology as part of their employee value proposition. That percentage would have been difficult to imagine only a few years ago, when technology investments were typically justified through productivity gains or cost reduction.
Today, employees increasingly view workplace technology as an indicator of organizational maturity.
Finance professionals prefer environments where repetitive work is minimized, data is accessible, reporting processes are efficient, and modern ERP systems support decision-making. Few experienced accountants are eager to spend their careers maintaining disconnected spreadsheets, performing manual reconciliations, or navigating outdated systems that create unnecessary administrative work.
Organizations investing in technology are therefore improving both operational efficiency and employee satisfaction.
As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into finance operations, access to modern technology may become an even stronger differentiator in recruiting experienced professionals.
Flexibility Has Become an Expected Benefit Rather Than a Unique Perk
Hybrid and remote work options remain important, although their relative position within the rankings has changed.
Earlier in the evolution of post-pandemic work models, flexibility often served as a defining competitive advantage. By 2026, however, many organizations have established long-term workplace policies, making flexibility one component of a broader employment package rather than the primary deciding factor.
That does not diminish its importance.
Many finance professionals continue valuing workplace flexibility because it improves work-life integration, reduces commuting time, and expands geographic employment opportunities. Employers competing for specialized talent may still find hybrid arrangements particularly valuable when recruiting experienced Controllers, FP&A professionals, tax specialists, or technical accountants whose expertise is difficult to replace.
The survey suggests flexibility has matured into a standard expectation rather than an extraordinary benefit.
Organizations should therefore evaluate workplace policies alongside compensation, career development, leadership quality, and technology rather than treating flexibility as an isolated recruiting strategy.
The Employee Value Proposition Continues to Expand
Perhaps the most important lesson from this year’s findings is that finance professionals now evaluate employers through multiple dimensions simultaneously.
Salary attracts attention.
Benefits provide security.
Career development creates opportunity.
Leadership builds trust.
Technology improves daily work.
Flexibility supports quality of life.
No single factor guarantees successful recruiting or retention. Instead, organizations increasingly succeed by combining these elements into a coherent employment experience that reflects both professional growth and operational excellence.
Finance leaders who focus exclusively on compensation may remain competitive in the short term, but organizations that invest across the broader employee experience are more likely to build stable, high-performing finance teams over time.
What This Means for Finance Leaders
The Corporate Finance & Accounting Talent Study 2026 demonstrates that attracting and retaining finance talent has become considerably more sophisticated than offering competitive salaries alone.
While compensation and benefits remain fundamental, employers increasingly distinguish themselves through leadership development, meaningful career progression, organizational culture, workplace flexibility, and investments in modern finance technology. These factors reinforce one another, creating environments where experienced professionals choose to build long-term careers rather than simply accept the highest salary offer.
As competition for finance talent continues, organizations with the strongest employee value propositions will likely be best positioned to recruit exceptional professionals, strengthen retention, and develop the next generation of finance leadership.
Download the complete Corporate Finance & Accounting Talent Study 2026 to explore all survey findings, benchmarking data, and analysis covering compensation, hiring plans, talent shortages, workplace trends, recruiting, retention, training, and artificial intelligence in finance and accounting.
