Accounting Ranks First In Something Good For Once

It’s possible this is just clickbait and thinly veiled advertising for remote recruiters (*sweats nervously*) but according to CNBC Make It, “accountant” is “the number one in-demand remote job companies are hiring for.” Adds their headline, “it can pay over $100,000 a year.” Insert sitcom laugh track here.

The most sought-after remote job companies are hiring for isn’t in tech, as you might expect. Accountant is the hottest work-from-home job on the market right now.

There are no doubt plenty of tech people looking for a job. We’re not even two weeks into a new year and 48 tech companies — including Discord, Instagram, Google, and Trend Micro — have laid off 7,528 people (source: Layoffs.fyi). If that pace continues, the sector stands to lose 195,728 jobs this year, which would be an improvement from last year’s 262,582 (compare this to the <8000 people laid off from Big 4 and mid-tier accounting firms in 2023).

Back to CNBC:

Accountants claimed the top spot in FlexJobs’ annual ranking of the top remote jobs in the U.S., thanks to increasing demand for these skilled professionals across several industries, including finance, health care and government.

Alright, we need to define “top.” The ranking they’re talking about is “Top 100 Companies to Watch for Remote Jobs in 2024” and “accountant” tops the list under the heading “Most Popular and Searched-For Remote Job Titles.” So more people are searching for remote accounting jobs than “product manager” or “customer service representative” (on their platform, I assume). What that tells me is that accounting professionals have a wandering eye, certainly nothing novel there. And with many firms pulling back on remote work this past year, it’s no wonder people are looking for remote accounting jobs.

The full list from FlexJobs:

The below list includes the top 10 remote job postings to be looking for from companies:

1. Accountant
2. Executive Assistant
3. Financial Analyst
4. Product Manager
5. Customer Service Representative
6. Software Engineer
7. Customer Success Manager
8. Accounting Manager
9. Product Designer
10. Writer

“Remote job postings to be looking for from companies”? In another list below that (which notably does not have accountant at #1), it says “the above list is attributed to the most popular jobs posted by companies.” Did I accidentally make decaf this morning or does this not mean what the CNBC headline implied it means? For all we know tech people are carpet-bombing accounting jobs looking for any work they can get.

Of the 100 companies that posted the highest number of remote jobs in 2023 in this same list or ranking or whatever we’re calling it, not a one is a major accounting firm. Or a minor one. Maybe we should move on.

CNBC says:

While the average mean salary for accountants in the U.S. is about $68,000, according to ZipRecruiter data, more experienced accountants stand to earn anywhere from $150,000 to upwards of $200,000 a year.

Although Bloomberg reports that the Big Four accounting firms — KPMG, PWC, EY and Deloitte — collectively shed thousands of jobs in 2023, such layoffs are rare, Pollak says.

“As an accountant, you are a highly valued employee, so the risk of getting laid off is pretty low,” she notes. “You’re a trusted member of the inner circle, you see all of the dirt and get the company out of trouble — it’s a very important, stable job.”

🤔