Accountancy shortages are pushing employers into the interim market

Fewer UK trainees completing qualification has tightened supply at the three-to-six-year post-qualification mark, precisely where most finance functions recruit.

Employers unable to hire permanently are turning to interim controllers and fractional finance directors, particularly in SME and private-equity-backed businesses facing reporting deadlines.

The medium-term risk is structural: filling gaps with interims does not build the internal pipeline that would close the shortage.

In finance and professional services, the binding constraint is rarely candidate interest — it is process speed and clarity on progression. Regulated employers who can describe scope, reporting line and the first twelve months precisely tend to win against better-paying competitors who cannot. Where the shortage is structural, funding qualification internally beats waiting for a fully finished candidate.

Across the UK, we are seeing employers run smaller, more deliberate searches: fewer roles open at once, tighter shortlists, and more willingness to train for the last twenty per cent of a specification.

If you are hiring in finance right now, the practical takeaway is to shorten your process and be explicit about what is genuinely non-negotiable. Fewer, better matched candidates almost always beat a longer list — and in a market moving this quickly, speed of decision is itself a competitive advantage.