Car dealerships have an accountant problem. Namely, they are running out of them.
Over the past two years, I’ve been writing about the growing shortage of dealership controllers, and the situation has only deteriorated. Not only is it increasingly difficult to find knowledgeable controllers, but the crisis extends to dealership accounting talent as a whole.
Analyzing the growing shortage and its implications
Car dealerships across the United States are facing a significant and worsening shortage of qualified accounting professionals, a trend that mirrors the broader accounting talent crisis but presents unique challenges within the automotive retail sector.
Industry experts have officially classified dealership controllers as an “endangered species,” with the demand for qualified personnel far outstripping supply. This shortage is compounded by the growing complexity of dealership operations, rapid technological changes, and the specialized knowledge required for automotive accounting. The evidence is compelling—83% of senior financial leaders report an accounting talent shortage as of 2024, up from 70% just two years prior5. For dealerships specifically, this crisis threatens financial accuracy, regulatory compliance, and ultimately, profitability, as they struggle to find professionals who can navigate the intricate financial landscape of automotive retail.
The scale of the auto industry accountant shortage
The accounting profession as a whole has experienced a dramatic contraction in recent years, with more than 340,000 fewer accountants in the workforce compared to five years ago. This broader trend has hit auto dealerships particularly hard, as they require accounting professionals with specialized knowledge of the industry’s unique financial structures. Dealership accounting demands expertise in areas ranging from complicated capital investments, unique workforce challenges, and profitability swings to complex factory incentive reconciliations, adherence to dealership generally accepted accounting practices (DGAAP), and required process-driven accounting operations, creating an even smaller pool of qualified candidates for these positions. The shortage has only intensified since early 2024, leaving dealership owners scrambling to fill critical financial positions while the available talent pool continues to shrink.
The magnitude of this crisis becomes evident when examining the broader accounting landscape. More than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors left their jobs within a two-year period, representing a steep 17% decline from the profession’s peak in 2019. This exodus has coincided with a precipitous drop in new entrants to the field, as fewer students select accounting as their major. The situation is further exacerbated by demographic realities, with an estimated 75% of the CPA workforce having reached retirement age in 2020, creating a generational vacuum in accounting departments across industries, including automotive retail.
Unique challenges facing dealership accounting
Car dealerships face distinctive accounting challenges that make the talent shortage particularly acute in their sector. The complex nature of dealership operations requires accountants to understand multiple revenue streams, including new and used vehicle sales, F&I, Fixed Ops department including parts inventory management, financing arrangements, and manufacturer incentive programs. This specialized knowledge is never covered in standard accounting education, creating a steeper learning curve for new hires and further limiting the pool of immediately qualified candidates.
As industry veterans retire, dealerships are finding it increasingly difficult to replace their expertise and institutional knowledge.
The nature of dealership accounting has also grown more complex over time. Today’s dealership controllers and CFOs must navigate sophisticated financial software, maintain compliance with evolving regulations, manage cash flow across multiple departments, and provide strategic financial insights to ownership. This evolution has transformed the role from a traditional bookkeeper to a strategic financial partner, requiring a broader skill set that combines accounting expertise with business acumen and technological proficiency. Finding professionals who possess this comprehensive skill set has become exceedingly difficult in the current labor market, placing additional strain on dealership operations.
Root causes of the dealership accounting talent shortage
The current shortage of dealership accountants stems from multiple interconnected factors affecting both supply and demand of qualified professionals. On the supply side, there has been a marked decline in accounting graduates entering the workforce. The CPA Journal reports a 7% decrease from 2021 to 2022 in the number of candidates taking the CPA exam, indicating a shrinking pipeline of new talent. This decline reflects broader educational trends, as students increasingly gravitate toward fields perceived as more dynamic or lucrative, such as technology and finance. The accounting profession has struggled to shed its image as boring or mundane, despite the evolving nature of the work, particularly in specialized sectors like automotive retail.
Economic factors also play a significant role in the accounting talent shortage.
- Entry-level pay for accountants and auditors has been rising at its quickest pace in recent years – surging 21% in the first quarter of 2023, 13% in 2022, and 4% in 2021, according to Wall Street Journal reporting.
- The evidence clearly indicates that the upward salary trend has continued. The most concrete recent development is EY’s planned 10% increase for starting compensation in late 2024, with additional increases committed for the following two years.
- As of early 2025, the data suggests that firms are increasingly willing to invest in higher compensation as a necessary response to persistent talent shortages
However, these recent increases have not been sufficient to stem the tide of experienced professionals leaving the field for more lucrative opportunities in tech, investment banking, and private equity. For dealerships, which often compete with these higher-paying sectors for talent, this salary escalation creates additional financial pressure without necessarily solving the underlying shortage.
Demographic shifts and career preferences
The accounting profession is experiencing a significant demographic transition that directly impacts dealerships. With 75% of CPAs having reached retirement age in 2020, the industry is losing its most experienced practitioners faster than they can be replaced. This generational shift is particularly problematic for dealerships, which rely heavily on the specialized knowledge and experience of seasoned controllers and staff who understand the nuances of automotive accounting. The exodus of these professionals represents not just a numerical reduction in available talent but also a substantial loss of institutional knowledge and expertise that takes years to develop.
Changing career preferences among younger professionals have further exacerbated the shortage. Today’s accounting graduates often prioritize work-life balance, remote work options, and career advancement opportunities that traditional dealership accounting roles may not offer.
The impact of the accountant shortage on dealership operations
The shortage of qualified accounting professionals has created tangible operational challenges for auto dealerships nationwide. According to industry data, businesses now need up to five weeks to fill accounting positions, creating significant delays in financial processes and increasing the workload for existing staff. For dealerships, these delays can disrupt critical financial reporting, complicate month-end closings, and hamper strategic decision-making based on timely financial insights. The shortage has forced many dealership owners to divert their attention from growth initiatives to address immediate accounting needs, creating opportunity costs beyond the direct financial impact.
Real-world example:
In the past few months, I’ve come across several situations where dealership accounting systems were poorly set up from the start—and things only went downhill from there. These issues drain valuable energy that dealers could otherwise focus on driving sales.
The shortage of qualified accounting talent further amplifies this problem. With fewer skilled hands, the remaining staff faces an overwhelming workload, significantly increasing the risk of financial inaccuracies. We’ve all made mistakes when stretched thin—what I refer to as “capacity constraints.” However, a troubling pattern is emerging:
When already strained accounting teams lack the necessary experience and training, small mistakes can quickly escalate into serious financial misstatements or compliance risks.
A striking example of this occurred last summer during the CDK cyberattack. The outage, which lasted nearly a month, forced dealerships to rely on manual paperwork and a patchwork of software solutions to continue serving customers. Once systems were back online, everything—from new and used car sales to service, parts, internals, warranty—had to be manually re-entered into the system. Among the stores I monitored, at least 50% lacked a contingency plan. Unfortunately, in some cases, this led to significant errors that may never be fully corrected.
Real-world examples highlight just how severe this risk can be.
While the CDK cyberattack was the most notable case, the real threat lies in the lack of experienced and knowledgeable accounting staff. This skill gap creates significant weaknesses in financial reporting controls, complicates the collection of substantial vehicle and other receivables, and delays accurate regulatory filings. The fallout is substantial—misinformed business decisions, strained relationships with manufacturers and lenders, and even potential legal consequences.
Financial and strategic implications
The accounting shortage creates concrete financial consequences for dealerships beyond the obvious costs of recruitment and higher salaries. Without adequate financial analysis and planning, dealerships struggle with budget management, expense control, and strategic planning, resulting in suboptimal decision-making and financial performance. The situation creates a vicious cycle—as existing staff becomes overwhelmed, the risk of turnover increases, potentially worsening the shortage and further degrading financial operations.
This cycle threatens dealerships’ ability to maintain profitability in an industry already characterized by tight margins and significant operational complexity.
Employee burnout among accounting teams represents another significant hidden cost. A Gallup study found that actively disengaged employees cost U.S. businesses between $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity. For dealerships, the impact is particularly acute given the specialized nature of automotive accounting and the difficulty of quickly replacing expertise. Burned-out accountants not only produce less work but potentially lower-quality work, increasing the risk of errors in financial reporting, tax filings, and manufacturer claims processing. These errors can have significant downstream effects, including:
- Missed financial opportunities
- Cash flow disruptions
- Compliance issues that further strain dealership resources.
Building sustainable accounting infrastructure
Dealerships finding success amid this accountant crisis are those developing more sustainable financial systems and processes. Comprehensive documentation of accounting procedures creates valuable institutional knowledge that new hires can leverage, reducing dependence on specific individuals and shortening onboarding timelines.
Cross-training staff across financial functions builds organizational resilience, ensuring that critical processes can continue even when specific positions remain unfilled.
As the accounting shortage intensifies, forward-thinking dealerships are reimagining their approach to financial management. Rather than relying solely on traditional hiring, many are turning to alternative talent sourcing strategies, including specialized services like “Automotive CFO To Go” that provide dealership-specific financial expertise on a consulting basis. This approach allows dealerships to access highly-specialized knowledge without the challenges of full-time recruitment.
These approaches represent a fundamental shift from viewing accounting as a series of individual roles to seeing it as an integrated system that can adapt to staffing fluctuations.
I’ll leave you with this
The evidence clearly confirms that car dealerships are indeed running out of qualified accountants, facing a talent crisis that threatens their financial operations and overall business health. This shortage represents more than a temporary staffing challenge—it’s a structural shift in the accounting profession that disproportionately affects specialized sectors like automotive retail.
With 83% of senior financial leaders reporting accounting talent shortages and dealership controllers being classified as an “endangered species,” the crisis has reached a critical point requiring innovative solutions. The convergence of retiring Baby Boomers, declining interest in accounting careers among students, and increasing complexity of dealership financial operations has created a perfect storm that cannot be addressed through traditional hiring approaches alone.
For dealership owners and managers navigating this challenging landscape, success will likely come from embracing multiple complementary strategies. Leveraging specialized services, outsourcing certain functions, implementing advanced accounting technologies, and building more resilient financial systems can help mitigate the impact of the accounting shortage.
The dealerships that thrive will be those that view this crisis not just as a staffing challenge but as an opportunity to modernize their financial operations. While the accounting talent shortage shows no signs of immediate resolution, proactive dealerships can implement measures to protect their financial integrity and position themselves for sustainable growth despite these headwinds.
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