The Growing Demand for Tax Managers

Of the accounting leadership roles we recruit for, Tax Manager is consistently the hardest to fill. That's not an accident — it's the product of a shrinking specialist pipeline meeting steadily growing demand.

The CPA Pipeline Problem, Concentrated in Tax

Roughly half of accounting industry leaders report it now takes 60 days or longer to fill accounting positions — and roles that specifically require a CPA, which most credible Tax Manager candidates hold, average around 73 days, about 41% longer than non-CPA roles. Tax work sits at the sharpest end of this problem because it requires not just general accounting fluency but specialized, frequently-changing technical knowledge that takes years to build.

Why Demand Keeps Rising

Demand for accounting and tax services hasn't slowed even as the workforce has contracted — if anything, growing regulatory complexity has increased the amount of tax work companies need done. More than half of CPA firms now use outsourcing or offshoring to cope with their own staffing gaps, which shifts some transactional tax work around but doesn't reduce the need for an in-house Tax Manager who can own strategy, planning, and the relationship with outside preparers or auditors.

What Makes a Strong Tax Manager Candidate

• CPA license, or clearly equivalent depth of experience if unlicensed
• Experience managing both compliance (filings, provisions) and planning (strategy, structuring)
• Comfort managing outside relationships — auditors, outside preparers, tax counsel
• For multi-state or multi-entity businesses, real experience with that complexity, not just single-entity filings

If a Tax Manager search has stalled, it's worth asking whether the job description is filtering out qualified candidates who don't check every box, or whether the compensation range reflects how tight this specific market has become. We recruit Tax Manager roles specifically and can help you calibrate both.