CFOs’ plans for hiring across their organizations get a lot of attention, but the difficulties finance chiefs encounter while hiring in their own department? Not so much.

To dig into the matter, Morning Brew, Inc. surveyed 352 finance and accounting executives about their hiring and staffing challenges, the quality of the finance talent in the market, and the impact of AI.

Six in 10 finance professionals Morning Brew surveyed (60%) said that hiring finance and accounting personnel was somewhat or much harder now than in previous years, while 24% indicated it was about the same.

Hiring can also take a long time. More than four in 10 respondents (41%) said it takes three to six months to fill a role on their teams, while 10% said it takes seven to 12 months.

And when Morning Brew asked about the ease of finding qualified candidates, 54% indicated it was harder compared with previous years (39% said it was about the same).

Read more of the insights from our hiring and careers survey report.—CV, AZ

Organizations with exploding revenue growth have what many might see as a “champagne problem,” as Holly Grey, CFO of penetration testing company Horizon3.ai, described it.

Anyone popping a bottle of bubbly—which is under tremendous pressure, mind you—is aware of what can happen if they botch it. CFOs whose companies are experiencing hyper growth must balance that growth with the appropriate organizational support, experts told CFO Brew.

Grey, who joined Horizon3 last year, described the company’s revenues as “going up and off to the right.” She’s helping Horizon3 leaders continue the balancing act that began before her arrival. “You have to prioritize a little bit,” Grey said, describing the balance between revenue growth and organizational discipline.

What are some of the components that Horizon3 balances? There’s product and the go-to-market strategy. But then there’s the support framework.

Keep reading.—AZ

Things could be better, but they could also be worse.

Even before the world seemingly turned upside down in March following the US-Israeli war with Iran, the labor market was already “stuck in neutral,” as Laura Ullrich, director of economic research in North America at Indeed’s Hiring Lab, described it. Job demand continued to fall in February, while attrition largely remained the same, according to the newest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published on Tuesday.

Diving into the data. Job openings fell to 6.9 million in February, from 7.2 million in January. Similarly, total hires fell by around half a million in that same period, to 4.8 million in February. The total hires rate for February decreased to 3.1%, which hasn’t been that low since April 2020.

Total quits declined slightly to 3.1 million in February, from around 3.1 million in January, while layoffs and discharges were unchanged at 1.7 million.

Keep reading on HR Brew.—PM

AI isn’t lacking attention—it’s lacking practical application. On April 7, learn how finance leaders are cutting through the noise and putting AI to work inside modern cloud financial platforms. We’ll cover how to move from testing to tangible outcomes, build trust in AI-driven insights, and turn a constant stream of “potential” into something that actually improves how your team operates.