The AI Skills Gap Is Reshaping Finance Hiring: What It Means for 2026
The UK finance and accountancy market has spent the past year adjusting to rising costs, day-one employment rights and stubborn skills shortages. But a newer pressure is now shaping who gets hired and how much they are paid: the artificial intelligence skills gap. As automation moves from back-office experiment to everyday finance tool, the ability to work confidently alongside AI is fast becoming a dividing line between candidates who stand out and those who get overlooked.
The numbers tell a clear story
Skills shortages are not new to finance, but their scale is striking. Around 92% of accountancy and finance employers say they have faced skills shortages, and almost half — 49% — now report moderate or extreme AI-specific skills shortages within their teams. In other words, employers are not just short of qualified accountants; they are short of qualified accountants who can apply AI and automation to their work.
That scarcity is feeding directly into pay. Accountancy and finance salaries rose by an average of 3.4% over the past year, ahead of the 2.2% average uplift across all UK sectors, and 67% of finance hiring managers say they are willing to offer higher salaries because qualified talent is so hard to find. When demand outstrips supply, the people with the most in-demand skills set the price.
What this means for employers
If you are hiring, the temptation is to hold out for the "perfect" candidate who already has deep AI fluency. In practice, that person is rare and expensive — and often already employed. A more realistic strategy is to hire for aptitude and invest in development.
That means writing job specs around outcomes rather than long tool checklists, and being honest about which skills are genuinely essential on day one versus which can be built. It also means recognising that flexibility now carries real weight. Full five-day office attendance is no longer neutral in most finance disciplines; inflexibility on hybrid working has become an active hiring disadvantage, and in a candidate-short market it can quietly rule you out of contention for the strongest people.
Above all, speed matters. With time-to-hire lengthening across the sector, a slow or over-complicated process is one of the most common ways good candidates are lost to a faster-moving competitor.
What this means for candidates
For finance and accountancy professionals, the message is encouraging: the fundamentals still matter most, but curiosity about technology is what increasingly sets strong candidates apart. You do not need to become a data scientist. You do need to show that you can use modern tools — cloud accounting platforms, automation, and AI-assisted analysis — to work faster and add insight, not just process transactions.
Practical examples go a long way. Being able to describe how you automated a reconciliation, cut a reporting cycle, or used a new system to free up time for analysis is far more persuasive than simply listing software on your CV. Employers are buying judgement and adaptability as much as technical knowledge.
Hiring well in a tight market
The AI skills gap is not a reason for employers to panic or for candidates to feel left behind. It is a signal that the definition of a strong finance professional is broadening — combining trusted technical expertise with a willingness to work alongside new tools. The organisations that win talent in 2026 will be the ones that hire for potential, move quickly, and offer the flexibility today’s professionals expect.
At EPS Recruitment, we specialise in finance and accountancy recruitment across the UK, and we spend our days matching capable people with employers who value them. Whether you are building a team and want honest advice on what the market will bear, or you are a candidate weighing your next move, we would be glad to help. Get in touch with the EPS team to start the conversation.
Sources: Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends, Reed Accountancy & Finance Salary Guide 2026, and Robert Half UK Finance & Accounting research.
