The financial job market under pressure to deliver efficiency - what are employers looking for today?

Just a few years ago, organizations were building extensive finance structures, setting up local teams, and spreading responsibilities across multiple roles. Today, we're increasingly seeing the opposite trend - companies are simplifying their structures, centralizing processes, and expecting a single leader to take on a much broader range of responsibilities.

From a recruitment perspective, it's clear that financial expertise alone is no longer enough. Candidates today need to combine subject-matter knowledge with analytical skills, tech-savviness, and a business-minded approach to running an organization.

One leader, many locations

One of the strongest trends in the market is the consolidation of finance functions. Companies are looking for savings and greater operational efficiency. In practice, this means that a single Finance Manager or CFO is increasingly responsible not just for one country or one entity, but for several locations at once - and often for an entire region.

Not long ago, having a local CFO in every business unit was the standard. Today, organizations expect finance leaders to manage distributed structures, work in an international environment, and support the business effectively from a regional level.

Notably, more and more international companies are choosing to fill senior finance roles right here in Central and Eastern Europe.

The CEE region is becoming a natural bridge between corporate headquarters in the United States and manufacturing operations in Asia, including China and Vietnam. Finance leaders from this region very often combine strong operational competencies with considerable business flexibility and the ability to operate in an international setting.

Poland is one of those markets known for dynamic regulatory change and demanding reporting and compliance requirements. As a result, many organizations see Polish finance professionals as specialists who are well prepared to work in a complex international environment.

For candidates, this means a growing need to develop strategic competencies, cross-cultural communication skills, readiness to work in a dynamic and often highly demanding environment, and a willingness to travel frequently for business.

Accounting as the foundation of a finance career

Even though finance roles are evolving toward business partnering and strategic management, a strong accounting background remains one of the most valuable assets for candidates aspiring to become Finance Managers or CFOs.

Employers particularly value candidates who have "come up through accounting" and understand the mechanics behind the numbers. Familiarity with accounting processes, reporting, compliance, and audit not only lends greater business credibility but also enables sharper strategic decision-making.

Recruitment processes also show that candidates with a purely controlling background often struggle to compete for the most senior finance roles against those with solid accounting foundations.

Internal audit - an increasingly important part of the organization

The importance of internal audit structures is also clearly on the rise. Just a few years ago, many organizations relied mainly on external audit firms; today, more and more companies are investing in expanding their internal departments and roles focused on compliance, internal control, and risk management.

Companies want to identify potential threats faster, strengthen process controls, and minimize operational and financial risk. This is especially visible in manufacturing organizations and international corporate groups, where process transparency and regulatory compliance have become critical from the standpoint of global structures.

For candidates, internal audit experience is increasingly becoming an additional asset for advancing a finance career, particularly at the managerial and regional level.

From accountant to business analyst

The profile of operational finance roles is also changing. Companies now expect more from accountants and finance specialists than accurate bookkeeping and report preparation.

Modern finance departments are placing a growing emphasis on data analysis, process automation, and cost optimization. In practice, this means analytical skills and familiarity with productivity tools - such as Power BI, advanced Excel, SAP, Oracle, and AI- and automation-based solutions - are becoming increasingly important.

Today's accountant of the future isn't just an expert in numbers, but a business partner who can draw conclusions from data and recommend concrete actions.

A candidate's market? Not in every specialization anymore

While experienced finance leaders can still count on attractive job offers, the market is becoming more demanding overall. Companies are making hiring decisions more cautiously, recruitment processes are taking longer, and expectations for candidates are being defined with much greater precision.

The biggest advantage today goes to versatile professionals - people with extensive experience, the ability to work in an international environment, and competencies that go beyond classic finance.

At the same time, candidates today are looking not just at salary, but also at organizational stability, workplace culture, opportunities for growth, and the chance to have a real impact on the business.

The finance function of the future will be more strategic

The finance function within organizations is currently shifting from an operational and control-focused role toward becoming a central business partner and integrator of strategic decisions. Companies are working to consolidate competencies and make more efficient use of resources on a regional rather than purely local scale.

As a result, finance leaders who can combine several perspectives at once - operational, analytical, and business-oriented - while navigating a complex, international organizational environment, are becoming increasingly valuable. People capable of working within distributed models, managing change, and making decisions based on data rather than historical reporting alone are gaining more and more value.

The market's competency profile is shifting - the advantage now goes to candidates with broad functional experience, who combine an accounting, controlling, and operational background with technological skills and an understanding of end-to-end processes.

As a result, today's financial job market rewards not narrow specialization, but the ability to combine competencies and operate effectively in a highly volatile environment under growing pressure to deliver efficiency.