A requirement such as “at least five years of accounting experience” does not tell us what a company actually wants the person to do. Even within accounting and finance, the experience needed to manage monthly and annual closing differs from the experience needed to handle budgeting and forecasting. Companies should first clarify their priority: strengthening the accuracy of financial reporting, gaining a clearer view of future business performance, or evaluating investments and growth opportunities alongside business leaders.
Each role calls for different strengths. Accounting specialists understand accounting standards and processes and help ensure the accuracy of financial information. FP&A professionals analyze differences of proposed budgets and actual results and develop future scenarios to inform management decisions. Finance professionals who work closely with business teams – Finance Business Partners, Controllers, Finance Director, CFO, or other similar titles – must also understand what is happening on the ground and bring their analysis into discussions with business leaders and executives.
As technology makes routine data collection, reconciliation, and reporting more efficient, the focus of human work is shifting. Finance professionals increasingly need to consider why the numbers look as they do, how they may change, and what the company should do next—and explain those conclusions clearly to stakeholders.
That is why hiring should begin with the decisions and actions a company needs the person to support, rather than experience requirements or job titles alone. From there, the company can determine how much accounting expertise, data analysis, business understanding, and communication ability the role requires.
Both “getting the numbers right” and “using the numbers to move the business forward” matter
What is happening in Japan’s finance departments is less a reduction in accounting work than a division and expansion of responsibilities.
One responsibility is to ensure that the numbers are correct: closing the books, applying accounting standards, maintaining internal controls, preparing disclosures, and safeguarding data accuracy.
Another increasingly important responsibility is FP&A (financial planning and analysis), working with business teams to support management decisions. Through budgeting, forecasting, business KPIs, and investment analysis, these professionals help answer: “Given these numbers, what should we do next?”
This shift is also visible in hiring. On one job site as of September 2026, there were more than 6,000 listings for “accounting,” more than 5,000 for “finance,” and more than 800 for “FP&A.” In Tokyo, there were also more than 600 listings for finance professionals working alongside business teams.
These figures are not a precise measure of employment. They do suggest, however, that roles beyond traditional accounting and finance are gaining a stronger presence in the hiring market.
Salary ranges show differences as well. Roles focused on financial analysis are listed at ¥8 million–¥12 million annually; roles involving business management and decision support at ¥10 million–¥18 million; and FP&A manager roles at ¥12 million–¥18 million.
This does not mean that an FP&A title automatically commands a higher salary. Compensation tends to rise as responsibilities expand from budget management to business analysis and recommendations to management.
Why is finance work changing?
Several changes are occurring at once.
First, companies face a growing need to explain where they allocate capital. It is no longer enough to look only at revenue and profit. Finance teams are expected to give management and business leaders the information needed to decide how to allocate funds among R&D, equipment, people, and business initiatives, taking into account ROIC*, ROE*, and the cost of capital.
Technology is another factor. Automation, cloud-based core systems, data analysis tools, and generative AI are making parts of data gathering, reconciliation, and routine reporting more efficient.
A 2026 survey found that nearly 80% of Japanese companies were undertaking some form of digital transformation, while 85.5% reported a shortage of people with digital transformation skills. For now, AI is used mainly to make information gathering, organization, and initial analysis more efficient, rather than to make management decisions in place of people.
As a result, the focus of human work is shifting. The increasingly important questions are why a number has changed, what may happen next, and what action the company should take.
* ROIC: A measure of how much profit a company generates from the capital invested in it.
* ROE: Profit relative to shareholders’ equity.
As AI makes data aggregation and initial analysis more efficient, people become more valuable for their ability to answer: “So, what should we do?”
Companies need people who combine accounting, data, and business knowledge
Current job listings show that companies want more than Excel skills and accounting knowledge. They seek people who understand accounting fundamentals, build financial models, analyze data, and connect the results to business challenges.
At more senior levels, the ability to influence stakeholders becomes especially important.
For example, suppose a business team presents an optimistic revenue forecast. Finance must examine whether its assumptions are sound and, if necessary, challenge them. Simply presenting numbers and rejecting the forecast could damage the relationship with the business team. The finance professional needs to understand the team’s circumstances, discuss the evidence behind the numbers, and help turn that discussion into action.
People who can combine accounting, data analysis, business understanding, and communication are therefore likely to become increasingly sought after.
Three points to reconsider in finance hiring
How should companies adjust the way they hire finance professionals?
1. Define the role clearly. A requirement such as “at least five years of accounting experience” does not reveal whether the company needs a closing specialist, someone who can manage budgets and forecasts, or someone who can make decisions alongside business leaders. The key question is which management or business decisions the new hire should support.
2. Evaluate combinations of skills. Accounting, financial analysis, data use, business understanding, and stakeholder management should not be assessed in isolation. Companies need to identify which combination their particular role requires.
3. Look beyond external hiring. Not every accountant needs to move into FP&A. Companies can create several career paths: deepening expertise in accounting, tax, or internal controls; taking responsibility for planning and analysis; managing finance data and systems; or working closely with business teams. It is more realistic to decide which capabilities to develop internally and which to hire from outside.
The difficulty of finance hiring is not caused solely by a shortage of candidates. Hiring also becomes harder when a company has not clearly defined the role and how much responsibility it intends to give the person.
When discussing requirements with a recruitment agency, it helps to go beyond “We want an accounting professional” and describe the decisions the person will support, the experience they need, and the responsibilities they will take on.
Summary
- Accounting and finance roles in Japan are expanding from reporting past results to supporting forecasts and decisions.
- Both the work of ensuring accurate numbers and the work of using those numbers to guide the business are becoming more specialized.
- People who combine accounting, data analysis, business understanding, and communication will become increasingly valuable.
- Effective hiring starts by defining which decisions the new hire needs to support, rather than relying on a job title alone.