The good news: Accounting jobs were said to be the hardest to find qualified workers for by 32% of CFOs (another 18% said it was audit and finance staff). So if you’re looking for a new gig  – or just want to be prepared for the worst — a freshly polished resume listing any new skills you’ve developed is key.

Where the jobs are

Highest anticipated hiring rates by region:

• Middle Atlantic (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) 
• West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas)

Sure, it’s rough out there — that’s not news. But you may be surprised at how directly these tough times could affect Accounting pros — even if your job is perfectly safe.

Here are the four trends you can expect to see in the near future:

1. More workers moving off Payroll accounts and into A/P’s master vendor file. Companies may slash staffers (or just quit hiring new employees) in order to use less expensive temps and independent contractors to do the work. But here’s the rub: If the job hasn’t changed much, IRS will likely consider those workers employees — and expect your company to withhold employment taxes.
2. More employees getting flexible work hours/telecommuting options. With sky-high gas prices, some workers are already demanding this perk as the only way they can afford to stay at their jobs. It’s a mixed blessing for Accounting: You may benefit from the perk yourself, but it can create a paperwork nightmare if you have to handle increased expense reports, communication snafus, etc.
3. More complicated payrolls. It’s unfortunate but true. When employees are really feeling the economic pain, they’re more likely to end up with additional garnishments, judgments and liens against them. Which means more paperwork and headaches for Payroll.
4. Less business travel, but more complicated expense reports. Many companies are trimming unnecessary biz travel. But some trips are unavoidable. Plus, airlines are adding many last-minute charges for things employees can’t pay in advance — like checking bags. So while you may see fewer T&E reports, the ones you do have to process are more likely to have missing receipts, non-credit card charges and other potential snags.

Fewer tax dollars into state coffers means they have to make up the funds from somewhere. So how will it affect your company?

There’s a lot of debate about whether or not the U.S. is in a recession, headed for one or on track to improve shortly. What’s not up for debate is this: Whatever the larger picture may be, many individual states are hurting — badly.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 23 states and Puerto Rico are expecting deficits in the next fiscal year. We’re not talking peanuts — in California alone, the two-year deficit is expected to be $16 billion. And more than two-thirds of state officials said they’re “concerned” about the health of their budgets in the short-term.

Why it’s scary for companies like yours: Falling real estate values, rising unemployment and other consumer-related credit troubles make it unlikely states can squeeze any more blood from those stones. So when they attempt to make up those budget shortfalls, they’re going to be looking at business taxes.

One likely target on their hitlist: sales and use taxes. States can easily increase revenues from these taxes without ever technically “raising” rates, since they can simply change definitions to make more products and services taxable. (And a bonus for government officials is that in an election year, changes like that don’t garner any gripes from voters.)

To keep your company safe, you’ll need to be extra alert for upcoming changes in these rules. Be nimble: If a previously exempt item becomes non-exempt you’ll need to not only make sure your internal processes account for the change, but you’ll need to make sure your vendors or customers are caught up on the change too.