Lately, I’ve found myself obsessing over something that most people wouldn’t notice unless it jumped out from behind a sales desk and bit them. It’s not flashy, it’s not trending, and it certainly won’t get you invited to any parties (unless it’s a very sad party with spreadsheets and stale donuts). But once you see it, you can’t unsee it: the dealership controller – the person responsible for making sure the financial wheels don’t fall off – has quietly become one of the most critical, and most endangered, roles in the entire store.
Now, I realize this isn’t the kind of thing most people dwell on. Even car people – those hardy souls who can quote book values like baseball stats – tend to glaze over when the subject of accounting comes up. But I’ve been in this business long enough to know that a dealership without a competent controller is like a body without a spine. It might look okay from the outside, but good luck getting it to stand up straight.
While some still associate me with the glitzy world of automotive digital marketing (read: people asking why their TikTok didn’t sell any cars), I’ve felt the gravitational pull back to where the real chaos happens: inside the dealership walls, buried beneath a mountain of unreconciled bank statements and untrained office staff.
As it turns out, I missed it: the systems, the strategy, the strange joy of turning financial chaos into something you can actually explain to a lender without breaking into a sweat. So here I am again, sleeves rolled up, helping dealerships find clarity, confidence, and maybe even a little calm in the back office.
The growing shortage of qualified dealership controllers.
A surprising fact about me is that I like to clean up accounting and set dealers up for the best financial outcomes possible. In the last few years, I’ve witnessed a severe decline in overall dealership accounting skills and a lack of qualified dealership controllers, which has been the cause of some shockingly negative results.
When I first started noticing the decline, I was talking with a respected colleague—an automotive CPA—and we both agreed the industry has a problem brewing. He put it bluntly:
The shortage in qualified controllers is the next great crisis. We will be talking about it like techs soon…not sure why we aren’t already.
In the months that followed, I started bringing it up with more colleagues during our conversations, and the response was unanimous: skilled dealership accounting professionals are hard to come by, and they definitely don’t grow on trees.
Why dealership accounting isn’t taught…and maybe it can’t be.
As most dealers and managers know, for many years, qualified technicians have been very hard to come by. But no one seems nearly as panicked about the people handling all the money. You know…those quiet office staffers and controllers who make sure the place doesn’t implode in a flurry of unpaid flooring and mis-posted warranty credits.
Oddly enough, the skill set required to run a dealership’s financial brain center is even rarer. There’s no school for it. No “Dealership Accounting 101″ class. And if someone does show up fresh out of college with a crisp accounting degree, they’re often more confused than helpful. (I’ve tried to train many of them and trust me, it’s not just a learning curve; it’s a learning cliff.)
Numbers don’t lie, but they do have baggage.
Yes, the traditional accounting debits and credits structure still applies, but mastering dealership accounting requires an understanding of how the dealership itself runs. The numbers don’t just exist in columns – they’re the echoes of real-world decisions.
A number means someone made a choice: to stock six purple Mustangs with orange/white interiors or to take in a trade for $36,000 when it’s only worth $20,000. And the farther up the food chain you go, the more critical it becomes to know how to trace that number back to the original sin that created it… and then post it exactly where it belongs.
The perfect storm of partial knowledge.
In the late 90s, I worked for a very diversified auto group dealer who not only owned dealerships but also many other businesses. His CPA was a prestigious Big-Four accounting firm who would visit the stores to gather information to file the tax returns. I spent a good sum of time with them explaining how car deals work, how service and parts work, how revenue flows into the accounting office and how it’s accounted for.
By the time they left, they looked dazed but grateful, like study-abroad students who survived immersion. I’m pretty sure I earned them the equivalent of a Master’s in Dealership Accounting. With honors.
And while this may sound like a quirky one-off, it’s not. What I learned – after years of watching the dance between CPAs and dealership controllers – is that both have very distinct roles. Ideally, those roles intersect to form a complete financial picture. But in reality? It’s more like one person has the map and the other has the compass, and neither is quite sure which way is north.
Now, there are two common scenarios I see with respect to CPAs:
- Non-dealership CPAs as I mentioned above are simply not equipped to handle medium to large volume dealers and auto groups. Perhaps a small store (sells under 50 cars/month) could work but for me, given what I’ve seen in 30 years of dealership books, I would not hesitate to find a good dealership CPA firm to handle my taxes.
- Long-time dealership CPAs who are phoning it in. They don’t consider themselves as “phoning it in” but long relationships with CPAs, even if the dealership has changed controllers several times, can cause complacency. If this sounds like you, ask your CPA to do a thorough review, where they look at schedules and investigate balance sheet items. Clear out the cob webs and you’ll be set up for a better future.
The result is a perfect storm: CPA firms with limited knowledge of real-world dealership operations, or complacent CPAs not going far enough to confirm that the books are right, and dealerships with office staff just trying to keep the lights on.
In that gap, bad things grow. I’ve seen it all—sky-high expenses, money slipping through the cracks, receivables older than some salespeople, and yes, the occasional “oops-we-didn’t-notice” moment that turned into full-blown employee theft or a regulatory mess no one was prepared for.
Many dealers think their CPA is like a financial superhero—someone who’ll swoop in during quarterly visits and catch every accounting error, every missing dollar, every illogical workflow. But that’s not how it works. CPAs typically ask for a tidy set of reports and reconciliations to plug into the tax return machine. Some will go deeper, bless them. But even then, a deep dive isn’t the same as scuba diving into your day-to-day chaos. They see what you give them. And often, that’s all they see.
I’ve personally uncovered accounting disasters that survived years—years—of CPA reviews. The kind of quiet, well-mannered mistakes that sip coffee in the corner and quietly cost you millions.
Car dealership accounting skills don’t grow on trees.
Most people in dealership accounting didn’t get there by way of a carefully crafted career plan. They either taught themselves or had someone a few steps ahead willing to show them the ropes. The lucky ones had both.
My own path was less deliberate and more…genetic. My grandfather was a car dealer in Downtown L.A. in the 1960s. He was a minority owner and the CFO, which is a bit like being both the captain and the guy shoveling coal in the engine room. I never set out to follow in his footsteps, but somehow I ended up with a career that mirrors his: equal parts operations and finance. I’ve been the dealer, the executive manager, the CFO. At this point, the only job I haven’t done is technician because honestly, I had to draw the line somewhere.
Early on, I thought this mash-up of skills was a curse. I could see things others couldn’t, and naively, I pointed them out. This didn’t always go well, especially coming from a female. Turns out, people don’t like it when you tell them their accounting looks like it was done by a golden retriever with a calculator. But eventually, I learned to frame my observations more gently—and more importantly, I realized that being able to see the whole picture was actually a gift.
So I started sharing what I knew. Coaching my staff. Training people who wanted to grow. Translating financial chaos into something usable.
Because here’s the truth: every dealership should aim to be as profitable as possible, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It takes a skilled controller or CFO – someone who isn’t just counting the beans, but helping decide where to plant them. One of my colleagues put it best:
The strongest, most successful stores are the ones where the owner and the CFO are true partners, united in policy and vision.
And he’s right. So when we talk about technician shortages and office burnout and inventory droughts, maybe we should also be talking about this: the quiet, creeping crisis of the missing controller. Because if we wait too long, we won’t just be short on talent, we’ll be short on money, too.
Why It’s So Hard to Find a Great Dealership Controller
We can’t talk about the current shortage without first asking: how did we get here? Let’s dig into what’s driving the scarcity, what it means for dealerships, and what we can actually do about it.
Understanding the role of dealership controllers
Dealership controllers are often referred to as the financial backbone of a store, which sounds noble until you realize it basically means they carry the weight of everything while having to clean up when something goes wrong. They manage the financial statements, watch the cash flow, keep the store compliant, and make sure the accounting doesn’t resemble the aftermath of a group project where no one did the work.
Their job isn’t just about numbers. It’s about making sure the dealership doesn’t accidentally break the law while also gently steering it toward something that resembles profitability. And as the car business transforms into some strange hybrid of e-commerce, logistics, and “how fast can we deliver a Camry to someone in their pajamas,” the controller’s role has quietly evolved from important to absolutely essential.
In other words, if your controller disappears, the first sign might not be a missing report – it might be a full-blown financial panic attack.
The Core Challenges
Several factors contribute to the diminishing pool of experienced dealership controllers:
- Industry Evolution: The recent rapid evolution of the automotive industry, including the adoption of new technologies and business models (such as subscription services and online sales), has expanded the skill set required for dealership controllers. For controllers, that means the job description has quietly exploded. They’re expected to keep up with new tech, new revenue models, and old-school expectations—all at once. It takes relentless adaptability and constant learning, which, let’s be honest, isn’t exactly a growth sector in most accounting departments.
- Generational Shifts: There’s a noticeable generational shift in the workforce, with the majority of dealership employees above age 40, and younger generations showing less interest in car dealership careers. The controller role, in particular, asks for a strange and exhausting mix of deep financial knowledge and dealership-specific instincts – like being fluent in both accounting and chaos. It’s less appealing to many in the younger talent pool, who often seek careers in industries perceived as more innovative or impactful.
- Competition for Talent: A good dealership controller has a financial skill set that’s basically catnip to other industries. Fintech, e-commerce, startups with names that sound like vitamins—they’re all lining up with better pay, remote work, and the promise of never having to explain floorplan interest again. So while dealerships are offering “competitive” salaries and a the occasional free pizza on Saturdays, everyone else is offering stock options and yoga. Guess who wins?
Navigating the Challenge
If dealerships want to stop the slow drip of disappearing financial talent, it’s time for a smarter, more proactive approach. Fortunately, it’s not rocket science, it just takes some intention.
Train for the Job That Exists Now
Dealership accounting isn’t generic – it’s a strange, specific world all its own. So let’s stop pretending this knowledge is easy to come by. We need programs built around how dealerships actually operate: how revenue flows, how tech is changing things, and how to turn a 3-day month-end close into something that doesn’t induce panic.
Manufacturers, industry groups, and yes—even schools—could partner on this. And tapping into experienced CFOs and controllers to mentor or lead sessions? That’s the secret sauce. Proven systems, better workflows, and honest feedback from people who’ve lived it.
Recruit with Purpose
The next generation isn’t ignoring us – they just haven’t been shown what’s possible. Internships, apprenticeships, even shadow days can make a difference. Highlight the tech. Talk about growth and community impact. Show that dealership financial work is strategic, dynamic, and central to the business. Because it is.
Make the Role Appealing
Competitive pay, a healthy work environment, and some semblance of work-life balance aren’t extras – they’re the baseline. Give your accounting staff what they need to thrive, and they won’t spend their lunch breaks scrolling job listings like they’re browsing Zillow for a better life.
Use Technology Wisely
Automation isn’t about replacing controllers – it’s about freeing them up to manage better and be more strategic. Get the busywork off their plates so they can focus on what matters: insights, decisions, and helping the store grow. Everyone wins.
The time to act is now.
The shrinking pool of experienced dealership controllers is no small problem, but it’s also not unsolvable. By digging into the root causes and taking deliberate steps to attract, train, and retain top talent, the industry can turn a looming crisis into a strategic advantage.
It starts with recognizing that the controller role isn’t what it used to be. As automotive retail evolves, so must the expectations and support around this position. Dealerships that adapt will be the ones with clean books, solid profits, lower risk, all while keeping the factory and lenders happy and satisfied.
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