In the wake of the scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom, SOX, which tightened auditing and accounting rules and regulations, has brought pressure on companies and accounting firms to hire additional qualified senior-level talent, said CareerJournal.com, the Wall Street Journal's executive career site.

The new regulations also are likely to spur demand for financial executives among companies that traditionally haven't had to develop this kind of expertise. These include hedge funds and their service providers, the majority of which will become subject to oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2006, CareerJournal.com reported.

Nationwide, companies of all sizes are demanding more from their chief financial officers and expanding the ranks of other finance executives to help them carry the ever-growing auditing and accounting burden. Because of the new rules, the Big Four accounting firms have had to jettison overlapping clients to avoid conflict-of-interest issues. External audits are taking as much as 60 percent more time to complete.

"Facing litigation from accounting debacles earlier in the decade, the Big Four accounting firms, in particular, need to have specialists who can help companies comply with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations," said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerJournal.com. "Companies are bending over backward not just to hire experienced accountants, but also to try and keep the ones they have, offering them flex-time schedules and other benefits."

Recruiters estimate that pay in this sector is up 10 percent or more, according to the publisher's report. Experienced team leaders can command 20 percent more than a year ago, as can those with expertise in forensic accounting, in which accountants look for financial missteps and figure out how to fix what went wrong.

One factor behind the dearth of experienced talent is that there are fewer accountants in the pipeline. More than a decade ago, accounting fell out of favor as a career. In 1991, about 60,000 students graduated with degrees in accounting, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In 2003, less than 50,000 students obtained accounting degrees.

CareerJournal.com's special report about Sarbanes-Oxley recruiting activity, and the ramifications on companies and candidates, advises finance professionals on how they might translate their skills into opportunities in this booming specialty.