Human resources professionals and hiring managers in the greater Chicago and south Florida markets report widespread openings in accounting and finance, according to the third-quarter hiring forecast study conducted by staffing provider Brilliant and Richard Curtin, director of surveys of consumers at the University of Michigan. Meanwhile, the number of open IT positions has doubled since last quarter.

Almost 41% of businesses surveyed had openings in full-time, permanent accounting and finance positions, down slightly from 46% last quarter. Thirty-nine percent reported having vacant full-time, permanent positions in IT, almost double the 20% reported last quarter. Further, one-in-four companies reported plans to increase their hiring of accounting and finance professionals and one-in-six for IT during the year ahead.

“Nearly all of these positions were recent additions, identified and unfilled since the start of 2017,” Curtain said. “More importantly, survey respondents indicated they wanted to fill most of these positions ASAP, the majority within the same quarter that they were first identified.”

For the next 12 months, 14% of companies surveyed plan to increase IT hiring — down from 15% in the second-quarter survey — and 25% plan to increase their finance/accounting hiring, up from 21% last quarter.

The survey also found decreased plans to hire additional temporary professionals; 18% of IT firms expect to hire additional temporary professionals, down from 22% in the second-quarter survey and 23% reported in the third-quarter 2016 hiring forecast.

For accounting/finance firms, 12% plan to hire additional temporary professionals in the third quarter, between 11% in the second quarter and 15% in last year’s third-quarter forecast.

The reasons human resources professionals and hiring managers gave for intending to hire additional temporary IT professionals were dominated by the needs of specific projects. While temporary accounting and finance profession­als were mainly hired for project-specific assignments and in-demand roles, a few temporary professionals were hired to cover leaves of absence and to evaluate for full-time potential.

The survey, which included nearly 800 human resources professionals and hiring managers within the greater Chicago and south Florida markets, was conducted between April 18 and May 1.