The hiring of full-time accounting and finance professionals in the Boston area is expected to increase in the second quarter of 2009, according to the most recent Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index.

Nine percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) surveyed plan to add staff during the quarter and 1 percent anticipate reductions in personnel. The net 8-percent increase is up two points from the area’s first-quarter 2009 forecast and 10 points above the national average.

The local results reflect a two-quarter rolling average based on interviews with 200 CFOs from a stratified random sample of companies in the Boston area with 20 or more employees; 1,400 CFOs were queried for the national data.

The studies were conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half International, a staffing services firm specializing in accounting and finance. Robert Half has been tracking financial hiring activity in the United States since 1992.