According to Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs CEO Jen Cryder, one of the benefits of working with all the member firms of a state society like hers is the opportunity to anticipate major trends in the profession even before they have fully emerged — and to act on them.
That's how input from members helped Cryder and the institute realize that it needed to address the profession's pipeline problem, and that led to the creation six years ago of the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation, which promotes accounting careers to students and offers leadership opportunities.
"As a new CEO, I had an opportunity to set a vision, and part of it is leading the profession from the front with PICPA and our PICPA Foundation, instead of reacting to things that are happening," she explained. "That means looking out into the future, anticipating those trends, and then building responses or convening stakeholder discussions before they become problems, such as the talent shortage."
Kristen Wik, chief people officer for Centri Business Consulting, sees this new generation of accountants as curious leaders who want to "get their hands dirty," which is why she believes that raising awareness about accounting's entrepreneurial side could be a great attraction tool. "In accounting, people can really write their ticket to where they want to go and what they want to do," said Wik. "I'm running the leadership and core value side of the business, and that accounting degree really set me up for success to go in this direction and follow my passion. But we can't even have that conversation if people aren't interested in our field in the first place."
The question remains: How to solve the issue? Accounting professionals have a few ideas to share.
Best strategies to find and attract talent
Lori Haley, a partner at Top 10 Firm Forvis, said that thinking outside of the box is critical when it comes to talent acquisition strategies. For a long time, she said, accounting worked through a restrictive lens that didn't see beyond the traditional accounting education paths. Instead, Forvis has chosen to take a proactive approach by introducing innovative programs such as its NEAR (Next Evolution of Accounting Resourcefulness) for individuals with non-traditional paths, and digital marketplace Talent Shift, which matches gig workers with career opportunities.
"To maximize our effectiveness, we need to broaden our reach by exploring alternative solutions such as outsourcing through the gig economy and exploring offshore opportunities," said Haley. "We can also look beyond traditional accounting roles to other fields in finance where accounting skills can add value."
As for Centri Business Consulting, Wik said the firm uses a predictive index, which is a behavioral assessment to determine someone's strengths and set them up for success by directing them into the field that best matches their skills. She added that the platform, supported by individual interviews, is an effective tool to identify candidates with strong technical expertise and an "insatiable hunger to learn" before leading them to the position that will support both the company and their personal goals.
Furthermore, Wik believes that candidates have been expressing a growing interest in
"I think the common mistake a firm makes is looking at the problem through the lens of history, without considering who young professionals are today," said PICPA's Cryder. "As strategic business advisors, we know that you have to operate within that reality, and if firm leaders can try and rebuild their business models to serve the needs of the generations entering the profession now, I predict they will be more successful."
To Cryder, making the profession more accessible and gathering more data to better understand barriers to CPA licensure is the next step to fight the talent shortage. She said she's looking for new career pathways to increase mobility within the profession while keeping the current licensure model — the 150-credit hours requirement, the CPA exam, and two years of professional experience. She said that she's been working on this issue for more than a year, talking with accounting faculty at colleges and universities across Pennsylvania to discuss alternatives to traditional learning models.
Interacting with students is indeed a great way to find talent, notably those from underrepresented backgrounds. Forvis' Haley believes that firms should make sure to look beyond traditional spaces and consider all talent pools when launching recruiting efforts. They should specifically consider historically Black colleges and universities and two-year college programs, as well as engaging with K-12 students to get them excited about the field.
"Recognizing there may be varying entry points for different individuals, the industry should take responsibility for providing upskilling, mentorship and additional opportunities to enable people with diverse backgrounds to build rewarding careers," said Haley. "Building a culture of respect and inclusion is our foundational driver. We currently have eight active and expanding inclusion networks at Forvis, and we're continually listening to our team members to discover additional ways to foster growth and development within them."
When a company implements diversity, equity and inclusion principles, Wik said that it must understand that without equitable representation in leadership roles, underrepresented groups may not be able to envision their own path leading there. She shares Haley's belief that the creation of support and development opportunities, such as sponsorships, advocacy, education and training, will help create a culture of respect and inclusion as a firm's foundational driver.
Wik said that diversity and inclusion has become a central concern across all industries, because when candidates come to different companies and firms for interviews, they now expect to see a wide variety of people with various backgrounds at the table. She explained that diversity has become a reflection of a firm's ability to bring people's experiences together to create a completely novel thought, which is why this issue has become inseparable from talent attraction, along with a sense of purpose.
"Top talent needs to understand the 'why' behind what you're doing as an organization, and I believe that we, as accounting leaders, should do a better job of explaining it to our employees, especially those just entering the field," said Wik. "If they know the nature of their contribution and understand that they're doing something big, employees will be proud to ring the bell at NASDAQ when the company goes public to say they were part of that enterprise. But mostly, they will be less likely to leave a place where they feel useful."
Best strategies to retain talent
The importance of purpose and service is something that Cryder also considers to be important in trying to retain talent. She said the profession often makes the mistake of highlighting the workload difficulties in the field without stressing the impact of CPAs' work. Cryder sees accountants as critical advisors for neighborhoods, families, small businesses, and all the way up to public companies and very large global organizations, helping them all make sustainable decisions.
When the COVID pandemic hit Pennsylvania, for instance, CPAs were designated essential workers because people still needed financial advice, strategic thought leadership, and assistance with complex issues such as the Paycheck Protection Program and Employee Retention Credits. Cryder believes that highlighting this side of the profession could not only change a student's mind when considering a career in accounting, but also instill a sense of pride among current employees.
"I remain really optimistic about the future of our profession, and its ability to attract and retain incredibly diverse talent," said Cryder. "I think it's never been a better time to be choosing a career as a CPA and going into the profession, and there's a kind of a balance where there are definitely challenges, but immense opportunities as well."
Cryder identifies one of those difficulties in accounting firms' performance evaluation models, which have traditionally been tied to very restrictive metrics and billing models. She believes that the billable hours system causes many people to pile on the hours for results, but she and Wik observed that many accountants aren't in a position to do that.
"Twenty years ago, a couple of women made partner in our firm and recognized that for somebody to get there, perhaps they needed a schedule that was 75%, instead of 100%," said Wik. "Firms should start to incentivize the collection of net promoter scores or other assessments to build metrics that focus more on client and employee relationships than hours. I think the more firms can build flexibility and choices within the profession, the more likely people will get to stay and grow in their careers."
Flexibility also includes robust maternity policies, but Wik said that including fathers in the equation is a powerful retention tool and differentiator when competing with other firms. Making sure that employees are supported as they go into their next life stage should be at the core of a strong company culture, which Wik said Centri aims to do.
In an employee-leveraged industry initially built on a long-term partnership model, Haley said that many professionals now prefer to focus on short- to medium-term windows in their careers. As a result, she said that employers should adjust their models to adapt to these changing needs and widen their scope. To address demographic challenges caused by what Haley calls the pipeline "Wild West," she suggests investing in employees earlier in their careers and finding new ways to do so.
For example, Wik said that it is now critical to allow employees to move within the firm — from traditional accounting to HR advisory, say, and then from sustainability to client valuation — and push the limits of the profession in this competitive market. The talent shortage made leaders realize that they needed to highlight other sides of the profession and introduce prospective employees to multiple practices to show every path to leadership.
"The other thing that we do is encourage our team members to set one strategic goal that aligns with the firm's growth objectives for the year, and two personal goals to figure out who they want to be," said Wik. "And then every quarter, they can sit down to look at them again and see where they are in their professional journey."
She noted that people are more likely to feel a sense of belonging and fulfillment if they see themselves improve, which is why Centri launched a formalized mentoring program with employees working with people one or two levels above them, who hold them accountable to their goals. To Wik, fostering a learning environment aimed at talent retention is about continous conversations between colleagues, as well as understanding what motivates someone.
According to Cryder, firms can stimulate young professionals by investing in emerging technologies and exposing them to exciting work earlier in their career. Long ago, she remembers her firm adopting a paperless audit process and, despite knowing the potential of the investment, most partners didn't have the time to figure out how to implement it. Cryder said she immediately saw an opportunity in this new tool and taking on some extra work, so she volunteered to become an expert and go-to resource for the software.
"I think there are limitless opportunities for young folks coming into firms today to do those things, because the rate of technology changing the work of CPAs is so rapid and firms are eager to find people that are willing to help them through it," said Cryder. "That's what candidates need to know, and that's what will get us more people."
