Solving accounting's pipeline problem will require effort from everyone in the profession, according to members of the National Pipeline Advisory Group — particularly employers.
The group, which was established by the AICPA's Governing Council but independently pursued its work of establishing a cohesive strategy to fix the ongoing staff shortage in the profession, recently released a report with its recommendations, which some of its members discussed in a keynote panel at the AICPA Engage Conference this week in Las Vegas.
Many of those recommendations will require change on the part of those who hope to hire accountants.
"With so many of the themes we uncovered, the solutions lie at the employers' feet," Jennifer Wilson, who served as facilitator for the group's work, told conference attendees. "We're going to have to make changes. We need to take responsibility as employers for these solutions."
One key solution? Competitive compensation.
"One of the big 'Aha!' moments in the data was the starting salary issue," explained Wilson, who is also cofounder of ConvergenceCoaching. "Our accounting grads in a variety of surveys talk about how they struggle with the lack of competitive salaries as opposed to their business major friends. Only one in nine business majors chooses to major in accounting. The other eight say, 'Why would I do that if I can get a higher salary elsewhere?'"
Accounting salaries aren't even keeping up with inflation, she noted: "We need to make sure that we're competitive not with other firms or other finance departments, but with other majors and professions. We're just not competing."
Another key area for employers is enabling young accountants to prepare for the CPA exam.
"One of my 'Aha!' moments was about how few people are getting accounting degrees and then going on to become CPAs," said Sue Coffey, CEO of public accounting at the AICPA.
At its highest point, 65% of accounting grads pursued licensure, she noted; now the number is closer to 45%.
"Our research found these people were overwhelmed with work — they have work and family obligations, and the biggest thing they need is time to study to get them over the finish line as quickly as possible," Coffey explained.
While exam candidates can certainly use financial support for exam fees and prep resources, what employers really need to do is arrange their work to make sure they have time to study.
The need for study time, Coffey said, was "off the charts."
NPAG has a number of other recommendations for employers, including increasing pay transparency; offering clearer career paths; proactively helping employees along those paths; addressing overload and employee burnout; offering leadership training; and much more.
Other issues
"The NPAG's recommendations are clearly aimed at the employer — not just firms or finance departments, but the employer," Coffey said, but the employment experience isn't the only area that needs improvement.
"One of the things we need to be doing it to make the academic experience more engaging," said Lexy Kessler, the chair of NPAG, as well as vice chair and Mid-Atlantic regional leader at Top 100 Firm Aprio, who noted that the leading organization of accounting academics, the American Accounting Association, has put together working groups to begin looking at accounting curricula and course structure with a critical eye.
"There's a weeding out process in accounting education," she said. "Why are we weeding them out? We should be looking to pull them through."
She pointed out that adding mentors and guides to help students through the education journey can make a significant difference in terms of how many students complete their degree in accounting.
The profession also needs to revamp its image.
"We do a really bad job telling students about the vast opportunities available into the profession and the impact we have on individuals, businesses and communities," said Coffey.
Instead, the stereotype of accounting is that it's boring, math-heavy work that centers around a brutal busy season.
"We need to dispel those myths — that the work is too hard or not interesting, and the myth that we're boring people," Coffey said. "We're not!
Besides telling a better story, the profession also needs to make sure it is telling its story to underrepresented groups like African-Americans and Latinos, who represent a mass of untapped talent but often aren't aware of the profession.
Reaching out to them, and making them feel welcome in the profession, will be crucial.
"People in these groups have to see what it means to be in this profession, and what are the challenges you face," said Okorie Ramsey, immediate past chair of the AICPA and vice president of Sarbanes-Oxley at Kaiser Permanente. "We need to let them know what's possible."
Finally, the profession needs to address the cost and difficulty of pursuing CPA licensure, particularly in terms of the 150 credit hour requirement.
"It was crystal-clear that time and expense were a major hurdle," Kessler said.
So NPAG is recommending both a series of short-term initiatives to make it easier for young accountants to get the credit hours they currently need, and a long-term shift away from that as a criteria for licensure.
"We're moving toward measuring competency, moving away from a specific number of credit hours, moving away from input to focus on output," Kessler explained.
Join the fight!
While employers and academic have important roles to play, in the end, the entire profession will have to pitch in.
"As we explored the pipeline problem, we realized that we needed to appeal to every individual," said Wilson. "All of us, individually, if we care about the profession, we all need to get involved. We can't wait for our firm or our department."
She called on all the attendees — and on accountants everywhere — to join in by
"One of the things that came up was that this feels overwhelming, and that many people thought, 'What can I do?'" said Kessler. "You just need to do one small thing. Every one of us can make a difference."
