As the accounting profession evaluates how to reverse the trend of fewer young people joining its ranks, accounting firm leaders must pioneer new ways of recruiting the next generation of talent to their firms — and the profession as a whole.
We asked Accounting Today's
Like many of their peers, these top leaders are taking action to address the pipeline problem, and it starts with better understanding the needs of today's job candidates.
"In 2023, the goals, wishes and needs of young professionals entering the workforce are vastly different than they were even just 10 years ago," explained Kyle Bryant, co-founding partner of Market Street Partners. "It's incumbent upon those in leadership positions to work continuously to understand their employees' needs and, when possible, accommodate them."
One of these major needs for today's talent, according to many of the MP Elite, is having the power to choose their career paths.
"We need to create more opportunities for career choice within our firms. Offering a broader range of services enables our staff to stay in the profession while learning new skills and pursuing alternative career paths," said Eisner Advisory Group CEO Charles Weinstein, explaining that Eisner's ownership and capital structure enables the Top 25 Firm to offer that greater freedom.
But even without Eisner's unique private equity-backed structure, the accounting profession should lean into one of its great selling points, according to Suzanne Forbes, managing partner at James Moore & Co.: "The public accounting profession offers flexibility; companies should embrace that by providing career choices within their firms (and making these choices known in recruiting efforts as well as internally)."
Forbes highlights that these sought-after benefits will only attract those who hear about them — accounting firms must improve their messaging around all the profession can offer today's selective candidate pool.
Matt Armanino, CEO of Top 25 Firm Armanino, recognizes this urgent need to rebrand and promote the profession.
"As accountants, we have to spread the word to the next generation that our profession isn't for green eyeshades and marble floors, but instead it's for people with great imaginations who want to know what makes businesses tick and how we can improve operations to drive the economy of tomorrow," he said. "Accounting has a front-row seat to the fourth industrial revolution, and the more students who see the opportunity to build an exciting and rewarded career in accounting, the more will get on board."
John Lauseng, CEO of Top 100 Firm Aldrich Advisors, also emphasized the profession's broad appeal.
"As a whole, our industry has an opportunity to do a better job at showcasing the highlights of being a CPA," he said. "We have the opportunity to work with a lot of great people and clients, and make a tangible difference in our clients' lives. As a profession, we can do a better job showcasing those positives."
Many of the MP Elite agreed that to truly attract the best talent, these opportunities should be mapped out so professionals can envision their future.
"Offering exposure to longer-term goals can increase rates of interest and foster a growth mindset among potential and new accountants," said Jeffery Mowery, managing partner at Mowery & Schoenfeld. "We also believe that focusing on innovating and expanding services to create the type of interesting, engaging work that attracts young people to the profession will solve the problem over time."
Weinstein agreed, commenting: "CPAs need to do a better job in communicating the long-term benefits of pursuing an accounting career and the benefits of making partner."
Earlier engagement
The profession must also take a longer view of the pipeline itself, according to the MP Elite, who are working to reach the next generation of prospects at an earlier stage, including in high school.
"We recently piloted our Junior Connect Program, which is an extension of our industry-leading Connect Program for college-level recruitment," explained Steven McCarty, CEO at Top 50 Firm UHY Advisors. "Junior Connect is a specially tailored program geared towards high school-level students interested in pursuing accounting as a college field of study and career. We designed this program to tackle workforce challenges at the ground level. Accounting is one of the most in-demand fields today, and by introducing students to the space early, we strongly believe that we can establish accounting as one of the most attractive career paths available to students."
Mowery & Schoenfeld is also reaching out to this demographic.
"Our firm has addressed decreasing numbers of accounting students in ways that include attending local high school career fairs, offering job shadows to students in the process of selecting majors, and working with universities to make presentations on campus to student groups with potential accounting candidates to highlight career paths and opportunities within the field," Mowery shared.
Of course, colleges remain fertile ground for future talent.
"Our recruiting team is tackling this issue by increasing the number of colleges where we recruit, enhancing our internship program, and expanding our diversity recruitment," explained Richard Kopelman, managing partner and CEO at Top 50 Firm Aprio. "Additionally, we are focused on developing engaging experiences for team members through learning and development opportunities and bringing in experienced leaders who can support talent development and the expansion of segments and specialty services."
"We also stay plugged in with student groups and associations and universities in our local area to ensure we're aware of generational shifts as they develop," said Bryant. "This method has helped us consistently field more resumes than we have job openings for, and I think it would work well for anyone in the industry who's looking to address a shortage of accounting professionals in the field."
Robert Traphagen, managing partner of Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors, proposed another way to improve collegiate relationships, expressing a "need [for] more adjunct professors in schools with experiential CPA experience."
Attracting with tech
One of the MP Elite's most universally expressed ways to boost recruitment is to highlight the powerful role of technology in the profession.
"I think firms must continue (and increase) working with technology to make workflows and client service more efficient," said Forbes. "Technology also plays a role in flexible work arrangements and remote work setups, which better facilitate employees' lives outside of the office. This is a huge selling point for the next generation of CPAs and consultants, many of whom consider embracing technology and work-life harmony as must-haves in a potential employer."
"Firms need to be technology-forward in everything they do to keep young people engaged in their work," said Weinstein.
Firms must also stress that it will become more crucial for younger staffers to have these technological skill sets, which will broaden their professional development and career options in the ways that the MP Elite say appeal to rising generations.
Specifically, firms should "highlight [the] new paradigm of analytics and data management as a CPA core value skill," according to Traphagen.
As accounting continues to expand into offering these new skill sets, career trajectories and flexibility, the profession must reframe itself to capture this progression that is so appealing to its (hopefully) next big waves of talent.
"While mastery of technical skills is a must, I also want people entering the field to see how opportunities in today's accounting industry are increasingly about being strategic thinkers, data analysts and innovators in ways that bring more value to our clients," Armanino explained. "We're evolving in exciting ways to meet client expectations and demand."
