FEATURE INSPIRING PROBLEM SOLVERS THREE AREAS OF FOCUS TO HELP RESOLVE THE CPA PIPELINE PROBLEM

BY DUSTIN WOOD, CPA

As I begin my year of serving as UACPA president, I look forward to being able to meet with many of you in chapter meetings and work together to identify areas of concern where the UACPA can better serve its members. As I considered a theme for my presidential term, it wasn’t difficult for me to settle in on my primary area of focus, as pipeline considerations have dominated headlines. It is covered in daily CPA emails and has been a frequent conversation topic of AICPA Council meetings, UACPA board, and Leadership Council meetings. A phrase I’ve chosen that is related to the theme of my year of service is to “inspire problem solvers.”

Now that we’re removed from the COVID-19 considerations that significantly impacted our ability to get in front of high school and college students, my hope is that we can identify ways to meet with them, better educate them, and the public in general, regarding what accounting is all about and why it is a path and career they should pursue.

I was recently reviewing a list of high school courses offered by a local school with my daughter. With hundreds of courses listed, there was not a single course that used the word accounting or anything seemed related to it. The closest thing I could find was a financial literacy course and, from what I’ve heard, it isn’t accounting related and is more of a personal finance class. I was also able to attend a university accreditation meeting recently where one of the peer group team members overseeing the meeting indicated that, at this point, there is a push to get in front of middle schoolers to educate them about accounting as some feel even high school students have already made decisions for their futures.

Discussions surrounding the pipeline, and ways to impact and improve it, are very polarizing and often lead to different ideas and courses of action. As I’ve been involved in pipeline discussions, there are three primary considerations that have emerged that should be addressed to help potential accounting and CPA candidates catch the vision of what they can do and become.

Negative Narratives

The first area of focus is negative narratives surrounding the accounting profession. In the public’s eye, stereotypes related to accountants not being social and working as bean counters are perpetuated. Working long hours and not allowing for good work-life balance are also frequently mentioned. In my mind, there are obstacles that I face at times, but if my career was not rewarding, why would I subject myself to it? It is time for us to make sure we accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. We can’t drive all conversations and discussions, especially those in the national media, but we can do our part to share our stories about why we entered into accounting and what it means to us, our clients, and our companies.