cpa firms hiring more non-cpas in bid for high-tech talent

profession sees a 30-percentage-point decline in recruiting new accounting grads.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

cpa firms are increasingly passing over new accounting graduates, and, instead, are snapping up techies. but is the trend about to jump the shark?

as cpa firms shift their hiring models to focus more on technology skills, non-accounting graduates now comprise nearly a third—31 percent—of all new graduate hires in public accounting, according to the biennial aicpa “2019 trends in the supply of accounting graduates and the demand for public accounting recruits” survey.

that’s an increase of 11 percentage points between 2016 and 2018, an evolution somewhere between a trend and a tsunami. at the same time, the industry has seen a 30 percentage point decline in the hiring of recent graduates who actually majored in accounting.

the survey attributes the shift toward tech to the rapid advances in technology. while the industry continues to need and hire accounting graduates and cpas, efficient accounting in a rapidly changing financial environment requires expertise in information technology.

trend slowing?

the survey found signs that the trend toward tech may be slowing. among firms that hired new accounting graduates in 2018-2019, 15 percent expect to hire more than last year.  among those that hired non-accounting graduates, only five percent expect to hire more of the same.

have the techie-hiring firms hired enough? maybe. thirty-nine percent of them aren’t sure, and 24 percent figure they’ll be hiring fewer.

among all firms, 18 percent expect to increase the number of cpas on staff, but only 12 percent expect to take on more non-cpa on staff.

within the industry itself, new hires assigned to audit-related services increased by four percentage points. at the same time, new graduates assigned to taxation decreased by an equal percentage.

gender equality

the industry has achieved statistical gender equality in terms of numbers hired, though not yet in totals employed. among hires of new holders of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, 49 percent were male, 51 percent female. this represents a slight shift of majority from 2016 when males represented 52 percent of new graduate hires. until now, females haven’t been the majority of new hires since 2010.

 

despite the change in hiring trends, men still comprise a slender majority—53 percent—of professional staff in american cpa firms. currently, 58 percent of cpas in accounting/finance functions of cpa firms are male.

 

since 2016 the percentage of recent graduates hired who are non-hispanic white has held steady at 70 percent. (according to wikipedia, 62.6 percent of the american population are non-hispanic white.) blacks continue to represent just four percent of the new grad hires. hispanic hires have dipped from 16 percent to 14 percent. new hires of asian/pacific islander grads has increased substantially in terms of percentage if not absolute numbers, rising from seven to ten percent.

practice analysis

the aicpa has been publishing these supply and demand surveys since 1971. they continue to evidence the constant shift and evolution of human resources in the field of accountancy. change in the industry is an ongoing constant, sometimes gradual, as in demographic shifts, and sometimes radical, as in the technology.

in 2019 the aicpa launched a “practice analysis” project. it is focusing on the impact technology has on the work of newly licensed cpas. the results of the analysis may result in significant changes to the content of the uniform cpa examination—the elimination of non-critical content, changes to current content, and addition of new material. an eventual research paper will be issued with an exposure draft of recommendations for an update of the exam.

 

posted on october 31, 2019