extinction ahead: the next generation of would-be cpa could be one of the last.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
is the cpa profession doomed to die out?
it’s too soon to say, but the signs aren’t good. the need for public accountants is bound to continue, but will there be accountants to fill that need? it’s already hard to find qualified, certified professionals, and a peek in the pipeline shows no improvement.
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the aicpa has been warning us about this trend for several years. the aicpa trends report of 2019 saw bachelor’s, master’s and ph.d. accounting enrollments down four percent, six percent and 23 percent from the already low levels of 2018. meanwhile, the illinois cpa society reports that less than half of all accounting graduates even bother sitting for the cpa exam.
perceiving a “risk of losing talent, influence, and opportunity,” the illinois cpa society set out to identify the source of the problem. a survey asked about attitudes among 3,102 accounting students, graduates, and professionals under the age of 35, 88 percent of them either currently a cpa, aiming to become one, or seriously considering the possibility.
the results found several sources of reluctance to get certified. the big one: the cpa exam itself—its difficulty and its relevance to a career.
“by and large, the most faced or anticipated barrier to becoming a cpa cited by respondents is the time commitment needed to study for and pass the cpa exam,” the survey concluded. “in fact, workload time commitment was by far the top reason for deciding not to complete the cpa exam by those who started the process but did not complete the exam.”
students tended to be daunted by the difficulty of it all.
- difficulty of the exam content was the top reason, at 54 percent.
- workload time commitments was equally common at 54 percent.
- related to that was personal time commitment, cited by 36 percent.
- fear of failure was surprisingly common at 51 percent.
- curiously enough, 29 percent found navigating the exam application to be too challenging.
the question of relevance
breaking out the reasons respondents chose not to prepare for the exam, the top concerns were:
- not seeing value or relevance to their career (32 percent),
- not seeing return on their investment (28 percent),
- their employers don’t require it (28 percent), and
- other credentials are more valuable to their careers (28 percent).
contrary to popular belief, the cost of extra credit hours was not among the top barriers.
looking at the pie slice of respondents who are cpas or on track to certification, however, 95 percent believe the credential is valuable or very valuable. in fact, even among the 65 percent who started but did not complete the cpa exam felt the credential would be valuable if they had it.
actually, even other credentials weren’t seen as all that important. fifty-one percent of all respondents neither have nor plan to pursue any credential whatsoever.
surprises
who are the big influencers who guide students into accountancy?
employers and prospective employers? not so much—just 39 percent.
professors? even less—just 33 percent.
the most influential influencers? the young professionals themselves—53 percent.
and here’s another little surprise that every cpa firm should be aware of: higher-than-average salary was not a top factor in deciding to become a cpa.
for those who actually became or intended to become cpas, the top two reasons were almost the same: career advancement opportunities and greater marketability, in both cases attractive to more than 95 percent.
still, salaries were a reason for slightly over 90 percent.
and interesting runner-up reason: credibility, trust, and respect, cited by just under 90 percent.
and perhaps the most shocking finding of all: only 27 percent of all respondents saw themselves spending most of their careers in public accounting. a third saw their careers in businesses, not cpa firms. but a significant 24 percent weren’t sure where they were going, and in those uncertain ranks lies the future of the accounting industry.