What's next for the CPA profession?

As you read this, we are in the middle of summer. I hope everyone has the chance to get out and enjoy the beauty of this season.

In mid-May, I was honored to be onstage as Master of Ceremonies for one of my favorite OSCPA events, the Circle of Excellence awards, celebrating people from all stages of their careers. It was wonderful to honor OSCPA members reaching significant member milestones (of up to 55 years). We also recognized top accounting students from Oregon’s colleges and universities. In addition to maintaining incredible GPAs, many of these students volunteer and achieve amazing accomplishments while still in school. My favorite part of the evening was joining Chris Dahlvig, President of The OSCPA Educational Foundation, and greeting each of the scholarship recipients. This year the Foundation awarded 61 scholarships totaling $170,200, a record amount for the Foundation. Many thanks to the firms and individuals who donated to the Foundation to support these students as they complete their accounting education and begin their careers. The evening was capped by the Board of Accountancy recognizing those who have passed the Uniform CPA Exam and those who have received their CPA license in the last 12 months. It was an honor to meet these new CPAs and see their excitement as they begin their careers!

Soon thereafter, I attended the AICPA Spring Council meeting in Orlando, FL. The Council received an unexpected announcement from Barry Melancon that he was retiring as CEO of AICPA, effective December 31, 2024. Barry has been the face of the AICPA for most of my career and it is hard for me to picture the AICPA without him at the helm. Elected CEO in 1995, he has been an advocate and visionary for the CPA profession, leading change in the profession and the AICPA. His successor should be named by the end of the year.

Both firm leaders and industry CFOs have indicated staff recruitment and retention as one of their top concerns, and often the number one concern. Based on our profession’s pipeline concerns, the AICPA Council convened the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) in the spring of 2023. The objective was to develop a cohesive national strategy to address the talent shortage. The core value strategies developed were to be data-driven, inclusive, and diverse in subject matter. After a year of intensive work, the NPAG presented an 85-page draft report to the Council.

The themes in the data and recommendations were:

• Make the academic experience more engaging 
  Only 1 in 8 business majors graduate with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. We need to revamp the accounting curriculum and its delivery. We also need to enhance support to help “pull” students through accounting programs and boost retention.
• Expand access for underrepresented groups
  Minority groups are underrepresented in our profession. Greater financial assistance can be provided for socioeconomically impacted students from all racial/ethnic groups. We must promote smooth transitions between community colleges and four-year institutions.
• Grow support for CPA Exam candidates
  Effective January 2024, candidates can take the new CPA exam. Three sections of the exam are mandatory, but the fourth section is elective, among Tax, IT, or Business Reporting. Employers can support students by providing PTO to study for the CPA exam and paying bonuses after completion of the exam.

OSCPA advanced a successful bill in the 2023 Oregon Legislature, effective January 1, 2024, which lowered the threshold to sit for the exam to 120 semester hours, enabling candidates to sit for the exam after finishing their bachelor’s degree.

• Address time and cost of education
  Allow increased college credit for experience and internships. The AICPA has the newly launched Experience-Learn-Earn (ELE) program that gives up to 30 hours of credit through self-study online courses while employed, providing additional credits for work experience. Accounting faculty and institutions can further support the pipeline by offering college credit for CPA exam preparation courses.

Over the last year, the Oregon Board of Accountancy has completed significant rule changes, including allowing up to 12 semester hours for internships. OSCPA is participating in that ongoing collaborative process as several sets of rules have been approved during the last year; statutory proposals to assist the pipeline are in process as well.

• Enhance employee experience
  A significant issue is that starting salaries for accounting graduates are less than salaries of other business graduates. We must make starting salaries competitive with other careers. We must be more transparent with career progression and provide flexibility. We must invest in leadership training and mentoring. We must address overload and burnout. Providing work-life balance is crucial to retaining employees. The PCPS section of the AICPA has developed a Firm Business Model Transformation that incorporates reducing workload by reducing client base to allow capacity for ideal clients combined with increasing fees to maintain profit.
• Tell a more compelling story.
  The last theme of the NPAG report was to “Tell a more compelling story.” This theme emphasizes the importance of getting into high schools to make students aware of accounting careers. Nearly 45% of business administration majors decided their majors before enrolling in college. The timing of student outreach is key. As Carla McCall, AICPA board chair, said in a recent Journal of Accountancy article, “We need to promote the cool work we do.” 

I truly enjoy the role of being my client’s most trusted advisor. We need to share those stories with others, especially the next generation of CPAs, to positively impact the pipeline. The profession offers a breadth of opportunities and choices for an engaging and productive career. We need to talk about those positives otherwise young people and their parents, who rightfully so influence them, do not get the full picture of the profession. 

My view of the pipeline issue is that we must do all we can to funnel high school students into the pipeline and then work to minimize leakage out of the pipeline that can occur during college, graduation, sitting for the exam, successfully completing the exam, and the early stages of their career as a licensed professional.

• GenAI in accounting
  Last but not least, a final topic from the Spring Council meeting focused on GenAI. I have for years been an advocate for leaning into technology and working smarter, not harder. GenAI has the potential to usher changes in how technology is used in the CPA profession in ways we have never seen before. These changes are happening now and could rapidly affect how we do our work.

Just as the seasons have changed from spring to summer, our CPA profession is in a time of change. I hope you will get involved and stay abreast of the changes to bring new opportunities to your career. It is an exciting time!

John Hawkins
2024-25 Chair, OSCPA Board of Directors

Read more about our OSCPA Board of Directors.