Draft plan to accelerate talent pipeline solutions

The accounting profession is grappling with a talent shortage. This student pipeline challenge is not unique to CPAs. Many professions are facing the same issue, driven by similar factors including shifting workforce demographics and rising education costs.

But sharing the problem doesn’t lessen the pressure. Meaningful, quick action is needed.

The AICPA, state CPA societies, accounting firms, academia, state boards of accountancy and their organizing body, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), and many others are working together on profession-wide, multi-stakeholder efforts to improve the pipeline. The AICPA will continue to create opportunities for meaningful dialogue and collaboration with all stakeholders addressing the underlying challenges and building the pipeline.

Considerable investment is being made in a range of pipeline initiatives – from the Center for Audit Quality-led Accounting+ student awareness campaign to CPA Evolution and the launch of the new CPA Exam in January 2024.

As a subset of its work, the AICPA is partnering with stakeholders to implement a set of actions in 2023 to accelerate solutions and address certain root causes of pipeline issues. This plan should be viewed as a set of initiatives and areas of focus, not as an exhaustive look at all pipeline efforts. The name of the plan has changed to reflect the intent to move beyond the 8 points that were introduced as a starting point for input and discussion.

The intent of the plan is to ensure that CPAs’ work is meaningful, valued and properly compensated; that we integrate the changing needs of new recruits and young professionals; increase flexibility and accessibility in the licensure pathway; and drive awareness of the wide range of experiences and successful pathways within a profession that our communities and country rely on.

What follows is an overview of the plan, which will continue to evolve and expand throughout 2023.