What strategies can help firms position themselves as a great place to work? Finding qualified staff remains a challenge among practitioners, including at small firms. In the most recent PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey practitioners from firms of almost all sizes named it their chief concern. The only exception was sole practitioners, who named it their #6 issue, a much higher ranking than in the previous survey.
Simply getting people onboard wasn’t the only concern, either. Firms with 2 to 5 professionals included developing the next generation of firm leadership in their top 5 challenges, while staff compensation and rewards moved up from #15 to #8 among firms with 6 to 10 professionals.
This article will examine some of the factors that can make staffing a challenge and offer insights on how small firms can respond to them. It also highlights resources developed to address concerns in each area.
Raise starting salaries. The AICPA National Pipeline Advisory Group(NPAG) was created to identify and address staffing considerations in the profession. In its report, NPAG noted that starting pay at CPA firms is below entry-level compensation in other fields.
The good news is that compensation for accounting grads with master’s and bachelor's degrees has seen healthy jumps in recent years—especially at small firms--according to the 2025 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey. However, entry-level pay in the profession continues to lag behind other fields, as the below exhibit shows. While compensation is only one of a number of factors affecting attraction and retention, more competitive salaries can certainly improve perception of the profession. Turn to the PCPS Employee Compensation Toolkit for more insights.
Exhibit: Starting salaries in accounting and other fields
| Column 2 | |
|---|---|
| Accounting graduates with master’s degrees | $67,750 |
| Accounting graduates with bachelor’s degrees | $60,834 |
| Computer/information science | $91,411 |
| Engineering | $80,085 |
| Mathematics and statistics | $79,859 |
| Management sciences and quantitative methods | $74,667 |
| Finance and financial management | $72,227 |
Sources: Accounting salaries: PCPS 2025 National MAP survey; competing fields: Business Model Transformation webcast series.
Tap into young professionals’ entrepreneurial energy. The ACCA 2025 Global Talent Trends Study found that 52% of global accounting and finance professionals see accounting as a pathway to becoming an entrepreneur. New graduates are looking for challenges and engagement in their work, so firms should seek ways to harness that energy. As much as possible, firms should enable staff to engage with clients and include their people in discussions around decision making on current and future issues. They should also educate staff about how the work they do makes a difference in clients’ lives and businesses. New staff members will also be interested in understanding how the firm makes money and what kinds of career paths and long-term compensation are available to them. PCPS resources that can be helpful in staff development and engagement include:
Explore the non-CPA workstream. The MAP survey found that more firms are taking the opportunity to place non-CPA professionals in client-facing roles. This move makes it possible to better leverage staff by allowing technical professionals to concentrate on specialized skills and placing other workers in roles that best suit their unique skills. In a recent PCPS Business Model Transformation webcast series presentation, Jennifer Wilson, co-founder and partner of ConvergenceCoaching LLC, and a member of NPAG, recommended creating client support representatives who work within service lines to address a variety of client needs. Outsourcing and offshoring are other options that enable firms to effectively delegate work and enhance productivity. To learn more, turn to the PCPS Non-CPA Workstream Toolset and the PCPS Outsourcing for CPA Firms Toolkit.
Prioritize mental health and reduce burnout. The profession’s reputation for long hours is one factor that prevents some students from pursuing an accounting major, the NPAG report found. At the same time, according to the ACCA study, 52% believe that work pressures have a negative impact on their mental health.
Among its recommendations, the NPAG report called for enhancing flexibility because employees are less stressed and feel more empowered when they have more control over when and where they work. In NPAG’s student study, 77% believed that providing flexibility in work hours and location would attract more people to the profession. Turn to the PCPS Mental Health Resources for additional ideas on how to discuss mental health within your firm. In addition, the PCPS Transforming Your Business Model site includes numerous tools related to CPA firm business transformation, including issues related to culture and talent.
As this column and a wealth of resources demonstrate, the AICPA is deeply committed to small firms. Since the recent retirement of Carl Peterson, CPA, CGMA, as the Association’s Vice President of Small Firm Interests, this column has been written by the PCPS team. Starting next month, columns will be written by Stephanie Otero, CPA, the Association’s new Vice President—Small Firm Advocate.