No, I do not believe that accounting isn’t worth it, fun, and hiring. But I thought it.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the accounting profession, and sometimes those thoughts aren’t especially flattering. Three in particular have been hard to ignore.

WHAT CPA FIRMS CAN CHANGE TO ATTRACT TALENT

The Illinois CPA Society has studied why accounting graduates choose not to become CPAs. The answers are familiar: the time, cost, education requirements, and the perceived return on that investment. The profession asks a lot of people before they ever get to experience what being a CPA can offer.

It isn’t fun.

A University of Essex study once placed accounting among occupations people perceived as boring. We can argue with the label, but perception matters. If the work looks tedious, rigid, exhausting, or joyless from the outside, we should not be surprised when fewer people are excited to enter it.

It isn’t hiring.

AICPA Trends reports have repeatedly highlighted a shrinking pipeline of accounting graduates and new CPA candidates. Firms need people, yet the profession is competing for talent in a market where prospective employees have more options and different expectations than prior generations.

Those are uncomfortable perspectives. So what can we do?

We can influence the experience by looking at the profession from an unfamiliar perspective.

I think about the Savannah Bananas. They did not ask how to make minor improvements to baseball. They asked how to make baseball more fun for fans, then changed the rules, the experience, and even some traditions that people assumed were permanent.

We can do the same thing in accounting.

We change the game of accounting.

At one firm I worked for, we created an eleven-month year. People could choose to take a month away from work in exchange for one-twelfth of their salary. It was not a revolutionary business model. It was simply a willingness to question an assumption about how work had to work.

There are thousands of assumptions like that available to us.

1. Destroy my inbox with ideas for ways accounting could be different, better, more attractive, and more human.
2. Send this article to someone who has an idea worth exploring.
3. Change your game. Be evidence that a different accounting experience is possible.

I’m going to keep exploring ways the accounting profession can be different. Not because I believe accounting is not worth it, fun, or hiring, but because I believe it can be even more worth it, more fun, and a profession more people want to join.

Explore all Perspectives