Why a Shortage of Accountants Could be on the Horizon

While you may have seen headlines about labor shortages in construction, pro AV, or manufacturing, one particularly puzzling shortage of labor is emerging in the accounting/CPA field. On this episode of the Software & Technology podcast brought to you by MarketScale, host Daniel Litwin sits down with Megan Weis, Vice President and General Manager of FAO Services for Personiv to discuss reasons and solutions for this dwindling talent pool.

“Baby boomers are retiring in droves, and taking with them the specialized talent they have acquired over a 40-year career,” Weis says. In fact, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants estimates that 75 percent of all current CPAs will retire in the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, the succeeding generation of Millennials who are entering the workforce are seeking flexible and meaningful careers that affect wholesale change — two traits not typically associated with accounting, Weis says. That’s shifting though.

Weis says though traditional accounting careers are still very much in demand as new financial regulations come on board, this is a task proving challenging for the remaining accountants nationwide. But accounting careers with a new type of forward-looking, strategic adviser role are emerging as well, Weis says. A more “creative”, strategic type of CPA, if you will.

“It’s more than a backward-looking profession these days,” Weis says. “It’s less about reporting the historical results and more about looking into the future. It’s about really using historical data to drive financial results.”

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