Partnering for Impact: Pipeline Stakeholder Symposium Resources

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Q2 Organization Branding Talent Pipeline

We publish articles related to accounting, do interviews, and speak at events on the importance of a strong pipeline of talent.

Q2 Organization Branding

1. Rebranding accountants as superheros

2. Visits to college courses to share real life experiences as accountants

Q2 Organization Community College Programming Four-Year College

- Providing "scholarships" to college students to invite them to key events to learn about what financial professionals in government do

- Host a Government Case Challenge and "Datathons" to expose college students to real world government data, value of financial information, and communication to citizens

- Our chapters (near college campuses) do outreach to accounting instructors and volunteer to speak about "real world jobs in government", offer student memberships and opportunities to receive mentoring from government and private sector professionals in the field.

Q2 Organization High School Programming Four-Year College

Use gaming technology/strategy when teaching intro accounting.

Field trip with high school or young college students to a client site to see where the action really happens for auditors and consultants (pick a cool client like a sports team or arena or an environmentally focused company

Panels that showcase the "right" panelists- young professionals that have done cool rotations overseas or taken a sabbatical and done community service work; young alum who have great jobs at cool companies but they got there because they started in public accounting.

Q2 Organization Principles Courses Four-Year College

Within accounting principles, incorporating adjunct instructors from firms and industry to talk about what a career in accounting can look like; Senior students serving as mentors/role models for prospective accounting majors.

Q2 Organization Community College Programming High School Community College

1. BAP encourages chapters to reach out to local high schools and community colleges to promote accounting careers. We just need more content to give the chapters to share.

2. BAP encourages chapters to invite undeclared students and local community college students to attend a BAP meeting. They may not necessarily join BAP in the long run, but they will have been exposed to the opportunities in the accounting profession available to them.

Q2 Organization Community College Programming Four-Year College

We have been iterating since we launched FEI Engage over the past year and, based on experience, we are have learned:

Peer driven, open discourse from young professionals about the challenges of the accounting profession coupled with mentorship from senior leaders is the highest value.

Practical, detailed programming free of a certification or accreditation agenda.

A consistent flow of new content, both online and live.

Q2 Organization Community College Programming Four-Year College

Scholarship programs for college students to pursue accounting certifications

Programs for faculty to create awareness of accounting career options for students

Attempts to position Accounting as STEM

Q2 Organization Community College Programming Four-Year College High School

We've been working with our universities over the last 4-5 years to create programs that fit their strategic goals as well as ours to bring attention to the accounting profession. We just finished a 4 day Money Camp with one of our universities that has been very successful over the last three years. This year we've seen 4 members from the first camp (of only 10 due to COVID) declare accounting as a major. Survey results are indicating that we are communicating to students what accounting really is and the many arenas they can employ with an accounting degree. We've done some day camps with one of our other universities that has targeted first generation and minority students. To one, we invited parents. We were touched to see parents sob, knowing that there was a possibility that their kids could attend a university and graduate with a degree that would provide a better life. While this camp has been structured completely differently, we have seen interest in accounting as a major. We'll know for sure next year as these kids start to register for college. We've also been more involved in DECA competitions and presenting to high school accounting classes.

Q2 Organization Four-Year College Regulatory / Compliance

Provide Separate Accounting Accreditation

Improve faculty qualifications for accounting faculty.

Q2 Organization High School Programming Branding

1. Build awareness through branding and recruitment that 'breaks the stereotypes' of accounting

2. Experiential learning opportunities for students at exploratory age (High School) whether 'talk to the professional', or virtual field trips

3. Case Competitions

Q2 Organization High School Programming Branding

CPAs and other accounting professionals speak to high school students on campus and virtually.

TikTok channel / other social media posts

Q2 Organization Community College Programming Four-Year College Master's Programs

Make organizational membership free for students. Attend more student events. Offer scholarships.

Q2 Organization Branding Four-Year College

The most impactful method I have observed is to engage practicing accountants to speak and interact with prospective majors. This method has been very effective for us.

Q2 Organization Branding Four-Year College Community College

1. AAA Pipeline Webinar Series.

2. CAQ Accounting+ Website.

3. Freshman/Sophomore Level College Programs run by the Accounting Firms.

Q2 Organization Branding

Accounting + success is because the messages are grounded in data; reaching students where they are (vs. where we think they should be), using trusted messengers that resonate with students.

Q2 Organization Branding Four-Year College High School

1. Conduct webinars highlighting opportunities a CPA license provides to a young professional.

2. Currently brainstorming the development of an accounting high school program which teaches accounting while getting students excited about accounting career paths.

3. Development of a program that will help fill learning gaps for a recent college graduate who may not have sufficient knowledge to begin studying for the CPA Exam.

Q2 Organization Branding High School Four-Year College

CAQ's Accounting +, the AICPA's HS membership and growing social media presence, and the Foundation's scholarship programs

Q2 Organization High School Programming Four-Year College Community College

Scholarships for accounting major

Accounting student mentoring program

Using Junior Achievement curriculum in schools

Q2 Organization Principles Courses Four-Year College Community College

Panel presentations/guest speakers presenting to students in the earlier courses about the amazing career paths provided when choosing accounting. Choosing young professionals that are only 2-5 years in their career, showcase different paths and examples (not just Big 4/public accounting). Have them share examples of how accounting opened up doors for them, paths they didn't even realize were possible, how what they learned in school applied to their career ("we do this every day, I learned it in...") and doors that opened/promotions once they became a CMA, CPA, CIA, etc.

Programs must strategically put interesting, dynamic, and popular instructors teaching Intermediate Acccounting 1. Ensure they have the desire to "lure students in and fall in love with accounting" vs. "this is the weed them out course". Even better if they come from practice and can share real life examples of when they applied skills/concepts taught in Intermediate Accounting to their career.

Embrace Technology and Data - if faculty aren't comfortable it will show and their students will be hesitant re: the changing landscape of the profession as well.

Bring more real life application examples into lesson plans - don't solely rely on what the publishers provide for lesson plans, case studies, examples, questions, reading. Students are pushed for greater critical thinking skills right out of school and those are best showcased when taught how to apply, analyze, evaluate. Bring lesson plans and content to life in the classroom.

Q2 Organization Branding Principles Courses

- Real World Videos (ask an expert, practice with a pro, featured professionals)

- RoadTrip Nation assignment where students learn about accounting career options and interview a professional--exposure to careers besides big 4

- Non-debit/credit approach to introduction to accounting for non-majors for some of our products

Q2 Organization Branding Community College Four-Year College

-Created multi-pronged "career readiness" messaging and thought leadership webinar programming to build instructor awareness around our accounting texts and technology products and their application to preparing students for a career in accounting.

-Created assignment types in our Connect platform with real-world application.

-Created new texts and technology for the growing course area of data analytics in the accounting curriculum.

Q2 Educator High School Programming Four-Year College Community College

We have a program -- Path To Business Excellence - held on a Saturday where we invite high achieving high school students to campus. We break-up by discipline and bring in alumni to discuss the career paths for different majors.

Accounting night for all students interested in accounting where firms come to campus to discuss career opportunities.

Bringing in guidance counselors to educate them about the opportunities in accounting as a career.

Q2 Educator Principles Courses Four-Year College Community College

Collaboration with local chapter of TXCPA

Intro to Accounting classes

Students' organizations

Q2 Educator High School Programming

Accounting and Information Management (AIM) Academy is a six-day summer program that introduces underrepresented high school rising juniors to the field of accounting and information management and business-related careers. During the six-day sessions, students attend workshops in accounting, finance, entrepreneurship and professional development, taught by university faculty and staff. Students will also interact with one another through team building sessions, engage in college readiness workshops and learn from professionals in the field of business through sessions with industry leaders.

Business Education for Talented Students (BETS) Program is a 10-day summer program that introduces underrepresented high school rising seniors to the field of business and business-related careers. During the 10-day session, students will attend workshops in accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, supply chain management, business analytics and professional development, taught by university faculty and staff. Students will also interact with one another through team building sessions, engage in college readiness workshops and learn from professionals in the field of business through sessions with industry leaders. These activities help the student complete a challenging team project and make an executive presentation to Haslam College of Business faculty and staff at the end of the program.

Women Empowered Through Business (WEB) Institute is a six-day summer program designed to introduce under-represented high school female rising juniors to the fields of technology and the intersection of tech and business. During the six-day sessions, students will attend workshops that expose them to women leading in the fields of technology and business, coding, computer technology, entrepreneurship, personal branding, supply chain management, business analytics, and professional development, which will be taught by university faculty and staff. Students will also interact with one another through team building sessions, engage in college readiness workshops, and learn from professionals in the field of business through sessions with industry leaders.

Q2 Educator Branding High School Principles Courses

1. Introduce and have "successful" program graduates speak to existing / current students;

2. Introduce and have "successful" accountants working in the many, many different industries / fields speak to or engage with existing / current students;

3. Have a faculty liaison work with student clubs and high school to engage / inform potential students to the opportunities within the accounting profession.

Q2 Educator Community College Programming Principles Courses

1. Connect with 2-year colleges to help with the transfer issues (e.g., transferring credits, helping students deal with the culture change)

2. Try to enhance the representation of underrepresented groups in the profession through course speakers, mentoring, etc. Difficult to do.

3. Put your outstanding faculty in the principles course---which is now one course focused on understanding how accounting will be beneficial to anyone in the business world. No debits/credits.

Q2 Educator Branding Four-Year College Master's Programs

Alternative pathways for folks to transition into the accounting discipline.

Work on dispelling myths and stereotypes about accountants/accounting.

Q2 Educator Community College Programming

Center for Accounting Diversity - Two-Year Bridge Symposium

Center for Accounting Diversity - HBCU Graduate Accounting Fellowship

North Carolina A&T State University - Accounting Colloquium Sophomore Classes

Q2 Educator Four-Year College

1. Cooperative Education sharing a full-time position over a three-year academic and experiential learning program while the student finishes the last two years of an accounting undergraduate degree.

Q2 Educator Principles Courses Four-Year College

1. Enhance the introductory accounting course content by

including details about paths to MSA, CMA, and CPA certifications,

inviting School of Business Career Services to offer insights on recruitment, resumes, interviews, and career readiness, and

assigning retired big 4 partners as intro course instructors to providing an exceptional opportunity for students to learn from the industry’s best.

2. Promote student organizations, such as Beta Alpha Psi, Accounting Society of Mason, NABA, and ALPFA and support them in holding events that build networking and professional skills.

3. Provide an accounting student mentoring program, Mason Mentors, to connect individual students with our accounting advisory council firms for career-related advices.

Q2 Educator High School Programming

We have an Academy of Finance program at our school which takes students down a business/finance pathway. We incorporate real life hands on project based learning including:'

1) taking students through the Accounting cycle via playing a life-sized Monopoly game. Students record transactions and use Excel to record journal entries, ledgers, and financial statements. We then host an Accounting Fair where the students dress professionally to showcase their experience networking with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community and business partners.

2) students started and operate three school-based companies where they maintain and keep Accounting records. Students run a financial center / bank, school supply store, and a healthy snack / coffee shop.

3) students created and sell a town-opoly game: students reached out to local entrepreneurs, dressed professionally to meet with them, pitched our board game idea and business owners got "on board". Students then had to decide how many games to order and are now into the sales of these games. The games feature over 50 locally founded companies with logo and QR code which takes the user to that company's website. All of the funds go directly to scholarships and charities.

4) students attend a local Venture Capitalist business luncheon to network with local business partners including those in the Accounting profession

5) students visit a local university to meet with the Dean of the Accounting Department. While there, students hear from the career center and recent grads in the Accounting Profession

6) students visit local accounting firms

7) student job shadow at local accounting firms

Q2 Educator Branding High School

*Summer accounting career exploratory programs hosted by state CPA societies and / or universities

*After school Accounting Literacy program

Q2 Educator Branding High School Community College Four-Year College

1. Discuss career paths and opportunities using materials provided by professional organizations such as VSCPA, AICPA

2. I have held a symposium nearly every spring to promote the pathway.

3. Have people on campus discuss jobs/academic programs leading to those jobs.

Q2 Educator Principles Courses Four-Year College

1. include CAQ accounting videos in Principles Courses

2. Have seniors mentor freshman accounting majors; seniors/juniors take pride in their major and want to share valuable insight with freshman; also, seniors know how small the accounting program is relative to other majors

Q2 Firm High School Programming Community College Four-Year College

Early leadership programs and high school internships

On Campus case studies and case competitions highlighting innovation

Classroom projects using technology

Q2 Firm Branding Four-Year College

• Expedition EY

• EY Academic Resource Center

• EY Career Path Accelerator and other four-year pilots

• Discover EY

• Providence College has a bridge course to help people through intermediate 1 accounting (allows more people to stay in the major).

Q2 Firm Four-Year College Master's Programs

With a mission to strengthen the pipeline of diverse CPA talent and fuel greater racial and ethnic diversity in accounting and tax, Deloitte launched the $75M MADE—Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable—commitment in June of 2021. Over the course of the past two years, MADE has grown, expanded, and invested in a bolder and more inclusive vision for the accounting profession. Deloitte is committed to generating more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs). Further information is provided in other sections of this survey about how MADE works to help students see and realize their future in business through the prism and possibilities of accounting.

The Deloitte Foundation supports a number of programs that work in parallel to the MADE commitment. Details are provided in other sections of this survey, including $25M in support of the Deloitte Foundation Accounting Scholars Program for Black and Hispanic/Latinx master’s students working towards CPA careers, $8M+ in support of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Deloitte Foundation HBCU Accounting Scholarship Program for undergraduate accounting majors, and $5M in support of faculty and student programs in accounting at HBCUs and HSIs.

Deloitte is also very engaged in supporting and promoting career awareness of the accounting profession through national signature relationships with organizations such as the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), NABA and ALPFA. Deloitte is proud to be partner of the CAQs Accounting+ campaign to introduce the next generation of high school and college students to the limitless possibilities an accounting career holds. Deloitte was the Lead Sponsor of the 2023 NABA National Convention & Expo with close to 600 Deloitte professionals in attendance and several Deloitte PPMD leaders recognized during the event, adding to the celebration of Deloitte's commitment to advancing DEI and our profession.

Q2 Firm High School Programming Community College Four-Year College

High school internships, active on-site campus recruiting, ACAP sponsorships, and junior college partnerships.

Q2 Firm Four-Year College

Cooperative Education sharing a full-time position over a three-year academic and experiential learning program while the student finishes the last two years of an accounting undergraduate degree.

Q2 Firm Branding

Website to discuss the value of becoming an accountant / CPA - https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/why-cpa.html

New program to emphasize to students all of the opportunities for CPAs - https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/entry-level/programs-events/destination-cpa.html

Virtual learning experiences to help students better understand the work activities of entry level associates - https://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/virtual-learning-experiences.html

Q2 Educator High School Programming Principles Courses Community College

1. Inviting High Schoolers to campus to showcase the School of Accountancy and careers in accountancy.

2. Inviting students successful in Intro Accounting Exams (fist exam) to a student success banquet. The major, MSAA and professor are showcased and young professionals tell their stories.

3. Beta Alpha Psi Students and advisor visiting Community College Campuses to meet students and show the path from CC to university and the professions.

Q2 Educator Four-Year College

Career Fairs

Quiz Bowl

Job Shadowing

Q2 Educator Branding Four-Year College

There is a growing gap between the supply and demand for accountants. At the Center for Accounting Education (CAE), we believe efforts to close the gap must be focused on students who are enrolled in accounting programs and targeted to those with an interest in the accounting profession. CAE’s success is attributed to its dynamic programming and meaningful partnerships. CAE’s programming is designed to promote accounting as a major and a rewarding career to students in elementary through postsecondary institutions. Each education sector has tailored workshops with curriculum that supports activities to sharpen personal and professional development skills, interactive cases, and social activities. Importantly, students make personal connections with recruiters and professionals, which allows them to assess a good fit for internships and full-time opportunities. CAE recognizes that achieving a diverse, inclusive culture requires synergy across the accounting profession. CAE has successfully established partnerships with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and NABA Inc. to strive for meaningful change. These partnerships extend the reach of CAE and fosters collaboration in dismantling the systemic challenges to increasing the number of Blacks who study and pursue a career in accounting. By working collaboratively, CAE is able to adapt quickly and inform changing circumstances in the accounting profession e.g. declining enrollment of accounting majors and candidates sitting for the CPA Exam.

Q2 Educator Principles Courses Community College Four-Year College

Exposure to accounting professionals via class speakers

Internships and/or shadowing opportunities

Q2 Organization High School Programming Community College Four-Year College

Run summer programs for HS students to increase interest in accounting and finance; creating educational pathways from community colleges into 4 year colleges/HBCUs; facilitate paid internships for 1st and 2nd year college students in the field.

Q3 Organization Branding Regulatory / Compliance

The 150 hour requirement

Q3 Organization Branding

The narrow focus on the CPA pipeline. We need to be broader and focus on the entire profession. Very glad that you are convening this meeting.

Q3 Organization Branding

Students have a narrow view of the opportunities that are available to degreed accountants, finance majors, business majors, etc. The obstacle is that students have a narrow and ill-informed notion of the great number of opportunities that are available with an accounting degree. There is a lack of real-world knowledge and experience to help accounting majors see the significant role of the accountant. Long has it been said that 'accounting is the language of business' - and that there are numerous career paths that are open to them.

Q3 Organization Branding

Our industry is too slow to change; we are slow to innovate and even when we do, we our horrible at branding the innovation and career path (ESG opportunities, both now and projected). We are still caught up in a linear hierarchy that expects everyone to move up the ladder in stair step fashion and does not allow much real flexibility to construct a personal and interesting career path. We have been intolerant of recognizing generational differences and think that all young professionals need to adapt to our culture vs us trying to adapt to them. While people talk a good game about understanding generational differences and applying a different approach, many firms fall back in to the "here's how we've always done it here" mentality.

Q3 Organization Branding

Perceived workload and compensation; generational changes and desire for work/life balance- teetering on more life, less work

Q3 Organization Branding

1. Perception of accountants and what they do on a daily basis.

2. Perception and benefits of the CPA exam.

3. Cost of a bachelor's and master's degrees.

4. Starting salaries for entry level accounting professionals are considered lower than other professions.

5. It has been said that in the few years, the US will graduate the lowest number high school students in the last 60 years. The pool of candidates will shrink before it grows.

Q3 Organization Branding

The consistent drumbeat that the profession does not fuel career growth and opportunities.

Q3 Organization Branding Four-Year College Master's Programs

Entrenchment in traditional accounting pathways eg CPA “sacred cow” - the perception that there’s only one path.

Resistance to change among academic community - changes to curriculum, teaching loads, topics in accounting etc, threaten status quo, job security etc.

Q3 Organization Branding

Salaries and hours! This was brought to light when we did a day camp with minority students. We put a panel of CPAs together and had some Q&A from the students. One of the questions was, "we hear that you guys put in a lot of long hours and don't get paid much. Why should we be CPAs?" Honestly, I didn't expect this from high school juniors. Kids are doing their homework and researching possibilities of careers. We've been in many high schools and have talked to many kids. My experience with the students is that they're not afraid of the exam or the schooling, but they do ask how they can make a living, pay off student loans and find affordable housing with a lackluster starting salary. The old argument of wait 10 years and you'll see the fruits of your labor doesn't work when you can't find a decent place to live. Another related challenge we see is that we have 4 year degree students in tech garnering starting salaries in the $95-100k range. It's pretty tough to sell a $75k starting salary to a 5 year degree person.

Q3 Organization Talent Pipeline

declining student population

Q3 Organization Branding

Although I realize many will say that it is the 150-hour requirement, I would liken more toward the fact that there is a perception by students recently that the credentials do not matter or mean as much as they maybe once did because the emphasis if the value-add is no longer explained in a way that matters to students so they want to pursue them and many feel they can be successful without credentials.

Q3 Organization Branding

Perception of accounting as boring; long hours; little satisfaction

Q3 Organization Principles Courses High School Community College

Lack of accurate (or any) knowledge of the profession.

Q3 Organization Principles Courses Branding

I believe it is student's perception of the major.

Q3 Organization Principles Courses Branding

Student lack of understanding of the many varied opportunities in the accounting profession and students' desire for better work/life balance.

Q3 Organization Principles Courses High School Four-Year College

Unwillingness to change and adapt to shifting conditions. We are seeing success in generating awareness and interest amongst High school and early college students- where we see the next major roadblock/ obstacle is with the introductory accounting courses; as well as the financial hurdles that exist for students. With the looming enrollment cliff, stiff competition from other business majors and the tech industry, and difficulties in meeting students' desired career priorities (purposeful career and diverse workplace), the profession must act and think differently to attract and retain top talent.

Q3 Organization Branding

1. Negative connotations about what an accountant does and that the job is very boring.

2. Starting salaries of accountants are too low when compared to finance and IT entry level jobs.

Q3 Organization Branding

The firms' shift in business model with offshoring, outsourcing and automation coupled with the longer term ROI of the CPA vs. expanding education needs of a accounting student and their desire for a short term ROI.

Accounting education struggles to remain aligned with the technical, analytical focused, and automated accounting profession.

Q3 Organization Branding Talent Pipeline

1) Demographic - expected significant decline in high school graduation beginning in 2024

2) Uninformed perceptions about CPAs as a career and poor branding

3) Unhelpful narratives that create the perception that auditors are not honest and not doing their jobs

Q3 Organization Branding Four-Year College

We need to do a better job selling and marketing the major. It's a branding problem and many have been quiet for a long time expecting it to speak for itself. This generation wants to know the value up front and see what it's in it for them. Help each faculty member within a program see that they too can be the hero and champion for change - it's not the responsiblity of just the Chair or Director of Accounting. Everyone has a role, what's theirs? Then help equip them to succeed (examples provided in this survey). Rethink the program, courses taught, ask WHY vs. wash/rinse/repeat the way it's always been done.

Tell better stories. No more "war stories" about the long hours, CPA Exam being impossible, etc. Keep them in reality, it's an extremely rewarding career, with so much mobility, you will work long hours, etc. but it's worth it. Share the overall value and keep them focused on both the short term and long term rewards. Activate alumni - they are on the other side experiencing the rewards - don't just have your faculty talk about this.

Q3 Organization Branding Four-Year College

I would say this is two -fold 1) Marketing issue and 2) students not seeing the ROI on an accounting degree.

First, students only hear about the long hours and crazy amount of work from media, family, and friends. They don't hear about all of the other doors an accounting degree can open and they are unaware of the unique careers out there. Second, the accounting major requires more hours to sit for any other business degree certification exam which means more money students have to invest in their undergraduate career. They receive lower pay than most other business majors and then enter an industry that has a poor work/life balance. Now more than ever are students looking at pursuing careers that will help them make money, make it faster, and enjoy a work-life balance.

Q3 Organization Branding Regulatory / Compliance

From information we've gathered at conferences and events, it's the additional time needed to complete the required number of course hours and the entry level pay for accounting majors is no higher than for other majors.

Q3 Educator Branding High School Middle School

Image among parents and students. Could be overcome by accounting being recognized as STEM for K-12

Q3 Educator Branding

Entry salary

Q3 Educator Branding

Trying to convince young people the real value of an accounting degree. Law, medicine, and engineering have significant costs and educational requirements and yet students still come because they see the value of these educational pathways.

Q3 Educator Branding

The "marketing" of the accounting profession. I perceive accounting and the accounting profession as a "gateway" to financial independence because I "mix" accounting with many other areas / careers / jobs / core competencies within the profession. Accounting equals "full employment" for many.

Q3 Educator Branding

There are so many attractive (e.g., interesting, better-paid) alternatives to an accounting career.

Q3 Educator Four-Year College Regulatory / Compliance

Removing institutional barriers

Q3 Educator Branding Other

The accounting profession --- the branding and communication of the importance of accounting needs to change. The profession needs to own how we got here by looking at data (NASBA CPA Exam applicant and pass rates over time) and making sure that the tone at the top is truly inclusive. There have been outstanding initiatives by the AICPA (Start Here, Go Places; 360 Degrees; HBCU CPA Exam Summit) and others that are reduced, eliminated, or minimized due to budgets or changing interests. Consistency will be key to increasing the accounting pipeline.

The US Treasury Commission on the Auditing Profession discussed specific human capital issues and the PCAOB Investor Advisory Group provided a follow-up analysis on the human capital issues noted. We don't need new strategies, we just need to operationalize the ones that have been identified.

Q3 Educator Branding Talent Pipeline

Competition with other business majors that have higher starting salaries, less initial educational requirements, no qualification examinations (CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE, CISA) and the likelihood of a better work life balance.

Q3 Educator Branding

Students' lack of/incorrect knowledge about careers in accounting and starting salaries.

Q3 Educator High School Programming Branding

Many think of Accounting as a boring, tax related job in a cubical. High school teachers need to introduce Accounting as a pathway to many opportunities (public, private, entrepreneurial ventures). Accounting needs to be presented in a fun way and connect the student to their futures. High school teachers need to connect to local Accounting firms and get students in the door & excited to go this route. Teachers also need to connect to their local colleges & work with the Dean / professors to have "an Accounting day". Set up a panel of Accountants in various types of companies. Get the students excited to learn! Teachers need to be enthusiastic and try "out of the box" teaching methods.

Q3 Educator High School Programming Branding Middle School

The perception of accountants developed by students at an early age (middle school and high school, particularly)

Q3 Educator Branding Talent Pipeline

1. A real familiarity with the work that is done by accountants - what are those jobs?

2. Understanding why a CPA is needed or that a CPA IS needed to do accounting.

3. Promoting the field - knowing the jobs that exist out there in the field.

Q3 Educator Branding Four-Year College

Enrollment office uses the same strategy to accept students. They do not consider that the accounting profession offers plenty of jobs and our accounting classes are empty, relative to marketing and management.

Q3 Educator Branding High School Four-Year College

1. Showcasing the profession and its opportunities in ways that capture the imagination of today's high schoolers and early college students.

Q3 Educator High School Programming High School Four-Year College

We are missing the mentorship from Universities & Accounting firms to High Schools. It must be more that just the major firms and some universities.

Q3 Educator Branding High School Community College

The biggest obstacle to increasing the pipeline of accounting majors stems from the myths regarding the demise of the profession, which impacts the negative perceptions of accountants. Over the years, CAE’s engagement with high school and community college students has revealed the extent to which students are ignorant of the accounting curriculum and the diverse professional opportunities. For example, a community college student who participated in the 2023 ASDO stated, “Before ASDP I knew I wanted to major in accounting, but I had doubts because I did not want to be stuck in a profession that I would be bored in. ASDP showed me that accounting is not boring, and you can take many different avenues with accounting.“ CAE strives to collaboratively change the narrative on the profession by developing a combined marketing strategy with their partners and stakeholders.

Q3 Educator Branding Talent Pipeline

Helping students understand the opportunity - demand for accounting professionals, salary potential, various career potential. Lack of exposure to the field/career.

Q3 Firm Branding Regulatory / Compliance

Need better branding of the profession. Too many students don't think it's an attractive career opportunity. That combined with the extra year of education that is required- that is a barrier.

Q3 Firm Branding

Perception of the profession which includes branding.

Q3 Firm Branding Regulatory / Compliance

Think the biggest obstacle is the 150 hour requirement which causes students to incur additional costs to meet the requirement as compared to a lot of other majors and can also delay students ability to start working by a year. Thus, they may lose a year to begin earning money on a full time basis. In addition, the industry and colleges need to do a better job of informing students of the various career opportunities that may be open to them and also help them understand that accounting is much more than just debits and credits.

Q3 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Branding

• Attractiveness in the type of work for the first few years

• Extra year of school

• Compensation, although improving

• Need to have more accounting programs integrate CPA exam teaching and sitting within program (masters programs for 150 to sit states and undergrad for 120 to sit states) – get the exam passed as early as possible

• Need best faculty in the early classes, they need better names, and they need to feature cases/experiential opportunities and better representation of the real work and the purpose for the profession in early classes

• Faculty needing to stay up to date on “how the profession” is very different today—then years ago and how to incorporate those messages into class

• The notion and fear that AI will render the profession "irrelevant."

Q3 Firm Branding Regulatory / Compliance

We acknowledge there are many obstacles that require collective action and collaboration among all key stakeholders of the CPA profession. We believe it is important to have uniform standards and fully support CPA mobility. However, we also feel it is important to take bold action to address the barriers which are preventing students (particularly from under-resourced communities) from staying on their path to the CPA and acknowledge the fifth year as one of those barriers.

Q3 Firm Principles Courses Branding

Early awareness of career path in accounting, including better understanding of what a position in public accounting looks like, as well as CPA exam perceived as a burden.

Q3 Firm Branding

Competition with other business majors that have higher starting salaries, less initial educational requirements, no qualification examinations (CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE, CISA) and the likelihood of a better work life balance.

Q3 Firm Branding

The current perception by students that accounting is boring and will not be a fulfilling and lucrative career.

Q3 Organization Branding Four-Year College Master's Programs

Not every college or university offers enough courses for a major in accounting (especially HBCUs); the cost of getting 150 credit hours is a barrier for low-income students to get into the field- if they can't afford it, they will often switch their major; The perception of the accounting profession is also a deterrent- children have a negative perception of it and do not choose it when considering their majors.

Q4 ALL fullwidth ALL

A high-level summary of the research is available here

Click here to view the research and other resources submitted by survey participants.

Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

The pace and implementation of technology tools into the practices has occurred very quickly in response to the pandemic. We strive to deliver quality audits in less time and create a better audit experience. Changes include increased use of standardized tools and approaches, centralized services, and automated audit techniques. The use of technology and automated tools has increased for entry level hires as automated routines and use of KPMG Clara has increased. New hires are using Power BI dashboards to search, find and access technology tools. Entry level hires have opportunities to work with ignition centers to evaluate the impact of new and emerging technologies.

Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

Centralizing low risk, repetitive tasks to a service delivery center

Leveraging technology in new ways to better engage young professionals

Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

The Audit & Assurance business has undergone tremendous transformation over the last five years due to the changing needs of our clients, new technologies digitizing the audit and global events that have changed the conventional ways we think about who and where work is completed. The emerging and rapidly growing service offerings and focus areas within Audit & Assurance, including Accounting & Reporting, Assurance, ESG, Blockchain, and AI, have created the need for professionals with different skill sets.

Starting at the early career levels professionals are introduced to a diversity of Audit & Assurance work, including attest and non-attest work, public and private clients, local and borderless teams and single and multi-team engagement structures. Each of these types of experiences requires and develops unique skills across quality & execution, data and tech, growth and human skills. While the traditional skills needed by auditors remain critical, technology has elevated the need for auditors to be able to perform data analysis and use data to create visualization. As an example, technology has enabled auditors to access, analyze and test full sets of data vs in the past where sub-sets of data were tested. This requires auditors beginning earlier in their career to understand how to interpret and analyze the data to in order to deliver the enhanced insights clients are expecting in today’s world. In addition, with the rapid growth of emerging service offerings, the need for professionals to re-skill and upskill in different areas is becoming more imperative. As an example, an audit professional working on an ESG/Sustainability engagement is going to need to understand the ESG Regulatory landscape to execute the audit.

Early in one’s career they should be pursuing a multitude of experiences that is going to give them the foundational knowledge to execute Audit & Assurance work across multiple types of engagements. This will enable them in the future to identify if there are specific areas of Audit & Assurance they want to focus, or utilize these broad-based skills to execute the full landscape of the audit for clients.

By not having to do as many “manual” tests and procedures as in the past, our young audit professionals have more time and opportunity to decipher bigger data sets, draw deeper meaning, and apply critical thinking. A good example of this is the development of Icount for inventories – this is a mobile app that automates and streamlines the physical inventory count process by enabling items to be scanned and captured, which then feeds an online portal where information is captured and can be viewed and analyzed in real time. This is vastly different from our historical process of physical inventory counts and has saved countless hours that can be instead utilized for more analytical tasks.

Also, our diverse client base and expanded service offerings enables us to provide professionals early in their careers with a variety of assignments, each of which have unique experiences that drive the development of new skills. We understand that every assignment is unique, and we are committed to an intentional approach to deployment that allows professionals early in their career to gain a variety of experiences that allow individuals to develop diverse skills. Professionals are deployed on engagements based on business needs, industry, competencies/skills, location, developmental needs, and overall career goals & preferences. Some examples of new work experiences, beyond just the “traditional” financial statement audit, include: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), including climate–related risks and opportunities, capital market transactions (IPOs and SPACs, acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs and other similar transactions), and Cryptocurrency.

Deloitte’s Tax business and the way in which our professionals serve clients continues to evolve as well. Automation (RPA) and some AI are being leveraged to complete forms/manipulate data. Where work is being done has also evolved.

In the past two years through the MADE commitment, Deloitte has created two new programs, i.e., the Audit & Assurance and Tax Stride (Stronger Together Resiliently In Doing Exams) CPA Readiness Programs, which seek to address the barriers faced by entry-level Deloitte professionals taking the CPA exam by supporting their preparation upon their initial hire.

Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

More flexibility with schedule and location (ie. hybrid employees)

Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

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Q5 Firm Principles Courses Four-Year College Master's Programs

Some portions of our audit and tax projects are now completed by centers of excellence or acceleration centers and entry level accounting hires are acting in a project management role to provide the inputs, monitor progress and evaluate outputs.

Q6 Firms Branding Community College

https://accessyourpotential.pwc.com/

Q6 Firms Branding Community College

KPMG Career Catalyst Program; Attendance and participation at TACTYC; engaging with community college faculty and a leadership program designed for community college students.

Q6 Firms Branding Community College

- Direct hiring into an accounting delivery center for two-year degree students

- Strategy in place to attract CC students to Launch internship program

Q6 Firms Branding Community College

Parterning with 14 junior colleges in California, including speaking at college locations as well as hosting office events for students.

Q6 Firms Branding Community College

The Deloitte Foundation matches donations from US Deloitte professionals to two-year, four-year, and graduate degree-granting US colleges and universities for curriculum, technology, innovative learning spaces, faculty support, and more (which includes support for two-year accounting/business programs).

The Deloitte Foundation also provides support to help prepare two-year college students as they transition to four-year accounting programs. As one example, in collaboration with the NCA&T Center For Accounting Diversity and the CAQ, the Deloitte Foundation hosts an annual two-year college bridge symposium designed to help prepare racially and ethnically diverse two-year college students as they consider transitioning to four-year accounting programs and to promote awareness of education/career pathways in accounting. As another example, the Deloitte Foundation is supporting multiple scholarship programs for racially and ethnically diverse community college students transferring from two- to four-year institutions to pursue bachelor's degrees in accounting (including a grant to NABA focused specifically on bridging two- year students to four-year accounting programs at HBCUs).

Finally, the Deloitte Foundation collaborates with various two-year colleges in select markets to support scholarship and wraparound programming to assist racially and ethnically diverse community college students working toward associate degrees in accounting.

Q6 Firms Branding Four-Year College

Active campus recruiting at many 4-year colleges, including participation with accounting society events.

Q6 Firms Branding Four-Year College

Embark and Rise Leadership Programs; Internships; KIC Case Study competition; Global Programs, including internships and leadership programs; KPMG scholarships.

Q6 Firms Branding Four-Year College

https://accessyourpotential.pwc.com/

Q6 Firms Branding Four-Year College

- Expedition EY

- Discover EY

- Launch internship

- Women in Audit

- Client service internship

- EY Career Path Accelerator

- Scholarships

Q6 Firms Branding Four-Year College

The Deloitte Foundation matches donations from US Deloitte professionals to two-year, four-year, and graduate degree-granting US colleges and universities for curriculum, technology, innovative learning spaces, faculty support, and more (which includes significant support for undergraduate accounting programs).

The Deloitte Foundation also provides other resources for accounting faculty including the Trueblood Case Series and Forensic Accounting Cases, course materials from the University of IL–Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics, and STEM Tech Ethics Cases (all aimed at helping to prepare students for the future of work). The Deloitte Foundation also provides support for accounting educators through various annual teaching excellence awards, development programs as well as support for the next generation of accounting faculty through our doctoral consortium and doctoral fellowship support.

In parallel to Deloitte's MADE commitment, the Deloitte Foundation is proud to offer financial assistance through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Deloitte Foundation HBCU Accounting Scholarship Program to eligible students majoring in accounting while attending a TMCF member-school or Historically Black College and University (HBCU). In addition, the Deloitte Foundation is also providing strategic support grants to select HBCUs/HSIs for faculty support, curriculum development, bridge programs, accounting analytics labs, and other academic program needs.

Deloitte sponsors and provides programming at NABA's annual convention as previously mentioned and also holds an annual FanTAXtic Case Competition and Audit Innovation Campus Challenge to help students engage with real-world scenarios they might face as future accountants. Deloitte MADE team members and talent recruiters also run campus roadshows to share information about the accounting profession with students at select HBCUs and HSIs as well as PWIs as well as at select professional conferences (i.e., ALPFA Convention).

Q6 Firms Branding High School

ACAP and planned Junior Achievement Sponsorship

Q6 Firms Branding High School

Empower High School Experience: three week paid internship to introduce nearly 180 junior and senior high school students from diverse backgrounds to careers in public accounting and professional services. This experience allowed high school students from all backgrounds who are just beginning to navigate their academic and career journey, to explore new career paths, develop new skills and build a professional network. They participated in 11 markets across the U.S.

Q6 Firms Branding High School

https://accessyourpotential.pwc.com/

Q6 Firms Branding High School

- Successful partnerships with ACAP (accounting career awareness program) and BCAP (business career awareness program) in various cities throughout the country

- Young Executives of Color (YEOC) program at University of Washington

- Summer Business Institute at Michigan State Univ

- DYNAMC at UT Austin

- Rutgers Future Scholars

Q6 Firms Branding High School

The Deloitte Foundation provides support for scholarships to diverse high school students graduating and intending to pursue post-secondary accounting education/majors/degrees through select not for profit grantees (for example state societies, AICPA, NABA, Cristo Rey Network, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, etc.).

The Deloitte Foundation is also providing support for licenses for an online, accredited Introduction to Financial Accounting course for juniors and seniors interested in careers in business who are attending NYC public high schools with missions focused on advancing students' social and economic mobility.

The Deloitte Foundation has provided support for racially and ethnically diverse teachers (or those who teach primarily racially and ethnically diverse students) to attend the AICPA Accounting Program for Building the Profession (APBP) training.

Deloitte made a $75 million commitment to fuel greater racial and ethnic diversity in tax and accounting. The mission is to transform the future of the accounting profession through deliberate actions to increase the number of racially and ethnically diverse students (1) enrolling and graduating from accounting programs, (2) joining the broader accounting profession, and (3) represented across all levels and disciplines within the accounting profession. For example, through the Deloitte Academy: Accounting Edition program Deloitte is committed to inspiring and preparing students for long-term success by collaborating with high schools, state CPA societies, and various nonprofits to bring accounting to life for thousands of racially and ethnically diverse high school youth across the country. Over the past two years, Deloitte reached approximately 24,000 students through the Deloitte Academy: Accounting Edition program.

Deloitte also recently partnered with WeAreTeachers, an education-focused media brand, to create a series of engaging, video-based accounting challenges featuring diverse characters and teen-friendly business scenarios (for use by high school teachers). Two- to three-minute videos clearly outline each challenge and invite students to use their accounting skills to solve a business problem. Videos are a fantastic way to reach a diverse audience of Gen Z students, as videos are a common source of information and engagement for digital natives. And because the videos feature characters and scenarios that are familiar to teenagers, the challenges are intended to demystify accounting. Students can quickly discover the importance—and power—of accounting skills. They can begin to see themselves as people who can do accounting. The Deloitte High School Accounting Challenges are available for immediate download at www.deloitte.com/us/accountingchallenge.

Q6 Firms Branding Master's Programs

Active campus recruiting.

Q6 Firms Branding Master's Programs

KPMG's Masters of Accounting in Data and Analytics Program; Tax Master's Scholarships Program; and other KPMG scholarships.

Q6 Firms Branding Master's Programs

- Client service internship

- Scholarships

Q6 Firms Branding Master's Programs

The Deloitte Foundation matches donations from US Deloitte professionals to two-year, four-year, and graduate degree-granting US colleges and universities for curriculum, technology, innovative learning spaces, faculty support, and more (which includes support for graduate accounting programs).

In parallel to Deloitte's MADE commitment, the Deloitte Foundation expects to provide nearly $25 million over the next several years in financial support, through the Deloitte Foundation Accounting Scholars Program, to help fund scholarships for students pursuing a fifth-year master‘s program in accounting, master's of tax program, or master's of accounting program with concentration in audit, advisory or tax at select colleges and universities, aiming to consider applicants from diverse demographic groups in the spirit of supporting a diverse student population.

Q6 Firms Branding Middle School

Local office participate in Junior Achievement classroom programs.

Q6 Firms Branding Middle School

Local offices participate in Junior Achievement classroom programs

Q6 Firms Branding Middle School

Local offices participate in Junior Achievement classroom programs.

Q6 Firms Branding Middle School

Middle school is not currently an area of focus from an educational investment perspective, but we do acknowledge the need to explore opportunities to promote career awareness among this age group.

Q6 Firms Branding Other

Attendance and participation at student leadership conferences such as BAP, NABA, ALPFA; Literacy events at elementary schools with students and interns to expose them to accounting students; PhD project sponsor.

Q6 Firms Other

Deloitte's Climb Fellowship Program, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, focuses on bringing Black and Hispanic/Latinx mid-career accounting professionals together to create a community and provide resources to help position them for senior roles within their organizations.

Deloitte's Discovery program is an internship program designed to help increase the pipeline of highly qualified inclusive talent. Participants include high potential diverse talent (including but not limited to racially and ethnically diverse, women, LGBTQIA+, veterans and people with disabilities). The experience provides training and development to accelerate participants' career and leadership potential. The Discovery Internship is an exploratory internship, giving interns the opportunity to learn more about professional services and our client-facing businesses. The Discovery Internship is open to all eligible freshman and sophomore students.

Deloitte has an ongoing commitment to engage, collaborate, and partner with the state CPA societies given the critical role they play in their states. They are the voice of the CPA professionals within each state acting as stewards for CPAs both in public practice and in industry and promoting awareness of the CPA credential. To date, Deloitte has provided over $3M to support key initiatives and programs of the state CPA societies, primarily focused on their pipeline and DEI programs and initiatives, scholarship funding, sponsorship of key events and workshops.

Q6 Firms Other

EY Academic Resource Center

Q6 Firms Principles Courses Other

Note on innovations designed to increase accounting major enrollments. Please also note any success metrics you are tracking in these innovative programs.

Oklahoma State's undergraduate introduction to accounting and its MS in Accounting program. See Bridging the Gap: Design Suggestions from a Curriculum Change in the Financial Accounting Series by Brockbank, Sisneros, Spencer, Stroud in Issues in Accounting Education, Vol. 38, No. 4; November 2023; pages 1-24.

Q6 Organization Community College

-Partnership with Surgent for no/low-cost access to their Enrolled Agent prep materials our Connect platform for instructors to assign to students.

-Development of digital tools and assignment types across the accounting curriculum that address the need for students to gain exposure to, and experience with, a variety of data analytics platforms.

-Development of new texts and digital assignment types for the emerging data analytics courses in the accounting curriculum.

-Development of additional text content and digital assignments to address CPA Evolution needs.

-Partnership with UWorld to provide a selection of their CPA Exam prep content to be assignable in our Connect platform.

-Content mapping of McGraw Hill text and assignment content to the most recent version of the CPA Evolution/AICPA model curriculum.

-"Career readiness" emphasis in the development of McGraw Hill course materials across the accounting curriculum.

Q6 Organization Community College

Accounting accreditation

Q6 Organization Branding Community College

Beta Alpha Psi chapters community college outreach brings community college students to a BAP meeting and to help lessen the gap between community college and the four-year university.

Q6 Organization Community College

Dual-credit programs and an emphasis on community college could be beneficial but there appears to be systemic issues with community colleges and providing the external support for candidates to complete community college in a reasonable timeframe, at low cost, and continue their studies at a university.

Q6 Organization Branding Community College

Government Case Challenge, National Leadership Training event scholarships, Free Association membership

Q6 Organization Community College

In discussion and potential future development

Q6 Organization Branding Community College

Our College of Business admissions area handles outreach to the community colleges. We support this by providing information about our programs and having accounting advisors participate in the recruiting process.

Q6 Organization Branding Community College

Outreach with TACTYC.

Apprenticeship program.

Q6 Organization Community College

PCAOB Scholars Program

Q6 Organization Branding Community College

Student chapters

Scholarship program

Q6 Organization Community College

TACTYC conference

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

-Development of digital tools and assignment types across the accounting curriculum that address the need for students to gain exposure to, and experience with, a variety of data analytics platforms.

-Development of new texts and digital assignment types for the emerging data analytics courses in the accounting curriculum.

-Development of additional text content and digital assignments to address CPA Evolution needs.

-Partnership with UWorld to provide a selection of their CPA Exam Prep content to be assignable in our Connect platform.

-Content mapping of McGraw Hill text and assignment content to the most recent version of the CPA Evolution/AICPA model curriculum.

-"Career readiness" emphasis in the development of McGraw Hill course materials across the accounting curriculum.

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

Accounting accreditation

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

Beta Alpha Psi Chapters

VITA and other service activities to serve their local communities.

Professional Development opportunities for students at the chapter level.

Service activities to assist business schools in meeting their Societal Impact goals.

Mid-Year and Annual meetings where they can network with professionals and other students.

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

Faculty Hour webcast

CPA Evolution outreach / communication

CGMA partnerships

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

Government Case Challenge (https://www.agacgfm.org/Standards/CCR/CaseChallenge.aspx ), National Leadership Training event scholarships , Free Association membership, Datathon (https://www.agacgfm.org/Events/Datathon/Home.aspx), establishment of AGA student chapters supported by Local chapters, inclusion of student members in chapter level committees - getting them involved, providing mentoring and career and resume support.

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

I'll let KPMG share their programs

Q6 Organization Principles Courses Four-Year College

In class presentations by recent graduates of our accounting programs employed in the field.

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

Our CPA Exam preparation course is currently built into the curriculum of many graduate and undergraduate programs across the country. In these institutions, students can get college credit for taking our review course.

Q6 Organization Four-Year College

PCAOB Scholars Program

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

Scholarship programs for accounting certifications

Student leadership conference

Women's leadership summit

Student chapters

Teaching cases

Research grants for faculty

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

The Academic Awareness Program and the Internal Auditing Education Partnership (IAEP)

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

The AICPA's Academic Champions program is growing and best practices are clearly being defined.

Q6 Organization Branding Four-Year College

We do collaborate and partner with the BAP or accounting clubs. We also utilize campus ambassadors.