Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Junior Achievement

At the recent AICPA Practitioners and Technology Symposium in Orlando one of the 1,000-plus attendees was an 18-year old CPA.

Let me repeat that for emphasis – she was EIGHTEEN years old AND a CPA. That mean she most likely began college at 13 or thereabouts. Roughly the age I was struggling with the basic tenets of algebra and beginning Spanish.

By contrast when I was 18, I don’t believe I could spell “CPA” let alone know what one actually did. I always marvel when people get a career calling very early on, although prior to last week’s conference I had never met anyone who began their life’s work at 18 – except perhaps those opting for a career in the military or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, a life in crime.

Again by comparison, I have switched careers four times since my college graduation – which from what I understand is not atypical. 

In any event, usually when I read about someone who enters college about the time they should actually be starting 8th grade, they usually intend to pursue one of the sciences as a career. I found it quite refreshing she decided on accounting, as the current pipeline of the profession needs all the youngest and brightest minds they can attract.

Which brings me back to the conference agenda.

In one session l learned that while the number of college students pursuing an accounting degree is high as it’s ever been, the figures for those who go on to get their CPA designation is flat.

I wondered why that was, because closer to home my daughter had two high school friends who studied accounting, sat for the exam and are now CPAs with Big Four firms. Unless you opted to go into finance or some other related field, I thought it was strange that someone would choose accounting as a major and not see it through to licensure.

I learned there are apparently three critical points of influence in the career of a potential CPA.

  • When they’re in high school thinking about possible careers, at which point the most important factor is a role model in their lives – perhaps a friend or even better, a relative who is a CPA; 
  • While in college, where they are thinking more specifically about their careers, and what specific firms and how many recruit at their colleges; and
  • When they’re in the workplace, and whether their employers require or subsidize the taking of the CPA Exam.


I’ll let far brighter minds than mine determine how to narrow the gap between accounting student and CPA hopeful, because I can tell you this, you can’t depend on an influx of 18-year old wunderkinds to become the standard bearer.

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