■ Accounting
■ Accounting
Continued From Page 14 ment landscape by showing tomorrow ’ s leaders what possibilities a career in accounting holds .
CLA ( CliftonLarsonAllen LLP ) Alan Sobel Managing Principal New Jersey Offices
There are many root causes to the shortage of accountants , including the rigors of becoming a certified public accountant ( CPA ) i . e ., completing 150 credit hours of college and passing the four-part CPA exam . At CLA ( CliftonLarsonAllen LLP ), we are centered on a multi-tiered approach to mitigate the shortage , built around our CLA Promise , which is “ to know you and to help you .”
At the heart of our efforts in attracting and keeping strong talent is a focus on creating inspired careers for our CLA family members . It begins with getting into our local communities and exposing future talent to the meaningful and rewarding careers in accounting through awareness days , internships , and other hands-on collaboration with educators and students on the multi-faceted paths that can be taken in accounting . Once someone joins CLA , the focus turns to working together to develop the inspired career of their choice . These could be centered around service lines , industry , and or geography .
In addition , CLA is adopting new advancing technologies – including artificial intelligence – to minimize manual work steps better suited for machines and to find , match , and utilize capacity across the full complement of our staffing resources outside of our profession ’ s work compression periods .
We strive to make CLA a place where people can achieve the full potential of their chosen path and support them with deep resources and wellness programs that keep our workforce highly motivated , leading to a strategic advantage in combatting reduced numbers of professionals in the field of accounting .
Goldstein Lieberman & Company LLC Phillip Goldstein Managing Member
It ’ s my pleasure to address the timely issue of attracting and retaining professional team members . Why ? Because we have been able to recruit young people and have them stay with us often for a lifetime .
We know the problems facing our profession are staggering – some 350,000 accountants have left the profession last year alone . We understand they ’ re not being replaced in anywhere near those numbers and we agree that the often-discussed five-year college track for CPAs isn ’ t helping and this needs to be changed .
But we ’ re problem solvers . We believe the exodus and replacement shortage plaguing our profession is primarily due to this – most people don ’ t want to stay locked up at-home spewing out numbers like an accounting robot . Yet , that ’ s what many firms have to offer their professionals today . They were locked up during Covid and found it expedient not to reopen .
But how can young professionals looking for opportunity knock on doors that no longer exist ? At Goldstein Lieberman , we don ’ t look for job seekers who want to stay at home … we look for young people eager for a real career . We offer our team members a place where they can show up , work with their contemporaries , be mentored by proven leaders , meet with clients , network with other professionals like lawyers and bankers and even socialize after work at a brick and mortar nearby restaurant – not on Facetime or through Facebook but face to face . In short , we offer the kind of career that attracted so many of us a few decades ago . We look for people who don ’ t just want to get a job – we seek people who want to get a life – It may sound retro but guess what ? It ’ s working !
Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors Robert Traphagen , CPA , CGMA Managing Partner
With a demand for services at an all – time high , accounting firms are being impacted by a shortage of talent . According to a 2021 Bloomberg Analysis there is a “ 17 % decline in employed accountants and auditors from a 2019 peak ”. During these challenging times , it is imperative to attract , develop and retain younger generations . At Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors , we are dealing with the talent shortage by focusing on our core values of : Vision , Care and Trust . Our values have helped us foster a team culture
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Working with local communities and exposing future talent to the meaningful and rewarding careers in accounting has proven to be a successful way to attract new students to the profession .
Photo : Getty Images / iStockphoto / Ivan-balvan
Implementing new technologies keeps accountants and interns engaged by reducing the need to do mundane , repetitive tasks .
Photo : Getty Images / iStockphoto / megaflopp
July 2023 COMMERCE 15