For years, the accounting profession has analyzed its talent pipeline challenges. Firms have discussed declining enrollments, changing workforce expectations and the profession’s public image. But after identifying the problems, an important question remains:
What should firms actually do next?
In the final episode of The IPA Podcast‘s Rewriting the Story of Accounting series, INSIDE Public Accounting Executive Director Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown shift the conversation from diagnosis to action. Rather than offering another broad discussion about the profession’s challenges, they outline practical steps firms can take to improve the employee experience, strengthen recruiting and help reshape accounting’s reputation.
Fix the Experience Before the Message
One of the episode’s central themes is that recruiting starts long before a job posting or campus presentation.
Summers argues that firms should first examine what new employees actually experience during their first two years. If staff spend their time on repetitive work with little visibility into client relationships or career progression, changing the recruiting message alone won’t solve the problem.
A firm’s reputation is ultimately shaped by the experiences employees share with classmates, peers and future candidates. Improving those experiences creates a stronger story than any marketing campaign.
Turn Technology Into Opportunity
The discussion also reframes artificial intelligence and offshore staffing as opportunities rather than threats.
As technology and global teams take on more routine work, firms have an opportunity to redesign early-career roles around higher-value experiences. Instead of simply reducing workloads, leaders can use those efficiencies to give newer professionals earlier exposure to clients, problem-solving and advisory work.
That shift not only develops stronger professionals but also gives future recruits a clearer picture of the careers accounting can offer.
Listen to What Candidates Are Asking
Summers encourages firms to treat recruiting conversations as valuable feedback.
When multiple candidates ask the same unanswered questions about advancement, flexibility or workplace expectations, those questions often point to organizational issues that deserve attention. Rather than viewing them as obstacles during hiring, firms can use them to identify areas where the employee experience can improve.
Build the Pipeline Locally
The hosts also argue that strengthening the profession doesn’t require a national platform.
Every firm can build relationships with local schools, community colleges or student organizations. By consistently engaging students, bringing practitioners into classrooms and giving younger professionals opportunities to share their experiences, firms can help students see accounting as a dynamic career before they begin making employment decisions.
Summers describes this approach as “owning your zip code” — focusing on the community where a firm can make the greatest impact.
The Story Changes When the Experience Changes
Throughout the series, the hosts challenged common assumptions about accounting’s talent pipeline. In the finale, they emphasize that changing perceptions requires more than better messaging.
It requires firms to create workplaces employees are proud to describe, provide clear paths for growth and take responsibility for developing the profession in their own communities.
No single organization can solve accounting’s talent challenges alone. But every firm — and every professional — can help shape the story future generations hear about the profession.
