Time to weigh in on the pipeline problem

The National Pipeline Advisory Group is currently accepting responses to two surveys to help address the accounting profession's ongoing talent shortage.

The shortage — known as the "pipeline problem" — describes a crisis in the profession in which talent is in high demand, but few people are studying to be accountants and even fewer are becoming CPAs. NPAG is a 22-member group with the goal of addressing this problem using technology, surveys and forums. Its two open surveys are for college students and accounting professionals. 

A host of factors are contributing to the pipeline problem, like the challenging CPA exam, low starting salaries and burnout from the infamous work hours of tax season, to name a few. The profession has yet to solve this problem, which is why groups like NPAG are conducting data-driven research and surveys.

WrightStudio - stock.adobe.com

"We're working toward a national strategy, and in order to have a national strategy we need to have as many stakeholders as part of the profession engaged in this as possible," Sue Coffey, CEO of public accounting at the AICPA, previously told Accounting Today in a podcast interview discussing the pipeline problem. "The process that we put together is designed to make sure that we get as many perspectives and views as possible in developing potential solutions, and then testing those solutions and then retesting those solutions as we go through the development phase."

The first NPAG survey is aimed at accounting and business students. It asks questions regarding recruitment efforts for accounting programs, help in reaching graduation and potentially taking the CPA exam, as well as students' views on employer recruitment and retention strategies and efforts to lessen burnout. The second survey is open to the rest of the profession, including CPAs, accountants, educators and state society members.

Each survey is anonymous and confidential, and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. The results will be published in July. 

"We've said from the beginning we'd be data-driven, that we're looking to get buy-in from the profession and its many stakeholders, and that we wanted to make NPAG's process as transparent as possible," Lexy Kessler, Mid-Atlantic regional leader at Top 100 Firm Aprio and NPAG's chair, said in a statement. "These surveys are an important tool that will help inform our recommendations, backed by the research analysis, outreach and deliberation that we've already done."