Pipeline Pledge: How small commitments can make a big difference

By Bryan Strickland

For Sue Coffey, questions about the talent pipeline for the accounting and finance profession have become as common as 100-degree days in Las Vegas.

"I don't think a day goes by where I don't hear from someone that is challenged with their ability to find, attract, and retain professionals," said Coffey, CPA, CGMA, AICPA & CIMA's CEO–Public Accounting.

On Tuesday — when thousands of 2024 AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE attendees heard from Coffey and other representatives of the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) — those talent questions continued.

Coffey and the session panelists answered the questions with a question of their own:

How can you help?

"We are all in this together," said NPAG Chair Lexy Kessler, CPA, CGMA. "Every single one of you in this room can make a difference."

The NPAG members onstage at the Dolby Live theater at Park MGM were joined by immediate past AICPA Chair Okorie Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, who spent the better part of the last year interacting with students around the country. The speakers spent about an hour breaking down the work of NPAG, an independent, 22-member group formed about a year ago.

After detailing NPAG's recent draft of six broad strategic areas, most of which touch on plans specific to the next generation of professionals, Coffey polled attendees, asking: "Where could you see yourself having a positive impact on the pipeline?"

Eighty-seven percent either responded with a way they could connect with future members of the workforce, mentor a new accountant or CPA Exam candidate, or said they were educators already focused on student interaction. Nine percent said they weren't sure; just 4% said they weren't likely to interact with students.

"Anybody who knows me knows that I like a lot of conversation, but I really care about action," said NPAG independent facilitator Jennifer Wilson, the CEO of ConvergenceCoaching LLC. "I want to see us do something [with this plan]. I know that for NPAG, that was really top of mind for us: 'Yes, we'll develop these strategies. But, man, we've got to mobilize.'

"And so we're trying to mobilize you."

Wilson shared with attendees the Pipeline Pledge, a vow that NPAG is asking members of the profession to take, committing to participate in at least two activities of their choosing annually aimed at growing the profession. The pledge is one part of NPAG's recommendations, but it's something everyone can take part in and do relatively quickly. Resources to help pledge takers with mentoring and outreach efforts are coming to the NPAG website, and the hope is that individuals will share what's working – with NPAG and on social media.

Wilson acknowledged that many accountants are already active in speaking with students. The spirit behind the pledge is to mobilize the profession, increasing outreach and awareness.

"As we began to really talk about how to transform our profession and the accounting image to really make a difference in our talent influx, we realized that we had to appeal to every individual," Wilson said. "You can't wait for your firm or finance department or some other group to solve this problem; we can't just hope that somebody is going to solve it for us.

"We each individually care about having the proper staffing now and in the future, and we care about maintaining a healthy, vibrant, future-forward profession — so we each individually have to get involved."

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.

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