I was at another continuing professional education seminar recently, which is very often as CPA’s are required to have 120 hours of continuing education every three years. One of the observations that I make each and every time is that I am one of the youngest CPA’s in the entire room. This is true now and was true 10 plus years ago when I became a CPA. Unfortunately, I have been jumped past the young man status, so it has nothing to do with being a “young” CPA. Why does this matter and why should you care?
Some details: When looking around the room this time and every time, It appears that approximately 5% of the CPA’s are younger than 50 years old, with the majority being older than 60. Could it be that older CPA’s attend the seminars that I happen to attend or is this true throughout the profession. When digging deeper, I found out that according to the AICPA, approximately 75% of CPA’s are expected to retire in the next 15 years, so my observation applies throughout the entire profession, and not just Bergen County.
More accountants, less CPA’s and CPA firms: Studies are showing that although there are more accounting graduates, less are becoming CPA’s. There are numerous reasons why including greater education requirements, time requirements, and the expense of taking and studying for the exam. Also, although I do not have a statistic on the age of CPA’s that own small firms, I do not know, even casually, one CPA firm owner that is younger than me. Just to reiterate, I am not a spring chicken anymore.
Negative impact on clients: CPA’s are the main business and tax advisors to small business owners and many individuals, so who will fill this void? I can only make several guesses to the alternatives, which are not very good for clients. Alternatives include: using non-CPA business advisors and preparers (whom generally lack the education, expertise, and training of CPA’s), using larger firms (along with much higher prices and less attention to the “little” guys), and doing everything yourself (ie. QuickBooks, however you need to be an accountant to actually get the numbers correct, along with not receiving guidance that saves business owners more than they actually pay their CPA). Another negative aspect is that there will be less CPA’s to collaborate with as peers. As a side note, the CPA’s that I know have been the most generous, helpful, and supportive people to me professionally.
General trends: There has been a generally trend for less people to start their own businesses, which has been the case for decades, according to a 2017 report by the Kauffman Foundation, titled, “The Entrepreneurship Deficit.” Several reasons are cited, including demographic changes, technology, and geographic changes. It appears that the CPA profession is not immune to these general trends, and as a result there are less small CPA firm owners.
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