The Accounting Pipeline Challenge: Insights from Accounting Firm Leaders

SYNOPSIS

We interview 14 accounting firm leaders to understand the accounting pipeline challenge from the profession’s perspective. The interviews confirm some prior findings about the pipeline and offer new insights in four areas. First, interviewees do not view the shortage uniformly, including mixed views on the quality of entrants and interviewees viewing the shortage as more severe for the profession than for their firm. Second, interviewees indicate that the shortage is associated with many consequences within firms (e.g., increased workload and stress). Third, interviewees suggest that traditional responses to the shortage, such as higher compensation and enhanced retention strategies, may be reaching their limit. Finally, interviewees suggest that the profession is seeking new solutions to the shortage, including managing artificial intelligence (AI) versus human factors. We also find notable differences between major market/Big 4 firms and other firms. We discuss implications and future research directions in this rapidly changing environment.