Thank you for taking the Pipeline Pledge! Through this grassroots effort, you can help transform the accounting profession, one student or employee at a time. Whether you’re already involved in outreach activities or are looking to get started, explore these resources and tips for inspiring the next generation of accountants.
There are almost as many ways to get involved in inspiring the next generation of accountants as there are unique career paths for those working in the profession. Here are five actions that Pipeline Pledge participants can make to help raise awareness and expand your impact.
Connect with your local middle or high school. Use our email template to contact the school, and explore these tips for connecting with students (middle school and high school). Let them know you would like to participate in a career day, speak to an accounting or business class, a business club, or assist in other ways that meet the school’s needs.
Volunteer to help for your alma mater or a local college campus. Let them know you are a resource for students who would like to learn more about careers in accounting. Many career offices offer opportunities to connect alumni with students who aspire to enter the same field. Use our email template to contact the school’s accounting or business department, and explore these tips for connecting with college students.
Consider becoming a mentor. Check with your state CPA society to see if they run a mentor matching program. Or offer to mentor an accounting student or licensure candidate just joining the workforce. You could also consider mentoring a new hire within your own organization, including serving as a sounding board to someone studying for or contemplating the CPA Exam.
Spread the word to your networks. Urge your colleagues and friends in the profession to take the Pipeline Pledge. Encourage others to get involved, through social media, your professional networks, or through other accounting groups in your community. Also, be sure to download your Pipeline Pledge badge and share it on your social media channels, in your email signature, or anywhere else you feel comfortable doing so.
Share your story. Help us promote the Pipeline Pledge and inspire your network to get involved with these sample social media posts. We’d also love to track the impact of our collective efforts and any ideas you have. You can share those stories by emailing PipelinePledge@aicpa-cima.com.
Learn about NPAG’s grassroots effort to tackle the talent shortage and attract more people to a rewarding career in accounting.
What is the Pipeline Pledge? Everyone in the accounting profession is invited to take the pledge. Whether you’re an employer, educator, state CPA society member, or regulator, we must all work together to transform the accounting pipeline.
How can I sign up for the Pipeline Pledge? You can participate by filling out the Pipeline Pledge form.
What types of activities can I participate in? While the possibilities are endless, activities could include visiting a local middle school, participating in a high school career fair, hosting a networking event for accounting majors, mentoring a CPA candidate through the licensure process, or advocating for policy changes at your workplace. To learn more about potential actions, explore our Pipeline Pledge resources.
Which badge should I use? Once you’ve signed the Pipeline Pledge, you can download and start sharing your official badge! Pick the badge that resonates best with your current role. We recognize that many stakeholders serve multiple roles within the profession, so the badge categories are intentionally broad.
Where should I display my badge? Badges can be used just about anywhere – including on social media, your email signature, or website. Badges should not be altered, such as editing the colors or text.
I’m not sure where to start. Where can I find resources? Visit our Pledge Resources page for best practices, checklists, and inspiring stories. You can also find specific resources for employers and educators.
What are the Pipeline Pledge’s goals? NPAG’s hope is that the pledge will mobilize the profession to inspire the next generation of accountants and boost retention of current talent. Areas of focus include:
Amplifyexisting outreach programs for K-12 and college students
Tell a more compelling story about the flexibility of accounting careers
Implement business solutions identified in NPAG’s strategy report, such as compensation studies and manageable workloads
Provide pledge participants with resources, outreach materials, and how-to guides
How will you track the program’s success? In the short term, the Pipeline Pledge’s success will be measured by tracking the number of participants and, where possible, activities and students reached. A national campaign promoting the pledge in 2025 could help volunteers coalesce around specific goals, timed events, and data-driven messages, while building awareness among a wider audience.
When did you discover the possibilities of an accounting career? According to NPAG’s survey of accounting and business college students, only 13% of respondents learned about the profession before high school. Yet, research consistently shows that middle school is the best time to start exposing students to potential careers. This is when children develop critical thinking and teamwork skills and are more receptive to exploring new interests.
Grassroot efforts to inspire students, support candidates, and engage employees can have a meaningful and measurable impact. That’s why NPAG is calling on everyone in the profession to take the Pipeline Pledge — an individual commitment to participate in activities that will transform and grow the talent pool. While the possibilities are endless, activities could include:
Visiting a local middle school
Participating in a high school career fair
Hosting a networking event for accounting majors
Mentoring a CPA candidate through the licensure process
In the short term, the Pipeline Pledge’s success will be measured by tracking the number of participants and, where possible, activities and students reached. A national campaign promoting the pledge in 2025 could help volunteers coalesce around specific goals, timed events, and data-driven messages, while building awareness among a wider audience. As of this writing, nearly 700 people have taken the Pipeline Pledge — and we’re just getting started.
Amplifying successful programs
NPAG’s Accounting Talent Strategy Report highlights a number of programs that are already transforming the profession. Not sure where to start? Getting involved with one of these initiatives is a great way to fulfil the Pipeline Pledge:
The Center for Audit Quality’s Accounting+: A campaign to engage high school and entry-level college students with dynamic, tailored resources. Through media partnerships, data-driven messaging, and savvy social campaigns, Accounting+ reached more than 110,000 students in 2023.
NABA Inc.’s Accounting Career Awareness Program (ACAP): A week-long residency program where high school students can live on campus and learn about accounting careers. Since its launch in 1980, ACAP has helped inspire thousands of students.
Accounting Opportunities Experience (AOE): A joint outreach effort between the AICPA and state CPA societies. In 2023, more than 900 accounting professionals presented at 690 schools across the country. Armed with presentations, hands-on activities, and training tools, these volunteers were able tell their unique stories to nearly 24,000 students.
NPAG’s hope is that the Pipeline Pledge will encourage more accountants to connect with their communities through these and other programs, reshaping perceptions about the profession one student, parent, or new accountant at a time. To learn more about the profession’s coordinated approach to growing the talent pool, read NPAG’s Accounting Talent Strategy Report.
Michael Wetmore, Shelby Jackson, Jorge Garzon, and Alicia D. Whitworth visit a Virginia middle school to excite students about a career in accounting. Photo courtesy of Greater Washington Society of CPAs.
The accounting profession is facing a shortfall of new recruits, a trend that has serious implications. Not only are firms facing challenges in attracting new hires, but some publicly held companies are even falling short on filing critical financial reports due to the lack of accounting professionals. Employers, educators, accounting associations, and other stakeholders are already responding with strategies such as gamification in the classroom designed to build excitement around the profession, revisiting firms’ business models and pay structures, and expanding paths for underrepresented populations. But expanding the accounting pipeline is also about making a direct and personal connection with students, whether it’s in a formal classroom or business setting, or even in less formal one-on-one conversations.
Persistence pays off
Michael Wetmore, CPA, partner at Ryan & Wetmore, P.C. in Vienna, Virginia, and father of two high school students, understands the one-on-one connection well. Considering the experience of his own children and the need to address the profession’s shortage, he asked himself, “Who’s going to take us to the promised land?” He knew the answer: “We, as CPAs, have to say, ‘I have to own this problem at my own level.’”
Spotting a perfect opportunity, he contacted a career counselor at his children’s school, and said, “I’d like to get in front of some of your students who are undecided about what they want to do.”
The first session proved a little disappointing, with only six students showing up, four of whom were there only because they had not signed up for anything else. Wetmore never gave up, and his persistence paid off.
“I’m not sure it resonated with any of those students except for maybe one, but the teacher heard,” Wetmore said. Ultimately the students would appreciate the message and the excitement Wetmore brought to the classroom.
“The teacher promoted the next time I came around, and I got 15 kids the next time. I started talking in that class about some of the cool things that we do, and some of the cool people that we work with, and how accounting is the language of business.”
His sessions became more popular. Wetmore gave one example: “I was approached by one of the students after class, and she said, ‘I’d like to learn more about this. Can I come to your office?’” Wetmore agreed, and his firm offered her an internship working after school. “That young lady had no idea what she wanted to do, but she knew she wanted to go to college. She was accepted at the University of Virginia and is now an accounting major.”
One of my clients worked in the Obama White House and was with Obama in the Oval Office every day. Another client is a musician who just came back off tour. He’s a rapper, and they need tax returns and tax planning.”
What was particularly exciting to some of the students, at that session and future ones, was Wetmore’s work with some truly fascinating people, including professional athletes and other celebrities. Students responded well when he told stories beyond the day-to-day work, and were more about whom that work was being delivered to. “One of my clients worked in the Obama White House and was with Obama in the Oval Office every day. Another client is a musician who just came back off tour. He’s a rapper, and they need tax returns and tax planning. I tell these stories to the kids. I’ve planted seeds. That will bear fruit in four years if they come back to me.”
Meeting students where they are
The solution to building the profession must include many different strategies, but as seen in Wetmore’s example, some of bringing younger people into the profession lies in grassroots, one-on-one relationship building and storytelling.
It is precisely that storytelling that overcomes stereotypes and misconceptions students who are not familiar with the profession may hold. “We as a profession are not promoting the good stuff,” Wetmore said. “I think society has an image of accountants with green eyeshades and running a calculator all day.” Wetmore does not fit that stereotype, and his tales of chatting with celebrities and high-profile politicos — and occasionally delivering papers to the White House — conjure an image of a career that is anything but ordinary.
Conveying that message goes even beyond the storytelling, and Wetmore supplements his relatable stories with participation, getting students more excited about the profession with games and hands-on activities. In his other role as part of a student outreach committee of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, he and others teach financial literacy. “We go into schools and talk about financial literacy, and we play games like Jeopardy. We went into one of the local Catholic middle schools, and we talked to eighth graders, and I would do it again. The kids were great, and they responded to it. I think that’s the way you win the game.”
At the college level, Wetmore was asked by a professor in Catholic University’s Busch School of Business Entrepreneurship Program to talk to a class and give them guidance for a project. Within that class, each student must come up with an entrepreneurial idea, such as a product they want to take to market. Wetmore helps the students work through breakeven analysis and pricing considerations. “It’s more of a classroom setting, where we say, what are your numbers? What is your cost of sales? What are your variable costs, how are you going to price this? It’s not quite as structured as the ‘Shark Tank’ TV show, but modeled after that idea.” The students love it. “I’ve gone back to that class for the last four semesters. Through that, I’ve come to know some of the accounting professors and folks in the accounting program at Catholic University, who have referred me to some of the best interns I’ve had in 30 years.”
I’m just one accountant, what can I do?
The accountant shortage doesn’t just affect firms, it affects every single member of the profession. Every CPA can do their part to help the profession, and it doesn’t require a large investment of time. Mentorship, or even a single conversation with a student, can make a difference. Reach out to local middle or high schools, or local community colleges, colleges, and universities. Even schools that lack formal programs often welcome professionals who want to share their insights and expertise with students considering their career paths.
Accountants and CPAs can also take the Pipeline Pledge — an individual commitment to participate in at least two activities that have the potential to influence and grow the talent pool. Share your enthusiasm for the profession, share your stories, and reach out. One person at a time to help grow the future of the profession.
Accounting can open doors to limitless career paths across every industry. However, both public and private sector employers continue to struggle with attracting and retaining talent. In part, this trend is linked to an overall decline in college enrollment, rising education costs, and shifting expectations regarding work culture and starting salaries.
To help propel accounting education forward, the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) developed several recommendations, outlined in the Accounting Educator Checklist. The academic community and the American Accounting Association (AAA) are leading or supporting many efforts in these areas, and NPAG believes that work is critical for the profession’s future.
Accounting can open doors to limitless career paths across every industry. However, both public and private sector employers continue to struggle with attracting and retaining talent. In part, this trend is linked to an overall decline in college enrollment, rising education costs, and shifting expectations regarding work culture and starting salaries. For example, Gen Z and millennial employees prioritize transparent business practices, an inclusive culture, positive community impact, and a flexible work environment.
To kick-start conversations about the changes employers are making to succeed in today’s evolving landscape, the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) developed the Accounting Employer Checklist of key areas for consideration.
