What the future holds for the accounting talent crisis

By Jessica Salerno-Shumaker, OSCPA senior content manager  

The talent crisis in accounting won’t be solved with a silver bullet, but instead by a committed and long-term effort of those in the profession to work together to upskill and reskill.    

“The goal in workforce development asks how we are placing workers or professionals in roles where their career development opportunities are able to be nurtured and to help a company meet its challenges?” said Scott Wiley, CAE, OSCPA president & CEO.  

In the final episode of OSCPA’s dedicated podcast series on workforce development, Wiley and others who have been part of the podcast share their insights into what will ultimately make the profession successful in defeating the talent crisis.  

While the phrase workforce development might be new to some, its intention is actually quite simple.  

“Workforce development ensures that you have all the skills that you need to be ready for the ever-changing business environment,” said Tracie Miller, program chair of MS and BS accounting at Franklin University.  

As the profession continues to fight the stigma of accounting, competing with other majors for students and keeping up with a competitive business climate, upskilling and reskilling workers of all career levels is essential.  

“This is a long-term approach to solving a crisis that's been going on for a bit of time,” said John Jones, president & CEO of HOPE Toledo, a 501(c)(3) organization that helps children obtain high-quality early childhood education through pre-K and post-secondary training in college or trade schools. “This is not something that just happened overnight. And therefore, it's not going to be solved overnight.”   

OSCPA has already been making strides to act as a convener to gather those in the profession together to solve this problem as a collective, such as holding a Town Hall at Columbus State Community College in March dedicated to the issue.  

“We have this ecosystem that OSCPA is in the middle of, and we are able to serve as a hub to bring alignment where there have previously been individual efforts,” said Tiffany Crosby, CPA, chief learning officer at OSCPA. “We can facilitate access to resources, some of which employers or other individuals or stakeholders within this pipeline may not be aware of. And there is incredible value in that. And that will accelerate our ability to be able to address the talent crisis or the profession.”  

Listen to the episode now! 
Listen to previous episodes here.