In the September/October issue of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) Journal, PYA professionals discuss the notable decline in the number of CPAs nationwide and actions the firm and other accounting professionals across the nation are taking to address the trend by encouraging academic programs to incorporate the field of accounting into the STEM designation.
In the article, Catie Scott, Director of Talent Acquisition; Pat Lewis, Principal; and Katelyn Keenehan, Assistant Editor for PYA’s Teknovation.biz, explain how PYA and other CPA firms are helping TSCPA address the issues. The organizations are launching campaigns across the state encouraging the legislature to sign the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) bill and for “accounting” to be included in the “technology” designation. Similar advocacy is happening at the federal level.
The work began in the Tennessee legislature in 2021 with the Accounting STEM Pursuit Act (H.R. 3855). The bill remains active as awareness of the decline of CPAs is growing.
According to the authors, while the demand for professional public accounting services is increasing, the number of CPAs dwindled nationwide by more than 18% from 2016 to 2022. Aligning the field with the STEM designation—specifically the technology component—achieves two goals: It reflects the profession as the technology-based field it is today, and it appeals to college students who are looking for technology-related business careers.
The academic community is widely supportive of H.R. 3855, write Scott, Lewis, and Keenehan. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Master of Accountancy (MAcc) program was the first in the state to receive STEM designation from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. With a redesigned curriculum that incorporates STEM coursework, UT has seen a marked increase in enrollment in its accounting track and expects this upward trend to continue.
Many other universities across the country along with the work of other state professional associations and CPA firms will continue to elevate the field of accounting to reflect today’s needs.
