CPA November 2023
Newsletter from the Iowa Society of CPAs, your primary source for profession-related information
Filling the CPA pipeline – one student at a time
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ccording to Robert Half’s 2024 Salary Guide, companies are experiencing an accountant shortage, causing both financial reporting issues for managers unable to find the requisite experience and increased workloads that can lead to employee burnout. Public and corporate accounting alike are trying multiple strategies for attracting, landing and retaining talent. ISCPA’s Career Awareness Committee is doing its part to tackle these talent shortage challenges. The committee’s purpose is to promote the accounting profession and CPA credential to students and influencers plus to provide education on career opportunities as a CPA.
Accounting Opportunities Experience The Career Awareness Committee invites all ISCPA members to visit a high school classroom this month. November is officially Accounting Opportunities Month in Iowa as proclaimed by the governor and we're excited to share with students the many choices available for accounting careers through Accounting Opportunities Experience efforts. Intended to be a plug-and-play opportunity, members are provided a PowerPoint presentation that can be customized as you see fit and fun swag for the students. Best of all, ISCPA staff will arrange the presentation for you. Members reached over 1,200 students last year
in only one week, so we’re excited to see what you can do in 2023! To learn more about Accounting Opportunities Experience, visit www.iacpa.org/ aoexperience.
ISCPA, National FBLA host collegiate case competition In October, eight teams of college students from across the Midwest came together in Des Moines at the FBLA Career Connections Conference to compete in the business case competition. ISCPA worked with National FBLA to create a business case on the topic of “Recruitment of CPAs in Iowa.” We hope to garner great new ideas from tomorrow’s generation of CPAs on how to best connect with today’s youth. Committee members graciously volunteered to judge the case competition.
Annual ISCPA high school case competition spring 2024 Following a very successful inaugural high school case competition last spring, high school educators and committee members alike are excited to make the 2024 experience bigger and better than ever. Committee member Jenny McGarry of Eide Bailly’s national tax office wrote a challenging case for the students to tackle. Nearly 50 students from three Iowa high schools participated in the inaugural event. The committee hopes to expand the program to additional classrooms in 2024. ISCPA and its case competition partners, Eide Bailly, Principal and RSM, were awarded with Honorable Mention by Greater Des Moines Partnership's 2023 Continued on page 2
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