September 2000

Furtherance Committee Urges CPAs to Promote the Profession

As the public’s and profession’s perception of the CPA changes, the NYSSCPA Furtherance Committee on August 3 encouraged CPAs to focus on promoting the value of their license rather than looking for new designations like the proposed XYZ.

According to the committee, the CPA image suffers from an inability to attract people to the profession, the encroachment of other professions into CPA work, and a lack of support from members looking to develop the XYZ credential rather than bolster the CPA one. Apathy within the profession and a lack of successful marketing of the CPA label are major underlying problems. The committee was created in January to address these issues and promote Society members as trusted professionals.

"The biggest problem I’ve seen in the past two years is self-image, not public image," NYSSCPA Executive Director Louis Grumet said during the committee’s initial meeting.

"I call ours the ‘hidden profession,’" said Myrna L. Fischman, a professor and accounting department head at Long Island University. "We don’t get press coverage on a lot of things. Nobody says ‘I want to grow up to be an accountant.’"

Committee Chair Victor S. Rich agrees. "We are in big trouble," said Rich. "The profession is suffering from not being able to attract enough young people."

To combat this trend, the Society is promoting the profession to high school students around the state. One program, Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP), is a one-week summer course introducing minority high school juniors to the profession (see the related articles on page 11).

"Accountancy is a first-generation profession," Grumet said, in reference to the minority student initiative. "We must reach out to the minority community if we are going to have staff and clients."

Some Big Five accounting firms are also working to encourage high school students to consider a career in accounting. PricewaterhouseCoopers sends recruiters to about 3,000 high schools each year to scout promising students, according to a July story in The New York Times.

"We're making big investments in the development of a high school pipeline," PwC Partner James Hayes told the Times.

Committee members also pointed to the encroachment of members of other professions, including financial planners and tax services, into services traditionally provided by CPAs.

"We now have brokerage firms willing to do taxes simply to get financial information so they can sell their financial products," Rich said.

Members of the committee blasted the development of XYZ, a new international business credential being promoted by the American Institute of CPAs. If accepted by the AICPA membership, XYZ would be a nonexclusive international label for use by lawyers, engineers, and other professionals in addition to CPAs.

But the XYZ designation is not the answer for members of the profession concerned about the sinking public perception of the CPA designation, said committee member Edwin Kliegman, retired partner of Marcum & Kliegman in Woodbury, N.Y. Instead, the profession should promote the value of the CPA certificate.

The Furtherance Committee hopes to develop recommendations for the NYSSCPA leadership toward enhancing the profession and overcoming its image problems. The committee also expects to determine where the profession is today and where it is heading.