Paycheck, Culture, Work-Life Balance

How to Attract and Retain Millennial Accountants

Barbara Sumrall White, PhD, CPA, CGMA, CBA, and Bruce I. Davidson, PhD, CPA, and Victoria Guboglo

Millennials are the future of the accounting profession. Much has already been written about their generation's preferences and the implications for employers. To attract and retain employees, however, it is important for employers to understand employees’ perceptions of their own values, talents, and needs. White, B.S., Davidson, B.I., and Cullen, Z. (“Career Anchors of Millennial Accountants,” Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, Vol. 23, pp. 141-161, 2020) conducted a survey utilizing the Schein & Van Maanen (E. Schein and J. Van Maanen, Career anchors: The changing nature of work and careers, 4th ed., Wiley, 2013) career anchors inventory to millennial accountants working in private and public practice. Consistent with a similar survey of accountants performed nearly a quarter of a century ago, the results suggest that just over 45% of respondents have a lifestyle anchor—that is, balancing work, family, and leisure into an integrated whole. For millennial accountants, however, the second (18%) and third (12%) most prevalent primary career anchors are security (i.e., job security, decent income, and stable future) and service (i.e., providing something meaningful for the betterment of others), respectively. In comparison, the second (12%) and third (9%) most prevalent primary anchors for accountants 25 years ago were challenge (i.e., solving seemingly unsolvable problems) and technical function (i.e., using specialized skills and expertise while avoiding general managerial functions). The implications of this change in accountants’ career needs are significant for employers as they work to attract and retain employees. The increased emphasis on security and stability was a surprising finding. Consequently, follow-up focus groups were held to delve further into the specific career needs and desires of millennial accountants.