A Roadmap to Technology Agility for CPAs

Meeting the Challenges of the IT-based Workplace

Paul Lin, PhD, and Anand Jeyaraj, PhD

Hiring practices have already been affected by the fact that some accounting graduates are perceived as lacking the skills necessary for today's work-place. Specifically, CPA firms that found graduates ill-prepared for the IT-based business environment turned to other sources for needed talent (Courtney Vien, “Wanted: More systems and analytics training for accounting students,” Journal of Accountancy, March 12, 2021, https://bit.ly/3QGrNTs). According to the 2021 AICPA Trends Report (https://bit.ly/3OcT28U), hiring of new accounting graduates decreased by 10% in 2020, followed by a 11% decrease from 2016 to 2018. Furthermore, 42.7% of new hires by accounting firms are non–accounting graduates. The accounting profession is indeed on the cusp of a major transformation because practitioners are expected to acquire a new set of skills to perform their everyday tasks effectively.