Reopening our Profession & a Call to Action.

• Author: Simons, Christie
• Position: TAKING A ROAD Less Traveled

After more than a year of working from home, wearing masks, closed schools and business lockdowns, California is reopening its economy. I feel a lot of energy in the air with a renewed sense of excitement in seeing family and friends, planning a vacation and even anticipating the escape of the home office to meet with teams and clients in person.

While 2020 was disruptive in many respects and was a year like no other any of us have experienced, it was also a year that gave many of us a renewed perspective on our lives, our communities and our work environment.

As I think about this next year in my role as chair of the largest state society in the U.S. and our collective experiences this past year with the pandemic, political instability and racial discord, I believe we have an opportunity to grow and transform our profession in ways that will allow us to meet the future demands of accountants. We, as CalCPA, will need to embrace a new normal that surrounds us. There is likely no return to a remembered version of normal, but rather a time to create the "next normal," to build on what we've learned and define what our profession can be to grow CalCPA membership and attract the next generation of CPAs to our profession.

So, as our economy and our communities begin to reopen, how do we begin to reopen our profession? How do we attract, recruit and retain the next generation of CPAs? Who are the next generation of CPAs and where do we find them? How do we provide opportunities in our profession to the underrepresented minorities that make up a high percentage of our younger population? How do we make our profession more diverse, equitable and inclusive? These are all questions that I ask of each of you to consider as we begin a transformational journey together.

Prime the Pipeline

One key area that I will focus on this next year is growing the CPA pipeline in California. We can accomplish this through actions we all can take regarding CPA Evolution; integrating technology in our work; and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).

There were fewer accountants and auditors employed in the U.S. in 2020 than during the last economic slowdown in 2012 (Statista, 2021). In California, an early indicator for any type of trend in the profession and the CPA pipeline is the number of students and professionals who sit for the Uniform CPA Exam. Based on information from the California State Board of Accountancy, we've seen a decline in students sitting for...