How Can Accounting Students Stand Out In a Dynamic Profession?

The accounting industry has been swept by the confluence of three major changes: 1) the rise of offshoring; 2) increased use of technology, namely data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI); and 3) regulatory changes creating a pathway to CPA licensure without 150 credit hours.

These changes have affected the daily work that accountants perform and have altered the job market for accounting talent. How can accounting students navigate these changes and stand out to employers? This article helps provide answers to these questions. 

A Change in Responsibilities for New Accountants

First, it’s important to understand how the first two changes, offshoring and technology, have changed accountants’ day-to-day responsibilities. In the past, newly-hired staff accountants were responsible for detailed and often routine work such as cleaning up client-provided data, organizing the data into their own accounting firm’s systems, and preparing workpapers to support calculations for various projects. While these tasks are still required, the staff accountant’s role in their preparation has changed greatly. Now, offshore staff personnel who might work in India or Vietnam handle a significant amount of this work and, due to time zone differences, keep projects moving forward while North American staff sleep. Further, a decade ago, Excel was the singular tool in which the vast majority of business data was held and transformed. In recent years, accountants move data back and forth between Excel and more advanced analytics software such as Alteryx Designer to automate and dramatically accelerate much of the data work that would previously have been performed manually in Excel. Similarly, research and writing tasks that previously would have required hours of manual effort are increasingly performed using AI, which contributes to data cleaning and processing in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago. 

The combination of offshoring and technology requires new staff accountants to operate in a review mode much like a senior accountant or manager. The skills required for this more advanced role are deep technical expertise in accounting and/or taxation, the ability to use and troubleshoot analytics software and AI work products, and the leadership to guide offshore staff and critically review their work. 

New CPA Licensure Pathways

Ironically, despite the increasing skill demands named above, state legislatures and boards of accountancy have joined together to create alternative pathways to CPA licensure that do not require the 150 credit hours of education that have been the standard of accounting education for the last quarter century.

All pathways additionally require scoring 75 percent or higher on all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, a 16-hour assessment consisting of three core sections and one specialty section (chosen by the candidate from three possible specialties). 

While reducing the minimum standard to 120 credit hours is well-intended to attract students to the accounting profession, the reality is that being competitive in the accounting profession requires more than the bare minimum. How can students demonstrate competitiveness in this changing profession? Let’s revisit the skills demanded of new staff accountants: deep technical expertise in accounting and/or taxation, technology skills in analytics and AI, and leadership skills. 

Specialized Options to Position Yourself for Success

The Villanova School of Business (VSB) offers two graduate degree programs that equip students with exactly these skills: the Master of Accounting with Data Analytics (MAC), and the Master of Business Taxation with Data Analytics (MBT). In each program, the cutting-edge curriculum is continually assessed and updated to ensure students’ skills are consistent with the highest professional expectations. A suite of courses in accounting (MAC) and taxation (MBT) deepens students’ core accounting and/or tax knowledge set while integrating data analytics and AI into accounting-specific settings that would not be found in traditional analytics coursework. Additional technology-focused courses build students’ understanding of data systems, controls, data modeling, data visualization, and enterprise resource planning software. Finally, students gain leadership abilities through courses covering leadership, negotiations, and technical writing, along with extracurricular professional development opportunities. 

Beyond the curriculum, the gift of time is another precious resource that accounting students should not overlook. I tell my students to picture their life under two different scenarios. In the first scenario, they complete their bachelor's degree and go immediately into their career, studying after long workdays to try to pass the CPA exam, while trying to deepen their accounting technical knowledge, technology skills, and trying to socialize and stay physically and mentally well all at the same time. It’s a lot to manage. In the second scenario, they have taken, and hopefully passed, multiple parts of the CPA exam while in their MAC or MBT program, so the CPA exam burden is either gone or greatly reduced. Their technical knowledge and technology skills are much further along because they have taken deep coursework on these topics. They can focus on accelerating their career while maintaining a healthy work life balance. 

The much more attractive second scenario demonstrates why our MAC and MBT graduates show incredible career trajectories. Early promotions are common among MAC and MBT alumni. One alum was recently promoted to manager at a Big Four firm within three years of graduation and several other MAC and MBT alumni have been promoted to manager in four years. For perspective, that is a promotion that commonly takes five or more years. 

The accounting profession is changing, requiring new hires to have stronger skill sets to stand out in a competitive marketplace. At VSB, our MAC and MBT programs prepare students for this dynamic world with strong core accounting knowledge, technology skills in data analytics and AI, and leadership skills.