Accounting
What’s behind the talent exodus in accounting?
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
Talent acquisition and retention is a growing challenge in the accounting profession. Despite
To start, average starting salaries for those with accounting majors fall short of those offered to business majors and applicants in the technology and finance sectors.
Data from
“The industry as a whole is not attractive to the younger population, and it’s difficult for our staff to work remotely,” Paul Miller, a CPA and managing partner at
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Wage disparities are only one piece of the puzzle, however.
Leaders of
Shagun Malhotra, CEO and founder of Skystem, told Accounting Today last month that modifying accounting education and certifications to include a greater focus on technology “could make the profession more appealing and relevant to a younger, broader set of professionals,” she said.
“The focus needs to shift from routine compliance tasks to strategic, technology-driven roles that still add value to the business without wasting time on [un]necessary tasks,” Malhotra said.
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AI adoption will only continue to grow as regulators become more knowledgeable and comfortable with the technology, which executives hope will ease the workload for accountants across the profession and, in turn, reduce turnover.
“We’ve asked tax and accounting professionals to do too much with too few resources for too long. … The burnout shows through high attrition rates and professionals committing highly visible errors,” said Elizabeth Beastrom, president of Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting.
Read on for a look at the top talent struggles hitting firms across the U.S. and expert commentary on what factors are underpinning this trend.
H&R Block has given the world just what it wants to see this holiday season:
Santa has a lot of itemizations to consider. Eight tiny reindeer depend on him for food and shelter, for instance, but are they dependents? How much can you give to one person before reporting it? Does Santa keep good mileage records for his 41.5 million miles? Santa isn’t an employee, so compensation (even in cookie form) over the threshold may create a 1099-NEC.
Old St. Nick, who files MFJ with Mrs. Claus, did all right on 1040 Line 34, but some of his numbers do bear examination: 6.3 million cookies and 2 million gallons of milk means a third of a gallon of milk per cookie. Will the deduction of coal, magic dust and sleighbells stand up to audit? At least Santa has plenty of time on his hands between January and April to find a good preparer.
“Even the jolly man in red takes time to report taxes,” reads the announcement from the tax prep giant. “He’s probably the world’s most famous small-business owner, running a gift-giving workshop and distribution network across the globe … Santa is giving us the first ever peek at his tax return and showing us how he used H&R Block Online and AI Tax Assist to get his maximum refund.”
The SECURE 2.0 Act contained several changes to traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans that are being phased in over the coming years, with several notable changes coming in 2025. The Illinois CPA Society highlighted five changes coming to IRAs and 401(k)s in 2025:
The Internal Revenue Service plans to send automatic payments later this month to eligible taxpayers who did not claim the
The payments, totaling some $2.4 billion, will vary, but the maximum is $1,400 per individual.
The mailing follows an IRS review of data showing many eligible taxpayers who filed a return did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit, a refundable credit for individuals who did not receive EIPs.
“Looking at our internal data, we realized that 1 million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, in a statement.
Qualified taxpayers are those who filed a 2021 tax return but left the data field for the Recovery Rebate Credit blank or filled it out as $0 when the taxpayer was actually eligible for the credit.
Taxpayers who haven’t filed 2021 tax returns might also be eligible as well, but they face an April 15, 2025, deadline to file. Eligible taxpayers who did not file must do so to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit even if their income was minimal or nonexistent.
(For questions regarding eligibility and how the payment was calculated, see
These payments will go out automatically in December and should arrive by late January. The payments will be automatically direct deposited or sent by paper check; eligible taxpayers will also receive a separate letter notifying them of the payment.
The payment will be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or to their address of record. If the taxpayer has closed their bank account since filing their 2023 tax return, they do not need to take any action. The bank will return the payment to the IRS and the refund will be reissued to the address of record.
H&R Block releases Santa Claus’s tax return
5 changes coming to IRAs and 401(k)s in 2025
IRS to send taxpayers $2.4B for unclaimed credits
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