"The accounting profession is grappling with a talent shortage. Meaningful, quick action is needed. That action must be anchored in data that identifies root causes and measures the impact of new and existing efforts."

- AICPA's May 2023 "Pipeline Acceleration Plan"

Using public data to inform the high school accounting education landscape

New Jersey's public education data offers a strategic lens into existing financial education programs at the high school level.

The public CTE data available from the New Jersey Department of Education allows us to extract data-driven insights about existing accounting programs in high schools throughout the Garden State. This research can help inform how existing accounting industry resources are deployed to educate high school students with higher probabilities of interest and access to existing business curricula.

Collaboration among K-12, college, and industry stakeholders at the local level (within each state) is critical to attract more high school students to the CPA pipeline. 

1. What is CTE?

CTE stands for “Career and Technical Education.”  CTE is a 100-year old industry-valued workforce development paradigm that aims to connect high school students to industries that have demand for local, homegrown talent.   In NJ, CTE programming is supported by multiple state agencies, including the NJ Department of Education and the NJ Department of Labor. A key partner to the government is Advance CTE, a national nonprofit that supports state governments across the country. Advance CTE's "Career Cluster"® framework includes a pathway for K though 12 students to learn accounting at the high school level on a range of careers, which includes finance and accounting. 

CTE puts an emphasis on students gaining real-world access to career spaces, thus work-based learning is emphasized. CTE is an explicit, government-created mandate to map students from school into industry, including accounting. Accounting stakeholders can help shape what that road map looks like by engaging the CTE paradigm.

Our research shows that the accounting industry is lagging behind other industries in New Jersey with respect to engaging CTE at the high school levels. We believe this can change.

2. What role does the federal government play with CTE?

The federal government supports CTE through grant funding and a national framework.

In 2018 the federal government updated and strengthened an important linkage between high school and career pathways with the “Perkins V” legislation, formally known as “The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.  

As of 2023, Perkins V was a $1.4 billion annual federal investment in career and technical education (CTE). “Perkins V” represents the fifth iteration of federal legislation stretching back to 1984 that aims to support career readiness for K through 12 populations, with particular emphasis on support for marginalized communities. 

There are many resources online to learn more about Perkins, including the U.S. Department of Education's Perkins Collaborative Research Network.

Our research into Perkins has been to better understand how this federal workforce development framework can serve tomorrow's accounting students better.

3. What role does the state play with CTE?

State governments are charged with supporting Perkins V-related CTE programming on a local level. Our research has thus far been focused primarily in New Jersey.

In New Jersey, the Departments of Education and Labor both have vested interests in CTE because of the explicit need to better develop local, homegrown talent. Local boards of education are ultimately responsible for implementation of CTE in the schools. The state agencies help channel Perkins V grant funding and it also collects data to measure the results. 

Our research has been focused on mining the state data to find high schools that (a) possess existing Perkins V-supported programming in finance (which contains the accounting pathway) and (b) educate diverse populations.  Our approach is rooted in a belief that we must not only attract more candidates to the dynamic profession of accounting, but that more of those students must be from diverse and underserved backgrounds. 

We are taking a proactive approach, using a mixture of research, consultative problem-solving, and data analytics to learn about the K through 12 landscape and assist stakeholders reach more students who are primed to learn about CPA licensure.

Business-related CTE Analytics

School Demographics

4. What is the accounting pipeline challenge?

Employment demand for accountants is expected to increase by four percent between 2022 and 2032 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Yet current CPA firms currently face a dire talent shortage, resulting in firms turning down client work and/or relying on non-American labor forces for help completing audits and tax returns.  The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2023 that:

“...more than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have left their jobs in the past two years, a 17% decline, and the dwindling number of college students coming into the field can’t fill the gap…Young professionals in the 25- to 34-year-old range and mid career professionals between the ages of 45 and 54 also departed in high numbers starting in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recruiters who have been luring experienced accountants into new roles say they are often moving into jobs in finance and technology.”

In its 2021 Trends Report, the AICPA noted that “ the CPA pipeline is one of the AICPA’s 2022 primary strategic initiatives” and that promoting “K-12 and high school students' interest in accounting” was a key priority to addressing the pipeline challenge. 

Learn more about the accounting pipeline challenge here.

5. Can dual enrollment (where students participate in high school courses that earn college credit) help address the accounting pipeline challenge?

Yes. According to the NJ Department of Education, high school students who dual enroll are more likely to:

  • Earn higher grades in high school
  • Graduate from high school
  • Attend a post-secondary university
  • Earn a post-secondary degree

Because CPA licensure in New Jersey requires a college degree as a predicate, dual enrollment is a clear tool to consider for stakeholders interested in strengthening the accounting pipeline.  Creating a dual enrollment program requires collaboration between high school and college professionals. The NJ Department of Education provides a toolkit (here) that explains the process.

LET'S COLLABORATE

We want to help educators and accounting industry stakeholders collaborate.

Brigid D'Souza, CPA MBA

Brigid D'Souza is a licensed CPA in New Jersey who worked in big-4 tax-technology client services prior to teaching at the university. She is passionate about helping her students - a majority of whom are first-generation accounting majors in New Jersey - find their footing in the career space on the pathway to CPA licensure, which is the pinnacle industry-valued credential in accounting. For the last 10 years, Brigid has written a fiscal literacy blog at Civic Parent which has given her an in-depth understanding of the K through 12 public education paradigm in New Jersey. Her areas of research include the accounting pipeline, New Jersey's school funding paradigm, local budgets, and property tax.

Dr. Mary McDonough, PhD

Dr. Mary McDonough holds a Ph.D. in Human Resource Development from the University of Nebraska, a M.S in Human Resource Management from Upsala College, and a B. S. in Political Science from Ramapo College. Mary has over 18 years of college teaching experience and higher education administration. Prior to her roles in academia, Mary was employed at United Parcel Service for 14 years, holding senior management positions at UPS’s largest facility in the world, New Jersey, and Metropolitan New York, respectively. She also was employed as Organization Development Consultant for the State of Nebraska, redesigning its Welfare (food stamp) programs.

Get in touch.

Our work is driven by a desire to serve marginalized students across the state who may find accounting not only enjoyable, but transformational if they can gain more support to strive for the pinnacle credential in the field, the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license.  

Please contact me if you are interested in collaborating around CTE at the high school level.