Caitlynn Eldridge: Some Build Smaller Firms to Make Room for Bigger Lives | Accounting Conversations

It's interesting to hear that it's audit, but that makes sense.

We're short.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Oh no, you're totally fine.

So why do you think we're having such a shortage of accountants right now? Why, why is it so hard for young professionals maybe to see the value that an accounting degree can bring?

Yeah.

Mostly at that point, I'm going to pull from other sites I've seen.

So what we see is that the 150 credit hours usually requires a master's degree.

There aren't a lot of colleges that'll push you through in four years.

And so when you have that, requirement, it's now a more costly degree and the pay is not commiserate to the degree.

And so folks are looking at it and they're like, oh, but I could go get a finance degree with my MBA and I could walk into a much higher paying job.

well, then that makes more sense than this lower paying job that still has a lot of hours and put me into debt.

And so I think there's a huge trade-off there.

It's also not sexy.

It's not like, oh, I'm going to, I mean, unless you're on TikTok, I guess accountant can have a different meaning.

But for the most part, if we say we're an accountant, it does not have like this, oh, you're this awesome person.

who's doing these cool things.

It's perception, a lot of it.

But I think we're missing the fact that it's one of the most flexible jobs.

I don't have to be in an office to do what I do.

I can be remote.

And so with a generation that values that ability to maybe work from home, this is a great place to be.

And because we're short, we are seeing folks pick it up Once you go put in your time learning, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to work from home, at least hybrid, which is kind of nice.

It's interesting to hear that it's audit, but that makes sense.

We're short.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, Oh no, you're totally fine.

So why do you think we're having such a shortage of accountants right now? Why, why is it so hard for young professionals maybe to see the value that an accounting degree can bring?

Yeah.

Mostly at that point, I'm going to pull from other sites I've seen.

So what we see is that the 150 credit hours usually requires a master's degree.

There aren't a lot of colleges that'll push you through in four years.

And so when you have that, requirement, it's now a more costly degree and the pay is not commiserate to the degree.

And so folks are looking at it and they're like, oh, but I could go get a finance degree with my MBA and I could walk into a much higher paying job.

well, then that makes more sense than this lower paying job that still has a lot of hours and put me into debt.

And so I think there's a huge trade-off there.

It's also not sexy.

It's not like, oh, I'm going to, I mean, unless you're on TikTok, I guess accountant can have a different meaning.

But for the most part, if we say we're an accountant, it does not have like this, oh, you're this awesome person.

who's doing these cool things.

It's perception, a lot of it.

But I think we're missing the fact that it's one of the most flexible jobs.

I don't have to be in an office to do what I do.

I can be remote.

And so with a generation that values that ability to maybe work from home, this is a great place to be.

And because we're short, we are seeing folks pick it up Once you go put in your time learning, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to work from home, at least hybrid, which is kind of nice.