The retirement plans of the baby boom generation could affect the supply of certified public accountants.
During the next 15 years, about 75 percent of the nation’s CPAs will be approaching retirement, according to the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). Many in the profession are concerned about its ability to replace those retirees while meeting an already rising demand for CPAs. That demand has been fed in part by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a federal law whose strict requirements are designed to prevent accounting abuses.
Virginia Business tracks trends in the profession as part of its annual list of Super CPAs, now in its sixth year. In cooperation with the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, the magazine invited 7,000 CPAs throughout the state to identify the best people practicing in 12 categories.
The magazine received nominations for roughly 1,100 CPAs. From that group, a third, 372, were chosen for the Super CPA list. A representative from each of the 12 categories is featured on the following pages. The profile subjects are not necessarily the top vote getters in each category.
To replenish the supply of top CPAs, professional organizations have created scholarships and promoted programs that encourage interest in accounting among students. For example, the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants Educational Foundation held a Leaders’ Institute in June for 63 top accounting students, coaching them on career development skills.
Such efforts nationwide have helped produce a 19 percent increase in the number of accounting degrees awarded in recent years. Marc Moyers, managing partner of KPMG’s Richmond office, says interest in accounting declined during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s and 2000 when opportunities in investment banking and technology appeared more attractive. Since 2001, “enrollment has been picking up again,” he says.
The number of CPAs at KPMG’s four Virginia offices has climbed 65 percent, from 158 to 261, in the past five years. During the same time, the number of CPAs licensed in Virginia has risen 22 percent to 21,310, according to the Virginia Board of Accountancy. However, a temporary kink in the CPA pipeline occurred last year because of new education requirements. Adopting a standard used by many other states, Virginia last year increased the number of earned credit hours required for taking the CPA exam from 120 to 150. As a result, many accounting graduates stayed in school to earn their master’s degree and get the additional credits. The Board of Accountancy licensed only 192 CPAs in 2006, down from 656 the year before. The number of new CPAs is expected to return to a more normal level this year.
