How one firm helps recruits pass the CPA Exam
Weinstein Spira provides time for study, food for study groups, and a $10,000 bonus for staff who successfully complete the CPA Exam process.
The CPA Exam is a powerful symbol of an accountant’s value in the marketplace. Many CPA firms, along with countless corporations, not-for-profits, and government agencies that employ accountants, are using new tactics designed to help get candidates over the CPA Exam finish line, bolster the talent pipeline, and encourage students to consider accounting as a profession.
One Texas-based CPA firm has implemented several innovative programs, including a $10,000 cash bonus for successful completion of the exam. Weinstein Spira, an 87-employee tax, audit, and business advisory firm headquartered in Houston, built its business starting in 1962 on the principle that “relationships count.”
“We really live that,” said Kristin Murray, CPA, managing shareholder at Weinstein Spira. “There’s a lot of work/life balance. We compete with the big firms, and it’s important to us to be able to retain, attract, and get people into our pipeline. It’s something we’ve been focused on for years.”
The firm noticed that over time, the percentage of its employees sitting for the CPA Exam was declining. “We weren’t getting a lot of traction, and a lot of our seniors and supervisor-level folks were just not taking it,” Murray said. “We decided we needed something to shepherd people through it and to incentivize people, so we started with an announcement of a bonus of $10,000 once you passed it.”
Studying for the CPA Exam while working a full schedule can be exhausting, so Weinstein Spira came up with a solution, implementing study time during the workday as well as organizing off-hours study groups. “We allow our folks, at certain points of the year, to have time to study during their normal working hours,” Murray said. “So when they go home, they’ve already studied. We found that the biggest objection we were getting was, ‘I’m tired when I get home. After I’ve done a full day of accounting work, I don’t want to do this,’ or ‘It’s my weekend, I don’t want to do this.'”
The firm also facilitates and even feeds study groups — a strategy Murray said has been effective, as new employees don’t have to study for the exam alone or on an empty stomach.
“We’ll bring in food on the weekends or nighttime, or whenever the group wants,” Murray said. “We found that by doing this, people started to take advantage of the time, and they became a community of people all studying the same section at the same time.”
The results have been tangible. Weinstein Spira’s support program has helped nine staff members pass the CPA Exam, and at least a dozen more are currently sitting for the exam, according to Murray. “Most have multiple parts passed,” she said, adding that the firm had virtually no one sitting for the exam before starting the program.
“It’s really taken off,” she said. “We tell people we’re hiring that if they start the exam before they join, we’ll still give them the passing bonus. So, it’s just getting people to start the exam earlier, and then giving them the opportunity to have time for it. That seems to be the big roadblock for people.”
Employees who have already completed the exam or finished a section often mentor others. “There’s a kind of community,” Murray said. “We’ve found that at some points in time, there are often several people sitting for the same section, and so they’re mentoring, teaching each other, and talking through the exam as they go.”
In offering a bonus and providing study time and a community to their employees, Weinstein Spira has tapped into two popular solutions for tackling the accounting talent shortage. In the National Pipeline Advisory Group‘s 2024 student survey, 84% of students surveyed said that paid time off for studying for the exam is a “very effective” pipeline solution; and 84% also agreed that a bonus upon completion of the exam is “very effective.”
FUN BRIGADE AND OTHER PIPELINE INITIATIVES
Weinstein Spira, one of many firms that have taken the NPAG Pipeline Pledge to grow the accounting talent pool, is rewriting accounting’s employment narrative, both in the recruiting phase and in the new employee phase. When visiting colleges, Murray and her colleagues understand that work/life balance is one of the biggest areas students consider. “The other decision factor is whether they can relate to who we are as people, and we really are a firm that cares about people,” Murray said.
One of Weinstein Spira’s most innovative strategies is the “Fun Brigade,” an informal program that adds a little whimsy to the workplace to keep it interesting. According to Murray, “The Fun Brigade came out of us turning 50. Fun has always been a core value, but we solidified it with the Fun Brigade on our golden anniversary.”
The Fun Brigade includes the company’s “50 Fabulous Fridays” program. Murray said: “We had fun every Friday for 50 Fridays. It could be anything from a Nerf gun war in the office to people wearing Kentucky Derby hats for a contest. We did a tailgate. It was anything and everything, and everybody really loved it. The fun has continued past our anniversary year.”
Other initiatives that Weinstein Spira uses to attract new employees and keep them engaged include the following:
- Hybrid work: The firm, with staff across seven states, meets the need for work/life balance through several tactics, including hybrid work options.
- Active recruiting: Like many firms, Weinstein Spira pays close attention to new graduates. Murray said the firm has worked hard to establish relationships with professors and even has students now working for the firm recruit their friends who are a year behind.
- Job rotations to find the best fit: Are first-year accountants stuck with routine work? Not at Weinstein Spira. Murray said, “We have a rotation program both for our interns and for our first-year staff, who may not know whether they want to be an auditor or a tax person. They get to spend time on both sides of the house to figure out which one is the best fit.”
A LASTING IMPACT
Emma Koenig, CPA, joined Weinstein Spira in June 2023 as a staff accountant in audit. In the first 13 months of her employment, she passed all four sections of the CPA Exam, and the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy officially issued her a CPA license.
“The CPA support program and management at the firm had a big impact on how quickly I was able to pass all four sections while still maintaining a healthy work/study time balance,” said Koenig, who was promoted to an audit senior in January 2025. “As an auditor who is not as familiar with the tax regulations, I don’t think I would have been as prepared for the REG exam without receiving the 10 hours of study time per week from mid-October through mid-December.”
Heather Lee, CPA, wasn’t fresh out of school when she joined the CPA support program. She has worked at Weinstein Spira since 2014, starting as a staff accountant and advancing to tax senior, tax supervisor, and her current position, tax manager. None of her — or Koenig’s — promotions were contingent on passing the CPA Exam, as the firm doesn’t require the license through the senior manager position.
Weinstein Spira also does not provide an immediate salary bump for passing the CPA Exam, according to Murray. The firm makes annual salary adjustments and determines bonuses each June under its normal performance review procedures.
Lee passed all four sections of the CPA Exam, earning her the $10,000 bonus and a CPA license last year. Now acting as a resource and cheerleader for staff in the program, Lee said the bonus incentivizes progress because it provides a “tangible reward for the hard work invested.” Of even more value, she said, were the 10 hours per week she could devote to exam preparation.
“Personally, this was the most impactful aspect of the program,” she said. “It allowed me to integrate study time into my workweek without sacrificing performance or well-being.”
About the author
Dan Blacharski is a senior writer for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.
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