How listening is shaping ‘incredible’ year for AICPA Chair Lexy Kessler

Lexy Kessler admits to feelings of self-doubt when she took center stage at AICPA Council last May to be officially introduced as AICPA chair.

“But then,” Kessler said, “I just felt this wave of energy.”

In a flash, any apprehension felt by the self-described introvert melted away. 

“It’s been an incredible chapter for my career,” she said. “It really has been.”

Introverts, by definition, don’t seek out constant interaction. Yet as AICPA chair, Kessler has constantly been on stage, traveling the globe to represent the accounting profession at countless speaking engagements.

And, more importantly, she’s set the stage for others to speak their truth.

“Being chair can be exhausting — I’m an introvert, so of course it can be exhausting,” said Kessler, CPA, CGMA, a partner at top 20 firm Aprio. “But just hearing their stories and seeing what some of these state society CEOs are doing with boots on the ground around the pipeline, and reaching out to students and to members, and the creativity I’ve seen — I’m just very proud to be part of the profession.”

As Kessler’s year of service begins to wind down, here’s what she’s heard along the way.

Change is constant but crucial

Kessler said the value she has placed on listening during her time as AICPA chair came into focus when she served as chair of the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG), a profession initiative championed by the AICPA that concluded a year of research in the summer of 2024 with a report recommending actions aimed at improving the accounting pipeline.

After NPAG canvassed a variety of voices, the report identified the time and cost of education as a key barrier to CPA licensure. It wasn’t an earth-shattering revelation, but what has followed has been earth-shattering: Months later, Ohio became the first of now more than 25 states to pass legislation creating an additional path for CPA licensure that addresses time and money barriers.

“The importance of listening became very clear to me when we started to go through that NPAG journey,” Kessler said. “The organization was listening. It was a very powerful lesson to me that people need to be heard.”

Now, Kessler is putting that lesson to use as a key contributor to the AICPA and CIMA’s Rise2040 initiative, an ambitious effort to position the profession to thrive over the next 15 years. Based on feedback from more than 6,000 participants in 25 countries, the final report is planned for publication in May.

“The team has been very intentional about keeping the voices in there,” Kessler said. “I don’t want to give it all away, but I will say that the fundamentals of who we are as a profession are more important than ever — trust, integrity, ethics, quality. And change management is here to stay.”

The future is bright — but not everyone realizes that

As chair, Kessler has interacted with countless people who will be pivotal to the profession’s success in 2040 and beyond, and she has come away impressed.

“People can stereotype all they want,” Kessler said, “but I see college students that care and that want to do well.

“I am so impressed with the types of questions they’re asking, with the intent.”

In Puerto Rico, for example, a student asked Kessler about the future of the profession with private equity.

“I didn’t do that as a student,” she said. “I just went to class, passed my exams.”

While Kessler liked what she heard from the next generation of accountants, she also realizes that more prospective CPA candidates need to hear more about the profession’s opportunities.

“I had somebody in my office say, ‘My child wants to major in accounting. Is there going to be a role for them?’ — and that’s from somebody in the profession,” Kessler said. “I was like, ‘Absolutely. There absolutely is a role for them.’”

Kessler stressed that AI and other changes are reshaping career demands and how many accounting firms operate, but with those changes come opportunities for more strategic work.

“CPA is here to stay,” she said. “It is not going away.”

Good listeners listen to their own heart

“The best thing I ever did,” Kessler said, “was get outside of the walls of my firm.”

Kessler said her only regret is waiting as long as she did, having first gotten actively involved with the AICPA about a dozen years ago. When she talks to accounting students, she encourages them to not wait.

“I tell students, look at the person to your right and the person to your left, get to know them,” Kessler said. “They will be your future business partners — you just don’t know that yet.”

And when Kessler talks to AICPA members, particularly women in leadership, the message remains the same.

In Kessler’s way of thinking, the importance of listening includes listening to yourself.

“To be able to put together a holistic global view as far as how we can support women leaders that we need in the workforce, that’s been very rewarding,” said Kessler, who has virtual sessions in Africa and China planned before her year as AICPA chair concludes. “People listened to me and helped me, and the least I can do is pay that back.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.