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Accelerating accounting outreach, a CPA leader’s campus return

Hosted by Neil Amato

Sponsored by Thomson Reuters

This episode of the JofA podcast explores Accounting Opportunities Experience month, a growing nationwide program to inspire students to pursue accounting careers.

Liz Burkhalter, the AICPA’s vice president–CPA Pipeline, shares how CPAs and volunteers are working to reach 50,000 students through classroom visits and events. She also mentioned resources that can help listeners who want to volunteer.

Scott Spiegel, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the chief operating officer of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, discusses his return to Rutgers University and why real-world stories can expose students to the diverse opportunities in the profession.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

  • The history and growth of Accounting Opportunities Experience month.
  • Burkhalter’s summary of participation numbers last year and goals for this year.
  • Resources for accountants interested in speaking to students.
  • Spiegel’s motivation for making campus visits.
  • The common questions and misconceptions he hears when talking to students.
  • The importance of in-person outreach and storytelling.

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Amato: Accounting Opportunities Experience month is the focus of this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast. I’m Neil Amato with the JofA. A quick shout-out to our listeners, as we record in mid-November: You are the reason we keep doing this, now for more than 450 episodes. Thanks for continuing to listen. You’ll hear our episode right after this brief sponsor message.

[Sponsor message]

Neil Amato: Liz Burkhalter is the AICPA’s director–CPA Pipeline. She joined the Journal of Accountancy podcast in June to talk about that pipeline. She was at ENGAGE then, and now she’s back as part of this episode on Accounting Opportunities Experience month. Liz, welcome back to the JofA podcast.

Liz Burkhalter: Thanks, Neil. I’m thrilled to be here.

Amato: We are glad to have you and glad to be discussing, as I said, AOE or AOEM whatever you want to call it, Accounting Opportunities Experience month. First, tell me, what is the genesis of it? How long has it been going on?

Burkhalter: This started out as, I would say, primarily, a state society effort. It grew into a nationwide effort in 2022, which was really only earmarked for Accounting Opportunities Week, so it was just a weeklong effort of everyone going back into classrooms in 2022, and we had reached as a collective nationwide effort 12,500 students, which is incredible.

However, the genesis has been growing year over year over year with more states getting involved, more collaboration between the AICPA and state societies to ensure that everyone is set up for success as they go into classrooms. Last year in 2024, Neil, we saw 1,200 volunteers get into classrooms reaching nearly 41,000 students. It has been an incredible journey over the past couple of years to kick-start this program, and we’ve seen tremendous success.

Amato: Yeah, so a week has turned into a month, 12,000 has turned into 40-plus thousand. Do you have goals? I know we’re in the middle of the month now, so maybe it’s tough to say how things are going, but do you have goals for this month this year?

Burkhalter: We do, Neil. Actually, we released those goals in October at our AICPA Council meeting. Our goals for this year is to get every state involved, and it doesn’t mean that there needs to be a huge, massive effort within each state in order to get into a ton of classrooms, but just having the ability to get into at least one classroom across all the states is our goal this year. So, having all the states involved, and we are looking to reach 50,000 students this year.

I did some math. The CPA in me, Neil, can’t help but do some math, and I’m estimating we need about 1,500 volunteers. If you recall, in 2024, I said we had about 1,200 volunteers. We need about 1,500 this year, so that is an increase, and that is why I’m so glad that we’re talking about it today.

Amato: People who are hearing this, who maybe it’s the first time they’re even aware, how can they get involved? What resources can we point them to in the show notes for this episode or that you can discuss now?

Burkhalter: That’s great, Neil. There are so many different ways that individuals can get involved. The first place I would encourage an individual to stop at is getting in contact with their state society. Many states already have efforts stood up, and they have connections with many local high schools in order to get you into the classroom.

That would be my first bit of encouragement and piece of advice for anyone who’s interested in this. Reach out to your state society, see what they already have out there, and then we also have a ton of resources that we will link in the show notes. I’ll make sure you get them, Neil, in order to set you up for success.

These mean a turnkey, customizable presentation that has all of the right messaging points that students are interested in and that resonate with students when we talk about accounting. We have volunteer notes. We have the do’s and don’ts. We have all of the materials really ready for an individual to be set up for success when they go into the classroom, whether it is a middle school classroom or a high school classroom. We have all of those materials available on This Way To CPA, our website designed to support the CPA pipeline.

Amato: That’s great. Thank you for those. When you see on LinkedIn, you see the posts of profession leaders taking selfies with the student groups they’ve met, whether it was this month or any other month, how does that make you feel?

Burkhalter: Neil, I love it. It makes my heart sing, to be honest with you. I think it’s fantastic. Not only being able to see profession leaders lead by example, by going back into the classroom and telling their story, it really just continues to amplify telling a better story, which was one of the key themes that came out of the National Pipeline Advisory Group’s report. It is all about telling a more compelling story.

When I see profession leaders or young professionals getting into a classroom, that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about redefining the story, being truthful, authentic, and honest about what it is, really highlighting all of the opportunities that there are within accounting.

I love to see it, and I think the students love to see it, too, Neil, because we have seen that students who participate in this presentation, we do a quick pulse survey before and after and we gauge their interest in accounting ahead of the presentation and afterwards. There is a huge uptick in a student’s interest in accounting after a professional presentation.

Many of the students who are enrolled in accounting today cite that they have attended a professional presentation, which positively [affected] their decision to major in accounting. All of these efforts do have an impact, and you never know whose life you’re changing by just sharing your story.

Amato: That seems like a great way to end, and I’ll also tease that we have a segment with an actual CPA talking to an actual student group coming up next. Liz Burkhalter. Thank you very much.

Burkhalter: Thanks, Neil. It’s always a pleasure joining you.

Amato: Scott Spiegel is the chief operating officer for the global organization that is the AICPA and also CIMA. Scott, you’re a repeat guest on the JofA podcast, so we’re glad to have you back on the show. Thanks for making time to join us.

Scott Spiegel: It’s great to be back with you, Neil. Thanks for the invite.

Amato: You recently visited Rutgers University’s business school. Now, that’s not just any school. It’s your school. Tell me what it was like to be back on campus and why you were there.

Spiegel: It was awesome being back. I really made a point to return to Rutgers the last few years because I’m at the point in my career now where I think to myself, I wish I had people come to the classroom and talk to me about the possibilities that an accounting career or CPA career can bring. I’m really fortunate that my friend happens to be a professor at Rutgers, and he really wants the students to hear from leaders outside of the classroom about accounting and why being a CPA is such an awesome career path.

 I’m really grateful to him for the opportunity to engage with his students each year. It really excites me to go back to my old school and just see how things have changed over time.

Amato: I’m certain things have changed over time, but I am actually interested, just as an aside to speaking to accountant students. Are there any old hangouts, any old restaurants that are still there, you have to visit every time you go back?

Spiegel: It’s funny. My wife and I had our first date at a restaurant called Old Man Rafferty’s, which is very legendary in downtown New Brunswick at Rutgers. While she did not go there as a student, it is my old stomping ground. While I was in town, I wound up having dinner with my parents there to relive memories. Every time I go back, that is probably my go-to place for just bringing back memories, and it’s been there for such a long time that every time I go back, I just go back to when I was in college and meeting my wife. It’s a great experience.

Amato: What do you recall about your time as an accounting student at Rutgers?

Spiegel: Well, I was so overwhelmed at the time. I tell this story quite a bit, maybe I’ll shorten it for the podcast, but my career journey as a CPA was shaped actually in high school and then continued through college, and maybe my short version goes like this. I took a high school aptitude test, and it told me I should either be an accountant or a lawyer or both. I just got very laser-focused on those paths and went with a very clear delineation that was going to be either an accountant or a lawyer.

I translated that into wanting to be a bilingual sports agent, and I figured a CPA and a lawyer is going to be the best way to fulfill this. But once I got to college, I realized that the rigor of my business and accounting programs really required a lot out of me, and I started to pivot away from that original aspiration of being both an accountant and a lawyer. I got really focused on just becoming a CPA because I became aware of all of the possibilities that a CPA career path alone would offer for me, and I’ve never been disappointed.

Amato: Do you tell that story in this most recent visit or maybe on other visits to other campuses or to Rutgers?

Spiegel: I definitely share it because I get the sense from a lot of students that when you’re engaging with them, they’re not really sure what they should be doing as an accountant. I think the most common observation I have is I have to be good at math to be an accountant, or the most common question is probably, what else can I do besides tax preparation and tax planning? Really, sharing possibilities of how my career journey got shaped and how it’s ebbed and flowed. I’m not fulfilling what my original dream was.

But you can acknowledge, you can do tax and planning and have an unbelievable career path. But then sharing stories about what I currently do or what others that I know do with the accounting and CPA background, I think it really gives the students much more context about what their futures hold. I really think that impact is making such a difference.

I can really tell, though, when you get a lot of LinkedIn invites after the meeting — and I always put up a QR code for them to scan to connect with me — when you get the volume of requests to not only connect, but then more importantly, you get private messages from the students saying, “Can I just talk to you one-on-one because I’m unsure about my career path? I’d love to just bounce things off of you.” That inspiration of having the kids reach out directly is something I probably wouldn’t have done when I was their age, but it’s really what I love about this generation of students, is they don’t shy away from asking those questions about what and why and what else I can do, and that’s where I get my inspiration and energy from.

Amato: Clearly, they are getting something out of it by reaching out to you, getting your advice, hearing some of your expertise. That LinkedIn post, which was where I saw that you had visited Rutgers, it included a selfie that, just seriously, the look on your face said, you really got a great deal out of it, and the comments from finance leaders from around the world showed the same thing. Can you put into words why that brings you such joy?

Spiegel: It’s really interesting. I really think the energy from the next generation is what keeps me motivated. Whether or not I go back to my alma mater, Rutgers — which, you’re right, I just fall in love every time I go there, and anytime I can see the scarlet R and take a picture, I really enjoy that. But I really think engaging with that next generation and knowing I’m walking into a conversation, probably getting more out of it than they might be getting, I think really disarms me and them because I’m really curious to hear from them.

That selfie that you’re referencing was probably 10 minutes before I got brought into the classroom to really engage with the students as they were filing in. The buzz when they see a stranger walking in, getting ready to talk to them, really creates a good, anxious buzz for me, and I just absolutely love it.

Amato: November, as we said at the top of the episode, is Accounting Opportunities Experience month. In general, spreading the word, whether it’s where you went to school or elsewhere, why is it important?

Spiegel: With it being Accounting Opportunities Experience month, it really wasn’t planned to be that way, but I’m so glad that my visit to Rutgers timed out that way. I guess my timing was impeccable. I really think, though, CPAs have a great story to tell, whether or not it’s at my alma mater or your alma mater or anywhere else.

This is an amazing career path, and I really believe it opens doors, and it has so many doors to open. Whether or not you practice in public accounting or you work in management accounting like I do now, I really think that there are just so many places where CPAs can make a difference. I think it’s incumbent on me and all of us in the profession to just share those stories because it really just takes one student to see the possibilities that this career path in accounting can be for them. I really think it can make a difference, just one student at a time.

Amato: That’s a perfect way to end. Scott Spiegel, thanks very much.

Spiegel: Thanks for having me.