TikTok for tax talent?

One 13-second video posts pictures of five CPAs who later became highly successful entrepreneurs, including Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank. On a related note, a host runs through a list of interesting accounting fields, such as data analytics, digital content, ESG governance and forensic accounting.  

These and other videos are part of a TikTok feed created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Their aim is to educate high school and college students about the profession while encouraging them to consider earning the CPA designation and pursuing accounting, and accounting-adjacent, careers.  

This modern twist on social media recruiting reflects the current state of accounting and tax talent pipelines (in a word: insufficient). It also points to the widespread need for professional associations, businesses and business groups (hello, tax groups) to improve their recruiting, retention and development capabilities via more targeted and creative efforts.  

The AICPA’s TikTok videos also caught the attention of The Economist, which observes that the association wants to “jazz up the job by branding the accountant as a strategic contributor.” A similar dynamic applies to the tax profession, especially within departments where advanced tax automation enables tax professionals to do less tactical work while expanding their higher-value contributions. 

The article cites some familiar labor statistics: the 1.6 million accountants and auditors working in the U.S. in 2023 are far fewer than the 2 million who were on the job in 2019. Many organizations also have a growing need for indirect tax help, given that CPAs often join tax departments. The Economist article concludes by noting that the AIPCA “touts virtues such as autonomy, remote work, travel, the ability to live anywhere” as “just the sort of thing that many youngsters relish.” 

That’s important to keep in mind given that Gen Z will constitute about 33% of the workforce in three years. While tax departments and their HR colleagues may or may not be ready to integrate TikTok videos into their recruiting efforts, they should consider that these highly educated, entrepreneurial professionals differ in meaningful ways from other generations.