KPMG is offering precocious schoolers paid internships to assistance hole accounting's staffing shortage.
By her ain admission, Autumn Kimborough, 17, didn't person a passionateness for accounting. But the rising precocious schoolhouse elder from Flossmoor, Illinois, heard astir a well-paid summertime internship astatine KPMG, which included a $250 covering stipend, and got excited.
For the archetypal time, the Big Four accounting steadfast organized a three-week league geared toward precocious schoolers with the circumstantial extremity of encouraging younger adults to consider a vocation successful the field, according to Jennifer Flynn, KPMG's assemblage interaction lead.
Nearly 200 teenagers are participating successful the summertime internship program, which pays $20 oregon $22 an hr positive covering and proscription stipends, meals and a concern etiquette class, among different skill-building tools.
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Students are besides paired with mentors who way their progress. "We wanted to marque definite our interns are getting a truly afloat experience," Flynn said.
"I had immoderate preconceived notions that it's sitting astatine a desk," Kimborough said, astir being a CPA. "Now I've learned that with accounting you tin question and conscionable radical and that drew maine in."
Accounting firms look a shortage of CPAs
Accounting firms person been facing a important staffing shortage.
Between the agelong hours, stressful deadlines and unflattering stereotype, much radical are quitting the assemblage then going into it.
Instead, students consecutive retired of assemblage are choosing to prosecute careers successful related fields similar concern banking, consulting oregon information analysis. The further recognition hours required to gain a certified nationalist accountant licence don't assistance either.
To pat the adjacent procreation of fig crunchers, different accounting firms and nonprofit groups are besides trying caller strategies to code the endowment pipeline occupation by appealing straight to teenagers.
Recently, The Deloitte Foundation, Urban Assembly and Outlier.org, which works with schools to connection for-credit online assemblage courses, kicked disconnected a dual enrollment pilot programme successful New York.
Starting successful the fall, immoderate nationalist precocious schoolhouse juniors and seniors tin instrumentality an Intro to Financial Accounting class and gain 3 assemblage credits done the University of Pittsburgh, which they tin past transportation to the assemblage of their choice.
The goal is besides to animate much divers students to see accounting careers.
This isn't the sexiest of professions.
Elena Richards
KPMG's main diversity, equity and inclusion officer
"We cognize this isn't the sexiest of professions," said KPMG's main diversity, equity and inclusion serviceman Elena Richards. "We are truly trying to absorption connected starting earlier and broadening the reach.
"This is our mode of getting them to cognize this is simply a assemblage that has a batch of opportunities."
The profession's deficiency of diverseness is different crushed the manufacture has failed to pull young talent, abstracted studies show. Just 2% of CPAs are Black and 5% are Hispanic contempt important occupation opportunities successful the field, according to a recent AICPA Trends Report.
Accounting often ranks among the apical jobs with the champion aboriginal outlook and six-figure salaries, according to different reports.
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