Students Redefine “Career Readiness” | SLC

…And it has less to do with technical skills than firms expect.

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Accounting ARC – Student-Led Conversations
With Arpan Grewal and Harshita Multani
Center for Accounting Transformation

Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

As the accounting profession continues to grapple with talent shortages, shifting expectations, and generational change, one podcast is addressing those challenges from a rarely centered perspective: students themselves.

In an end-of-year episode of Student-Led Conversations, hosts Arpan Grewal and Harshita Multani reflect on a year of interviews alongside Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and inspiration architect of the Center for Accounting Transformation. The episode serves as both a retrospective and a case study of what happens when students are entrusted with real platforms and real responsibility.

MORE Accounting ARC: Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a MegaphoneBaker: Interpreting Pricing PsychologyDon’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC | Free Speech Is a Right; Respect Is a Responsibility | Cash Bags, Casinos & Audits: How First Jobs Shape UsGen Z Redefines Careers | Bootleggers, Baptitsts & CPAs: Rethinking Licensure

The idea for Student-Led Conversations emerged after Grewal appeared on an episode of Accounting ARC, where she interviewed seasoned professionals about their careers. What surprised her most was not the technical content, but the personal stories.

“I realized accounting isn’t just about numbers,” Grewal says during the episode. “It’s about people.”

That realization became the foundation for a student-hosted series that explores career paths, mental health, failure, advocacy, and professional identity — topics often absent from traditional recruiting or classroom discussions.

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Brown: Employer Brands Talk | MOVE Like This

Real employee stories, not polished slogans, are winning the war for talent.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Ruszczyk sits down with Rob Brown, founder and host of Accounting Voices and previous host of Accounting Influencers, to talk about what’s really driving change in the accounting profession.

Speaking from the UK with deep experience across the U.S. and global markets, Brown shares what he’s seeing in firms of all sizes: pressure from talent shortages, shifting expectations from younger professionals, and the growing importance of a strong employer brand rooted in real stories, not slogans. 

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Brown starts by outlining three major workplace trends. 
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New 20-Year Low in College Accounting Graduates

But are trends already on the upswing again?

By CPA Trendlines

The pipeline of U.S. accounting graduates has fallen to its lowest level in roughly 20 years, capping a decade-long slide of about 17% in completions even as demand from public accounting firms remains strong, according to the latest release of a much-watched study.

In this report:
  • The tension between shrinking supply and resilient demand
  • Bachelor’s degrees: From mid-2010s peak to current lows
  • Master’s degrees: A steep 15% drop in the last academic year
  • CPA Exam Trends: The new baseline
  • Potential Turning Point? New growth in enrollments

In addition, the CPA exam pipeline has thinned over the past 10 years, with new candidates and successful passers both down from earlier peaks, though 2023 saw a temporary surge tied to the rollout of the CPA Evolution exam.

New research is also revealing that while auditors remain in steady supply, the tax profession is facing a severe and deepening talent drought.

And yet, new enrollment data point to a possible turning point, with accounting program enrollments up double digits in 2024–25 and firms signaling plans to keep hiring as many or more graduates in the year ahead.

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Kwaiser: The Real Reason People Stay—or Leave | MOVE Like This

Culture isn’t an initiative—it’s a strategy that drives retention and results.

Originally published Oct. 13, 2025
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Stacie Kwaiser, CPA and CEO of Rehmann, about the firm’s nearly three-decade journey toward building a culture where people stay, grow, and lead.

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Kwaiser began her career in public accounting at Coopers & Lybrand before joining Rehmann, a firm that now employs more than 1,100 professionals across 22 offices. She rose through the audit practice and into firmwide leadership roles, ultimately becoming CEO in 2023. Along the way, she experienced—and helped shape—Rehmann’s evolution into one of the profession’s most recognized firms for women and equity leadership.
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Creative Perks Your Remote Employees Will Appreciate

remote worker at computer types on phone with dog nearby

Stipends for tech and education? Why not?

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

In addition to the more traditional benefits, we also offer a few creative perks that I think our employees really appreciate, including an education stipend and a technology stipend.

MORE by Jody Grunden
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Education Stipend

We believe that continuing education keeps our team members sharp and ahead of the game. One of our core values is “curiosity” because we want our employees to always be thinking about how we can improve our services, become more efficient and do things better. We want people to think outside the box because we’re not a typical accounting firm, nor do we ever want to be one.
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