Episode 47

Why Are So Many Professionals Leaving or Not Even Entering Accounting?

Episode 47. In today's news episode, The Accounting Influencers Podcast explores accountancy as a preferred profession or career choice plus better talent retention for accounting firms.

Key takeaways include:

▶ What leads accounting firm leaders and firm partners to view their staff as 'worker ants'

▶ Why financial and emotional investment in employees is so low in accounting practices

▶ What looking after your staff makes them want to do in an accounting practice

▶ What makes many younger accountants doubt their future and place in the accounting profession

▶ Are there really more accounting professionals leaving the profession than there are coming into it?

▶ Why the talent shortage in accounting and finance is only acute in some parts of the world

▶ How technology and outsourcing play their part in harnessing the human capital in an accounting firm

▶ How to keep accounting talent in the profession if they are looking elsewhere or not being looked after where they are

▶ Where the blame right lie for accountants leaking out of or not wanting to come into the accountancy profession

▶ How loss of good accounting talent is worsened by the inability of many accountancy practices to recruit new talent

▶ How numbers-oriented individuals and accounting graduates have so many career options now outside of accountancy practices

▶ The difference between an accounting practice and an accounting business

▶ How the Big 4 firms cast a net over the highest quality accounting talent, then spit the rest out for other firms to fight over

NOTE TO LISTENERS:

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About the Podcast

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Accounting Voices Podcast
Accounting Voices helps people in the accounting world stay relevant visible and vocal. Host Rob Brown interprets trends reshaping the profession and gives listeners insight to build authority influence and a stronger voice in firms and markets.

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About your host

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Rob Brown

Rob Brown is the founder and host of the Accounting Voices Podcast, the flagship solo show of the Accounting Voices Network. Each episode offers sharp analysis and commentary on the trends, ideas and people shaping the global accounting profession.

Through this Accounting Voices Podcast, Rob helps accounting firm leaders, decision makers and professionals stay relevant and make sense of disruption in areas like AI, automation, M&A, private equity and soft skills beyond the tech. His perspective blends clarity, insight and curiosity, making complex issues relevant and practical for professionals and decision makers across accounting and finance.

He also leads two monthly panel shows, Accounting M&A and Accounting AI, which bring together senior voices to explore consolidation, strategy and the impact of technology on firms and people.

Rob is the author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and a TEDx speaker whose talk The Personal Brand of You has more than 400,000 views. Over his career he has hosted and moderated more than 1,000 conversations with accounting and fintech leaders worldwide.

Based in Nottingham UK, Rob is a stroke survivor living with epilepsy, a black belt in kickboxing, a decent chess player and an average player of four musical instruments.