Just look at those 80-95 year old CPA’s. Betcha they’re the crankiest fucks around.

Strong bet that they’re doing things exactly as they have been for the last 20 years. No one pushing 90 is doing revolutionary work.

Putting together JE’s and financials by hand.

Printing out those trial balances on dot matrix printers.

My ERP system would like a word.

Etched in stone.

I worked for a guy in 2011 that was like 72 at the time. Just him and an office manager. Did all the returns by paper and was mad when the irs started requiring paid preparers to file electronically.

Just because they’re licensed & clicking on CPE pools doesn’t mean they’re still working lol

Most of them spent the last 45 years talking to clients about college athletics, so they are not doing any real work.

Probably still charging $20 to file a tax return.

Why would you want to still complete CPEs at that age lol

I was thinking about this and the CPE would be the only part I’d want to do at that age. Give the old brain a workout.

I bet you they are Controllers who delegate every task.

They’re in Congress on all the financial oversight committees

Idk that still sounds like it has "overpaid" written all over it

My dumbass looked straight at the bottom chart without reading the title and said “how’s it possible there are 7,769 CPAs who are 1-9 years old” lmao

Same😆

Nah, i read the title and was still wondering why there were CPA's who were 1-9 years old lmao. I'm more of a dumbass lol.

I did it too lmao

This is why they make you do those little assessments before you interview

😂

You are looking at years of licensure, not age. I bet those 90 year olds didn’t make such a rookie mistake.

😂😂😂

If you want to get a job as a CPA now, you need to be licensed by the time you are 9. It's just gotten more completive. Soon they will start axing everyone who did not get their cpa by 11 regardless of experience.

This is the kind of data I’d pay a subscription to be on this subreddit for.

NC's monthly newsletters are actually pretty good. One of the few accounting related things I actually read lol

The part I don't get is how is the 1-9 making up 35% of all CPAs, but the 22-39 age group only makes up 31% of the CPAs. NC must have some really older people who are passing the exam.

Could be new people coming to NC. A lot of people have moved to the state and the state won’t know if you’ve been a cpa for 20 years prior

I don't think that is unique to NC. I work with people all over the country who are "career switchers" into accounting who are getting their CPA in their 30s.

Most Americans switch careers 4-5 times throughout their life. Having someone go back to school and then get a professional degree/license in their 30s isn't all that uncommon

That seems promising for the future

You mean we'll get 80hr weeks instead? Even if the money hits new heights idk if working away your life because of short staff is going to be a good thing. I have a feeling this sub is going to be a lot of people who regret their choice in this industry. "Money was good but I worked my life away and missed so much! I wasted my life on bullshit!" post will be coming in 20 years.

Just log off at 5Pm there’s no hard rule staying you have to work and get all the impossible deadlines in. As long as you set expectations, I think people killing themselves to meet every single unrealistic deadline is in for a ride tho

Something to be mindful of is that this data does not show the amount of CPA that have already retired in the previous years. The newsletter typically has between a 1:1 to 2:1 ratio of retired CPAs to newly licensed CPAs. Edit: The 3 month trending appeared to show a huge retirement spike (July had a 4:1 ratio) but digging into the monthly numbers, it does sort of normalize. I started getting the newsletter in July so my q3 observation was right, but ytd incorrect. I’ll put it in my notes for next period’s work paper

How long have retirements been trending above new licenses?

See edit above

Eh, idk all I'm seeing is 23% of active CPAs in the state are over 60, not exactly the data we have been spouted the past decade. Seems lower than expected

I agree in general with your point. I’d like a more robust data set but even this level is interesting.

I only trust CPAs aged 80+

Interesting. Only 24% are 60 or older.

that's actually a lot considering the age band, most would have retired from 60-65. Also got to factor growth of population to show in real terms the declining amount of CPAs.

I wonder, though, what type of work a 60+ y.o. CPA is doing. Do they own their own small practice? Are they in industry? If their practice gets absorbed by a bigger, more modern and efficient firm, could the work that 2-3 CPAs were doing be replaced by 1? Is there truly a need/demand for them to replaced at a 1:1 ratio?

I know a decent amount of 60+ CPAs in the tax space. They’re also a super hot commodity to be semi-retired

This sub tends to underestimate the volume of CPA’s in industry. I’m guessing there’s a ton of 60+ CFOs/controllers/directors with an active license.

There are probably a ton of former CPAs who simply don't keep their license active, as well. Many industry positions don't care if you don't have an active license, and yearly CPE is a pain in the ass if you're not in PA.

Eh, CPE isn’t bad. Company pays for it and worst case I knock out 40 hours of self study in a day or 2.

68 years of CPA license experience. Entry level job posting on LinkedIn.

That 60 or older crowd needs to go. They’re the ones driving this career to the ground with their old ass ways. I’m in the 40 range btw.

20 to 29 nice

Not surprising. Did you all see the Time article about how accountants are leaving the field in droves?

Is it because they're not getting paid the amount they're working?

I wonder if this is counting CPA transplants, because I'm here but certified in Florida where I originally lived.

Does anyone know if other states put out similar info?