Reaching the next generation of accounting and finance professionals has been a challenge. We’ve seen headlines referring to the talent shortage as a crisis, and many of us working in the public sector have experienced recruitment issues firsthand.
To understand how to alleviate the issue of recruiting and retaining CPAs and finance professionals, let’s first look at why the current situation even exists.
Factors creating a talent shortage in the public sector
Experts in governmental accounting, Michelle Watterworth, CPA, and Mary Foelster, CPA, spoke at the Government Performance and Accountability Committee (GPAC) meeting in May 2025. They shared insights from the report, Public Sector CPA Resources: The Current Landscape and Recommendations for the Future, which details research conducted by the AICPA® and the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers (NASACT).
Factors affecting the recruitment of CPAs to work in state and local governments and the challenge of finding CPA firms to audit state and local government entities are examined in the 2024 study. With insights gleaned from subject matter experts during discussion forums, a survey was designed to gather more information from students, CPAs, government finance officers, government accountants, and professors.
More than 900 people responded to the survey — nearly half work in government entities and half work in CPA firms. Meaningful information was obtained from professionals working in local government (47.3% of respondents) and state government (27.5% of respondents). From CPA firms with 26–100 staff, response rates were 26.5%; firms with 500 or more CPAs on staff had a 25.1% response rate.
Per survey respondents, factors that affect hiring CPAs to work in government entities include:
Executive leadership and legislative bodies do not always understand the value of a CPA, and being a certified public accountant is often not a requirement to work in local government.
Due to having reduced funding and minimal budgets, the public sector can’t compete with the private sector when it comes to compensation and benefit packages.
Hiring practices in the public sector can be outdated and approving a job candidate can take extended time.
During the spring GPAC meeting, known factors leading to a talent shortage were also discussed:
Governmental accounting standards, the Yellow Book, and compliance audits add a layer of complexity as they differ from the financial accounting standards required in the private sector.
Procurement policies and requests for proposals (RFPs) can be stringent and non-applicable; at times, they include provisions that violate a CPA firm’s independence rules.
CPAs who serve the public are required to have additional expertise in governmental requirements; acquiring and applying this knowledge takes dedicated time and resources, but the salaries aren’t comparable to those in the private sector.
The staffing shortage in the public sector is not going to be resolved overnight, but there are steps we can take.
Actions for government folks:
Educate legislative bodies and government officials, advocating for needed change.
Fund positions in an appropriate manner.
Understand the external audit function as value-based versus as a commodity.
Actions for CPA firm leaders and hiring managers:
Perform a salary benchmarking study and consider updating your current hiring and retention policies.
Provide technical training and professional development opportunities for those working within governments.
Consider what avenues are available to secure appropriate funding for accounting and finance professionals in the public sector.
Gain insight from smaller governments when setting standards.
Build a public sector audit practice that allows for work-life integration throughout the year for team members.
Actions for CPAS working in and serving government:
Consider a change in audit requirement thresholds for small governments.
Evaluate RFPs on both qualifications and fees, ensuring procurement policies don’t include problematic contract provisions.
Actions for academics:
Add additional courses at the college and university level to increase understanding and visibility of the public sector on campuses.
Emphasize the importance of a career path in the public sector, at both the government and CPA firm levels.
Provide necessary resources to gain the knowledge and expertise needed to work in the public sector.
As an AICPA member, you are invited to join the conversation.
Reviving the pipeline in the public sector will be a challenge. We need to continue to drive conversation in this area, being as transparent as possible regarding what we are seeing, hearing, and experiencing.
Read through the interactive online report, Pipeline and Leadership in the Public Sector, and reflect on what the issues are and solutions that can be implemented. The GPAC seeks to involve many different stakeholders to effect change on a broad scale. Contact Lori Sexton to learn more about GPAC.
The support at a national level is there, as new AICPA President and CEO Mark Koziel has identified the lack of ability for local governments to find auditors as one of the top 5 issues he heard during a “listening tour,” in which he traveled, engaging with members and gathering their feedback.
Never doubt the impact you might have on someone currently in or considering joining the public sector.
Together, we can rectify the talent shortage and ensure the viability of accounting and finance professionals in the public sector for many years to come.
Additional resources
Public Sector CPA Resources: The Current Landscape and Recommendations for the Future
Accounting Talent Strategy Report from the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG)
Rewriting accounting’s employment narrative — Journal of Accountancy article
Navigating the Accounting Pipeline Crisis: The Risks of Blurring Education and Experience in CPA Licensure Standards — article from The CPA Journal
About the experts
Meagan Wellbrock, CPA, assurance principal, audit and attestation service line leader, and government/not-for-profit focus area leader at Adams Brown, LLC. Meagan has extensive experience working with governments in Kansas, including providing single audit services to those governments and other not-for-profit entities.
Michelle Watterworth, CPA, partner at Plante & Moran and a representative of the AICPA Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, specializes in making extremely complex things more understandable.
Mary Foelster, CPA, is senior director of Governmental Auditing and Accounting at the Association of International Association of Certified Professional Accountants.
Lori A. Sexton, CPA, CGMA, is an Associate Technical Director, Management Accounting, at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. She serves as an advocate for the public sector and liaison to the Government Performance and Accountability Committee. Lori offers knowledge and insights from a breadth of experience in audit, attest, tax, and consulting services.