By Megan Killian, vice president – member relations
According to the Student Research Foundation, 77% of high school students are thinking about their future careers. By senior year, though, the percentage increases to 81%. This is why the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation considers high schoolers an important audience to target with our careers in accounting message.
The PICPA has been hosting programs for high school students for more than a decade, but with the creation of the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation we have been able to grow our Accounting Career Days from one or two per year to 15 events this past year. During October and November, we reached more than 1,800 students from 138 schools across Pennsylvania.
Reese Blair from Deloitte speaks to students at the Lincoln University Accounting Career Day. |
The Pennsylvania CPA Foundation partners with colleges throughout the state to host these events, so the students get the added value of being on a college campus. The exact format of each event varies by location, but the core of all of them is an opportunity to hear from real CPAs and aspiring CPAs. These PICPA member volunteers talk about their career paths and current jobs, and accounting majors share their reasons for choosing accounting and how they are preparing to take the CPA Exam. Perhaps some students will say the most exciting part of the day is getting to eat in the cafeteria at some locations, but whether they enjoy loaded nachos or a boxed lunch, the students gain an understanding about the many career paths that a CPA can take, the profession’s strong earning power, and the prestige and respect that CPAs have in the business community.
For the past two years we’ve been surveying students who attend our career day programs to assess their impressions of the profession before and after the events. Those students who are considering an accounting career went from 48% beforehand to 67% afterward. And those considering a career as a CPA increased from 27% to 54%.
Thank you to the more than 90 volunteers who helped us make these events a huge success. They are the real influencers of these programs!
Pictures and highlights from this year’s events can be found on the Pennsylvania CPA Foundation’s 2019 Fall Events webpage.
Learn more about Pennsylvania CPA Foundation programs and how you can get involved.
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