Pennsylvania eases path to CPA amid workforce gap

Dolly Mirpuri Lalvani’s dream was slipping away.

As a little girl in India, Lalvani would watch reverently as her father made complex accounting calculations look like – well, child’s play.

“My dad was a chartered accountant in India and an entrepreneur,” said Lalvani, of Linglestown. “When I was 5 years old, I’d watch him bring these ledgers home, and he could add up all these numbers in his head, and I thought that was the coolest thing.”

She and her family moved to Belize when she was 9, and to the US when she was 16. Her goal of becoming a Certified Public Accountant grew as she did — through childhood, college, an accountancy internship, and full-time work as an uncertified accountant by the time she graduated in 1991.

But there was a hurdle she just couldn’t clear: the CPA licensing exam. The test then was handwritten, four parts and only administered in May and November – and for Lalvani, it was an absolute torment to tackle as she worked full-time. Three times she failed three of the four portions, and after the third time, she called her dad.

“I told him, ‘I am never going to pass this exam,’” she said. “I’m never going to be a CPA.’ And he said, ‘I did not raise a quitter.’”

So dad and daughter made a pact: She promised she’d take the exam that November – and he promised she’d pass.

Lalvani’s dad was hospitalized soon thereafter and died in mid-November, shortly after she’d held up her end of the pact. Three months later, she learned she’d passed all four parts.

“So, he kept his promise,” said Lalvani, who went on to a long and distinguished career that included experience at three of the Big Four public accounting firms. “Him having that kind of faith in me was everything.”

The Gap

It’s little wonder, given her personal journey, that Lalvani is passionately concerned about the CPA profession’s manpower problem.

Across Pennsylvania and the nation, the pipeline of new CPAs is shrinking. According to the Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy, about 22,000 CPAs were licensed in the state in 2018. By 2023, that number had dropped to roughly 18,500 — a decline of nearly 16% in just five years. National data from both the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) and its countrywide counterpart echo that trend.

“Like many other professions, we’re seeing a shortage of talent, much of which is due to demographics with more leaving the profession than entering it,” said Jen Cryder, CEO of PICPA.

Lalvani attributes the gap to two things: Aspiring CPAs are not persisting enough, as she once had, and the profession overall is not meeting younger professionals’ salary expectations.

PICPA’s research at least partially supports the latter. Cryder said PICPA talked extensively to state students about their choices to major in accounting and pursue CPA licensure.

“The theme that came across very clearly,” she said, “was that candidates did not see the return in time invested to becoming a CPA. Our profession has a really important place of public trust, where you have to go through several steps to become a CPA.”

Lisa Myers, Managing Partner at Camp Hill-based accounting firm Boyer & Ritter, said the key lies in making those steps more appealing to business students with other options.

“It’s not that people don’t want to become accountants,” Myers said. “There’s an uptick in enrollment in the colleges and universities in business management. But within that body of students, only 1 in 8 will go into accounting – and that is because other choices have come in to compete.”

Enter Act 27

CPA advocates hope legislation like Pennsylvania’s Act 27, which provides a second route to licensure, helps bridge the gap. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the act into law on June 30.

“We think this alternative pathway will go a long way toward helping with this issue,” Cryder said.

Under Act 27, candidates can now qualify with a bachelor’s degree, two years of work experience, and passage of the CPA exam. Previously, the requirement was 150 credit hours, passage of the exam, and one year of experience — effectively pushing many toward a master’s degree. The new law also extends the window to pass all four parts of the exam from 18 to 30 months.

“None of what we’re talking about here should be construed as lowering the bar,” Cryder said. “We need to maintain rigor. But this gets workers into the workforce sooner. Candidates told us that spending another year in school was a burden, because you’re not only paying tuition but also sacrificing wages.”

Pennsylvania is one of the first states to implement the change, though similar legislation is expected nationwide. That uniformity matters, Cryder said, “because it maintains mobility, which allows CPAs to practice across state lines.”

Employer Enticements, Early Impact

While Cryder cautioned it’s too early to gauge Act 27’s effect, companies like Boyer & Ritter are already seeing signs.

Instead of pursuing his master’s, one Boyer & Ritter intern who recently finished his senior year joined the firm full-time, committing to two years of work experience while capitalizing on Act 27 to pursue licensure.

“We got a full-time hire quicker because of Act 27,” Myers said. “He wanted to be a CPA as soon as possible, and this was his route. Plus, he has a lot more disposable income.”

But the firm is not relying on Act 27 alone.

“We view the CPA pipeline challenge not just as a staffing issue, but as a strategic opportunity to reimagine how we support clients through our next-level advisory services,” Myers said. “We think that will help us attract people seeking to evolve with the profession.”

Like other firms, it has been aggressive in attracting and keeping top talent with higher pay, enhanced benefits, recruitment, and incentives such as exam-passing bonuses, paid prep courses, added PTO, and recruitment bonuses.

Boyer & Ritter even employs a full-time campus talent acquisition specialist — once reserved for the Big Four accounting firms, who boast hundreds of thousands of employees (Boyer & Ritter has 130).

“You can have aggressive recruitment, but if you don’t have the compensation and benefits, it doesn’t matter,” Myers said. “We want to get people in, show them it can be a great career, and keep them a long time. That’s a different perspective than public accounting even 15 or 20 years ago.”

Still Packs a Punch

The CPA designation still opens all sorts of doors, Lalvani said.

“Doors to becoming a CFO,” she said. “Doors to serving on nonprofit boards that need financial oversight, to being involved in for-profit boards, and to giving back to the community.”

A recent study from StudentChoice.org speaks to the ongoing power of an accounting degree. It finds a whopping 261% return on investment on the degree after accounting graduates’ first five years in the work force.

Myers is hardly surprised. She emphasized the continued need for real people – with real skills developed through rigorous training and qualifying standards – to serve clients as CPAs. Despite automation and AI, Myers stressed, accounting remains a people profession.

“AI will replace data entry, but not the high-level advisory roles,” she said. “Our clients need guidance. That’s not what AI is going to do. That’s what accountants are still going to have to do.”

So, for the next generation of CPAs, the issue may not be proving the profession’s value — but seizing the new opportunity to enter it.