CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR TAX & FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS

Fostering the Future: How to Coach and Develop Younger CPAs

Western CPE Staff

The accounting profession’s talent pipeline is narrowing. According to the AICPA’s 2025 Trends Report, total accounting degree completions fell from roughly 79,000 in 2014–15 to approximately 55,000 in 2023–24—a decline of about 30%. Master’s completions dropped even more sharply, falling close to 38% over a similar period. Meanwhile, the number of new CPA candidates has been cut nearly in half since 2010. There are some enrollment trends that indicate a recovery in the industry’s numbers is coming down the pipeline, but this recovery will take time. The firms that thrive in the future will be the ones that develop and retain the people they already have.

Different Generations, Different Expectations

Millennial and Gen Z professionals tend to prioritize advancement opportunities, flexibility, and purpose-driven work. A PwC report on millennial women found that opportunities for career growth ranked as the single most important factor younger workers seek in an employer, edging out compensation. That doesn’t mean pay and benefits are irrelevant—they absolutely still matter—but they function more as a baseline expectation than a long-term motivator. Recognition, autonomy, and a clear path forward are what keep younger professionals engaged over time.

A one-size-fits-all approach to managing staff doesn’t work when your team spans multiple generations with fundamentally different views on communication, feedback, and professional development. Even recruiting looks different now—Gen Z candidates, for example, respond well to organized, activity-based recruiting events with a prompt follow-up, while slow response times or negativity about competitors can push them away quickly.

Coaching Is Not One-Size-Fits-All

Effective supervisors in accounting firms adjust their coaching approach based on where a staff member is in their development. A first-year associate tackling their initial audit engagement needs something very different from a senior who has the technical skills but lacks confidence in leading a team. Getting this wrong—micromanaging someone who is ready for more autonomy or stepping back too far from someone who still needs structured guidance—creates frustration on both sides and can accelerate turnover.

There are four coaching styles that supervisors can draw from, each suited to different circumstances:

Directive: Provides detailed instructions, close monitoring, and firm deadlines. Best suited for newer staff or high-risk engagements.
Influencing: Maintains structured oversight but layers in emotional support, encourages questions, and invites input on the approach. This works well for staff who are developing their skills and still need their confidence built up.
Collaborative: This focuses on sharing responsibility and generating solutions together. This can help experienced staff who are disengaged.
Delegating: Gives experienced, self-motivated professionals the space to own their work with minimal oversight. The supervisor remains available but steps back from day-to-day direction.

Knowing these styles exist is a starting point. It will still be up to you to accurately read each situation and employ the coaching style that best applies. Having a default coaching style that you lean into limits your ability to shift with the needs of your team, causing an erosion in the trust you need for retaining your best people. Staying flexible with how you lead can make a huge difference in the work of your younger staff, and it can turn you into an incredibly effective mentor.

Developing Talent with Constructive Feedback

Feedback can be tricky. Depending on how it’s delivered, you can put staff on the defensive. Worse yet, avoiding giving feedback altogether can make staff feel directionless. Neither approach serves the firm or the employees. Lead with a specific observation of the work rather than the character of the employee. Telling someone what you observed and the impact it had on the engagement or the team opens a conversation.

That distinction is just one piece of a larger feedback process that includes collaborating on action steps and setting clear expectations for follow-through. Feedback should be framed as an investment in someone’s growth rather than a reprimand. It builds trust—and trust is what keeps people at a firm long enough to become your next generation of leaders.

Fostering the Future

With fewer graduates entering the profession each year, every professional already inside your firm becomes more valuable. The AICPA’s own pipeline recommendations recognize this, identifying the employee experience as one of six key focus areas for strengthening the profession’s future. Developing younger CPAs is going to be crucial to firm longevity. Firms that invest in coaching and mentoring build deeper benches of experienced talent, reduce the costs of turnover and onboarding, and create the kind of culture that attracts top candidates in a shrinking market.

The good news is that these skills—adapting your coaching style, delivering effective feedback, and understanding what motivates different generations—are learnable. You can start developing these skills with courses designed for your personal development: