An already acute shortage of qualified accountants will worsen this year, and Irish businesses will struggle to recruit the talent they require, the president of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) will say this evening.
In his address at CAI's annual dinner on Friday night, Pat O'Neill will say that "the talent pipeline problem is clear right across the profession, from practices of all size to industry," and not just in Ireland, but around the world.
The challenges in attraction and retention of accountants has been driven by a "huge increase in competition" for accounting talent from non-accounting roles and also "a real gap in perception" of what accountants actually do.
“In speaking to students, many pursued accounting at third level despite, not because of, their experience at second level," O'Neill will say.
"Anecdotal feedback has been that many are turned off because of rote learning, the lack of breadth of what is taught and the need to unlearn and relearn concepts on transition to third level.”
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The number of people taking accounting at third level has fallen by over a quarter since the 2008 recession, and although the numbers studying accounting at second level have grown in recent years, major reforms to the Leaving Cert syllabus, which dates back to the 1990s, have yet to be made.
“As part of the Department’s planned programme of reform, we have seen brand new subjects such as Climate Action and Sustainable Development, in recognition of a changed world," O'Neill will say.
"Accounting has remained set in stone, essentially unchanged in 30 years, so it is little wonder that students don’t associate the profession with cutting edge areas like data analytics or sustainability reporting, both of which are huge growth areas for us.”
Anne Heraty, founder and former CEO of CPL Resources, who will also address the event, commented: "At a reasonably early stage in my career, I could see the emerging need for a specialised IT talent pool in the 1990s on this island.
"Ultimately it was the burgeoning tech industry, initially in Dublin, but later around the island, that advanced this change, and we now see an education system that recognises the value of skills like coding from an early age.
“In an ideal world, the second level syllabus will identify and meet the needs of a modern, international, and technologically advanced economy. It will produce school leavers who understand the applicability and potential of the subjects they learn at second level, in the real world.
"This will be a critical element in helping Ireland Inc to win the war for talent.”
(Pic: Getty Images)
