美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Indicator from Planet Money: What happens when there aren't enough CPAs?

The Indicator¹ from Planet Money: What happens when there aren't enough CPAs?

Transcript²

Nearly all professions are hurting for workers. That includes accounting³ firms in need of certified⁴ public accountants, who are responsible for tasks from balancing the books to fraud probes.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Waiters, lifeguards, airline pilots, all professions hurting for workers - also, certified public accountants. CPAs earn a special license⁵ that gives them a kind of accounting superpower, like being able to audit⁶ publicly traded companies. Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma from our daily economics podcast The Indicator look at the CPA crunch⁷ and what the industry is doing about it.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE⁸: Believe it or not, there's actually a news site for millennial⁹ and Gen Z public accountants. It's called Going Concern. And for years, it has been banging the drum on the CPA labor¹⁰ shortage. Adrian Gonzalez is managing editor there.

ADRIENNE GONZALEZ: It's almost like there was a accounting rapture¹¹, and accountants just kind of disappeared overnight.

WAILIN WONG, BYLINE: Adrienne says at first it seemed like that misery¹² was limited to what's known as the Big Four accounting firms - Deloitte, Ernst and Young, KPMG and PwC. But now all kinds of businesses are feeling the pain.

MA: Adrienne has been hearing from smaller accounting firms, too, that they have had to turn away clients or raise prices. And all this has had an impact on small and medium businesses that rely on those accountants to, you know, help them with tax filings and advising them on accounting rules.

WONG: And when it comes to the Big Four firms, the ones that do the audits¹³ for a lot of big public corporations - you know, making sure all their financial reporting is on the up and up - the CPA shortage could compromise the quality of these complex audits.

MA: And you know who really cares about the integrity of these audits? The Securities and Exchange Commission. They regulate public companies, so they take the work of CPAs very seriously. In fact, a few weeks ago, the SEC hit Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four accounting firms, with a $100 million fine. And that's because the SEC said accountants at the firm cheated on the exams they needed to maintain their licenses¹⁴.

WONG: Now, maintaining those licenses, along with, you know, grueling hours, it gets at some of the reasons why college students may be shying away from accounting careers.

KRISTIN GAYOSO: There were days where I would start at 7, 8 a.m. And I would work until 3 a.m.

WONG: Kristin Gayoso is a CPA who started her career at a Big Four firm.

GAYOSO: The scary thing is, when you work in public accounting, if you take your salary and divide it by the hours that you're working, a lot of times you're making below minimum wage.

MA: Of course, there are a lot of jobs in the finance industry that demand long hours from junior employees. But people who work in accounting, they say that their starting salaries are often lower than those other jobs. And the salaries have been kind of stagnant¹⁵ for years.

WONG: The Big Four firms are responding to the conversation around compensation and burnout. KPMG, for example, announced a $160 million investment in salary increases. PwC, it gave its entire firm 5% raises this year and expanded parental¹⁶ leave and access to mental health services.

MA: The companies are also trying to, like, poach future accountants from other majors like computer science and data analytics. Adrienne Gonzalez of Going Concern, she says that could help modernize¹⁷ the profession in some exciting ways.

GONZALEZ: Where the talent shortage will not be as critical because the technology is starting to kind of pick up the slack and all that.

WONG: And that technology she's talking about, it's automating¹⁸ the most tedious parts of the job. All that administrative¹⁹ paper pushing, that can now be done with software, which means CPAs could be freed up for more creative problem-solving work, you know, the fun stuff.

MA: Adrian Ma.

WONG: Wailin Wong, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

7 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 millennial   

一千年的，千福年的

参考例句：

• Both Russia and America looked to the future to fulfill their millennial expectations. 俄国和美国都把实现他们黄金时代的希望寄托于未来。
• The millennial generation is celebrating the global commons every day, apparently unmindful of Hardin's warning. 千禧一代显然对哈丁的警告不以为然，每天都在颂扬全球“公地”。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 rapture   

n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜

参考例句：

• His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
• In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地，被他父亲打断了。

12 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

13 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

14 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

15 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

16 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

17 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

18 automating   

（使）自动化( automate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Have you ever thought about automating any part of your business? 你有没有想过把你公司的某个部门自动化？
• We are in process of automating the production department. 我们正在对生产部门实行自动化。

19 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。