The Power of Purpose: How an Accounting Career Can Support Your Passions

Although the cadence of work appears to have reverted to pre-pandemic levels, several recent studies highlight a subtle but significant shift in the American workforce: the employee mindset. Instead of weighing job opportunities based on pay and benefits, job seekers today are prioritizing roles that provide a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.

Earlier this year, Gartner released “The Human Deal Framework,” a study that suggests the pandemic prompted many to reevaluate the connection between their career choices and personal principles. According to the study, employees are seeking jobs that closely mirror their personal values and provide deeper connections with people, greater autonomy, opportunities for personal growth, holistic well-being, and a shared sense of purpose. Another survey of Gen Z workers, conducted by Monster.com, found that 70% of respondents ranked purpose as more important than pay.

“You could call it the ‘Great Reflection,’” said Caitlin Duffy, research director in Gartner’s HR practice, in a recent press release. “The intent to leave or stay in a job is only one of the things that people are questioning as part of the larger human story we are living.”

The accounting profession is no stranger to this workforce shift. Stakeholders have long been looking for ways to build a stronger pipeline of certified public accountants (CPAs) and attract younger generations to the accounting profession—one way is by changing perceptions of the profession itself. According to a July 2023 study from the Center for Audit Quality and Edge Research that surveyed about 1,400 undergraduate business students and recent graduates, the most common reason students said they didn’t major in accounting is that they didn’t find it interesting.

While accounting is often perceived as a field of just taxes and busy seasons, many young professionals are disproving this myth, demonstrating how the profession can create pathways to pursue personal passions. Here, six CPAs share how they’ve purposefully pursued, and successfully found, personal meaning in their work, and what organizations can do to help others in the profession find the same.

A Passion for Teaching

Julia Ariel-Rohr, CPA, Ph.D., started her career at a large public company as part of its finance and accounting rotational program, and then spent a few years at Grant Thornton before leaving the business world for academia. These days, she’s an assistant professor of accounting at DePaul University. As she looks back at her professional journey, she says her career was always driven by three goals: to impact lives, to constantly learn, and to give back to an institution that felt like home.

“There’s nothing as fulfilling as teaching students a skill like accounting that’ll enable them to thrive,” Ariel-Rohr says. “One thing I love about teaching a technical skill like accounting is the upward mobility such a degree can provide for students. I personally owe so much to the profession. It’s enabled me to work with amazing organizations and people, travel the world, buy a house, and even meet my spouse.”

Ariel-Rohr hopes to guide her students to blend accounting with their personal goals and interests. While a career in accounting can certainly fulfill everyday base needs, she stresses it’s also possible to find purpose and meaning in the field.

“There are so many opportunities for students with an accounting background. If you like sports, the Chicago Cubs organization needs auditors and accountants! If you care about the environment, there’s opportunities with organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Alliance for Great Lakes, or the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board,” Ariel-Rohr stresses.

Ariel-Rohr believes a sense of belonging and authenticity can influence day-to-day work and recommends that organizations actively consider and implement ways to genuinely support their employees. She suggests organizations establish mentorship and coaching opportunities and provide employees with more autonomy—both efforts can help lend ownership and purpose among employees.

“Following the Great Resignation, and accounting for the current shortage of accountants, focusing on a sense of belonging and purpose can have a great impact on reducing turnover and attracting talent,” Ariel-Rohr suggests.

A Love for Animals

In 2022, Morayma Barron, CPA, left her role as a senior tax consultant working with high-net-worth clients at a Big Four firm and transitioned into industry. In her current role, she serves as a senior accountant at Blue River Petcare, a Chicago-based private equity firm that provides back-end business support for a network of veterinary practices. This move enabled her to combine her love of animals with the opportunity to help people in a challenging industry.

“It’s extremely important to love what you do,” Barron says. “The more you love it, the more you’ll do to succeed. It’s just like the saying goes, ‘If you love your job, you’ll never work a day of your life.’”

Barron stresses that when personal values and interests align with day-to-day job responsibilities, employees will be internally motivated to continue learning and growing, which benefits both the employee and the employer.

“If people aren’t interested in their work, then work will just be viewed as that—work. It won’t be seen as an opportunity to grow, learn, and help others. The more our values and interests align with our work, the more exciting and enjoyable our job becomes,” Barron stresses.

Barron acknowledges that sometimes it’s difficult for employees to see outside of their day-to-day responsibilities. However, there are ways that employers can help their workforce find meaning and purpose in their roles. The first step, she says, is learning the difference between having a job and having a vocation.

“Companies can help employees identify how their jobs are more of a vocation. And if it truly isn’t that person’s vocation, companies can help employees transition to positions where they’d feel more sense of purpose,” Barron encourages.

Barron also suggests that companies can help facilitate volunteer opportunities for employees, which could help engage employees and foster a greater connection to their work and their community.

An Energy for Entrepreneurship

Andrew Coombs, CPA, MST, is the managing partner and CEO of Coombs CPA PC, a New Jersey-based accounting firm that he launched in 2018, which now serves almost 1,000 clients across a wide range of industries. This year, NJBiz Magazine named Coombs the sixth most powerful CPA in New Jersey.

Coombs knew early on that he wanted to be an entrepreneur and launch his own firm, partly because he wanted a certain level of autonomy that isn’t often found in larger organizations.

“A lot of times when you’re in a big corporation it’s about driving the bottom line. But there are other things that are more important than just making money. Whose life did you change? What kind of impact can you have?” Coombs asks.

Coombs established his firm in an underserved community about 20 minutes outside Manhattan, NY. Part of his personal mission is to improve financial literacy in the area and drive generational change.

“If you take 10 people here, nine of them probably don’t know what a CPA is or what they do. They don’t know what an audit is,” Coombs explains.

Coombs says his neighborhood is a community in progress, where most people think the only way to succeed is to play professional basketball or go into the entertainment business. Coombs, a former Loyola University basketball player, says the percentages for financial success are far greater if you consider pursuing other professions.

“I try to give people exposure to different things outside of the norm and show them different ways they can be successful and educate them on different professions, so they have a sense of hope,” Coombs says.

Two years ago, Coombs led a homeownership seminar and taught attendees how to invest in real estate.