Returnships: Could They Be the Answer to Attracting and Retaining Accounting Talent?

Finding and retaining talent continues to be one of the greatest management challenges plaguing the accounting profession. Over the years, firms have served up various solutions to the crisis, including more pay, remote work, flexible arrangements, and employee wellness benefits, just to name a few. But, perhaps, not all the stops have been pulled out quite yet.

Across other industries, for example, one retention tool has been growing in popularity: returnships, a short-term engagement for professionals who want to reenter the workforce after an extended period of time.

According to Path Forward, a nonprofit that empowers and connects people with returnships and job opportunities, “returnships bridge the gap between employers and highly qualified returners.”

The highly qualified returners, of course, being largely women and underrepresented groups who often bear the brunt of child care and caregiving responsibilities that force them to leave the workforce for extended periods of time. In fact, Path Forward reports on their website that “caregiving is the leading reason why prime working-age people aren’t active in the workforce, and they’re mainly women by a 12:1 ratio.”

Notably, big companies, like Amazon, Chevron, IBM, PepsiCo, and Wells Fargo, have implemented returnship programs with success. For example, in an April 2024 Worklife article, PepsiCo attributes retaining its female leadership, in part, due to its returnship program. Further, since their program’s initial launch in 2022, PepsiCo has nearly doubled the number of returnships it offers, and in 2023, the company had 97% retention of over 200 female leaders in their south division.

Despite success in other industries, returnships within the accounting profession are still few and far between—but why? Here, experts share why more CPA firms should consider leveraging these programs as a means to help turn the talent retention tide.

Returnships In Action

One of the few returnships in the accounting profession can be found at Big Four firm Deloitte, which has actually worked to improve its program over the last couple of years.

Launched in 2015, the firm’s Encore program was first piloted to allow professionals who had a break from employment to join the workforce through an internship. In 2022, however, Deloitte decoupled from the short-term nature of the experience and now offers the program for full-time employment.

Anjali Sinha, national talent acquisition lead at Deloitte, says the program is designed to enable professionals to return to work with confidence by offering opportunities to improve skills in a client service environment.

“Professionals who voluntarily leave the workforce can find that going back to work is daunting,” Sinha says. “Encore is structured to enable a smooth transition through accelerated learning to help refresh skills and provide mentoring, coaching, and a personalized development plan.”

Further, Sinha says Encore participants are given opportunities to learn from each other and network with other Deloitte professionals.

Deloitte’s program has been hugely successful, as shown through numerous testimonials of employees who leveraged the program to reintegrate into the workforce after a break. That includes Marsha Waters, who decided to become a stay-at-home mom in 2011. In 2015, after Waters’ youngest child began elementary school, she was ready to return to the workforce.

“After looking at openings on the Deloitte job site, I found the Encore program, and it seemed like a perfect fit, so I applied,” Waters says in a Deloitte 2019 blog post. “It allowed me to reenter the workforce without having to respond to those questions about the gaps in my resume due to my time at home with the children, and it also took away the stigma sometimes associated with stepping away from the workforce.”

Throughout the course of her career, Sinha has watched returnships evolve over time across all industries, closely tracking how many are available to support professionals who would like to return to work. In 2014, she says she only knew of four. Today, there are over 100. “The list will continue to grow,” Sinha stresses.

A Harder Landscape in Accounting

While Sinha is hopeful more CPA firms will jump on returnship offerings, some experts argue that there are roadblocks that make these programs harder to replicate within the profession.

“While returnships are common in many industries, they’re not as prevalent in accounting,” says Travis C. Hunter Jr., office managing partner at KPMG LLP’s Chicago office. “In accounting, there’s a need to maintain professional certifications and stay up to date with the ever-changing regulatory landscape—and staying current with these changes during an extended leave can be challenging.”

Because of these obstacles, Hunter says KPMG doesn’t currently offer a formal returnship program, but they do value the diverse experiences and perspectives that professionals returning from a career break can bring: “We offer a supportive environment to help them transition back into the workforce, including flexible work arrangements, mentorship programs, and tailored training to enhance relevant skills and knowledge.”

Path Forward agrees with Hunter on the aforementioned challenges, noting that “they don’t see a lot of returnships in the CPA profession due to the difficulty of maintaining a license during a career break.” However, in 2023, Path Forward partnered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to offer a 24-week paid returnship—The PCAOB Path Back to Work Program—where returning employees inspect public company audits.

A Push Forward

Hunter stresses that promoting more returnships in the accounting profession will require a concerted effort from all stakeholders to build more flexible pathways for maintaining certification during career breaks and ensuring that their environments are supportive for those looking to return.

Amber Sarb, CPA, audit senior manager at RSM US LLP, agrees with Hunter on this approach. While RSM doesn’t have a formal returnship program in place, Sarb has closely followed returnships in other industries due to the nature of their flexibility.

“Being a working mother of two, a six-year-old and two-year-old right now, I can absolutely see the benefit,” Sarb says. “The more accounting firms can be outside of the box, the better chance we have at attracting and retaining talent.”

Sarb notes that, for women, taking a career break leaves a lot of uncertainty and concerns for their future.

“It’s a very hard decision as a working mom to decide if you want to proceed with working, or if you want to take some time off during those formative years,” Sarb stresses. “But at the end of the day, you’re also concerned about your ability to come back.”

Beyond returnships, flexibility, in general, will remain key for employers to stay competitive.

While many people leave their employers and careers behind to tend to personal duties outside of work, many simply leave due to sheer burnout. In fact, the Illinois CPA Society’s Insight Special Feature, “Righting Retention,” reports survey findings that show nearly 49% of employees in the accounting and finance profession voluntarily leave their employers because of “too many hours/burnout,” and nearly 48% leave because of a “lack of work-life balance.”

Sarb thinks returnships, paired with greater flexibility, could help bring some of those people back. Before she was pregnant, Sarb admits burnout played a role in her thinking about leaving the profession entirely. She reached out to her firm to request a change. Her firm responded with, “We want you to stay.” That meant allowing Sarb to go to a remote, part-time workload in 2016.

Overall, with firms competing over a limited talent pool of highly qualified professionals, Sarb points to the ultimate benefit of what a returnship could do for those willing to think outside of the box.

“We all know that it’s so hard to get experienced talent,” Sarb says. “Personally, I would gladly welcome back somebody who’s been out of the workforce for four or five years but who’s done the job I need done in the past. I feel like I could onboard them just as quick, if not quicker, than someone brand new.”

She continues: “As long as both sides can get on board with what it looks like and what the end goal should be, I think returnships and a formalized structure of flexibility seem like excellent ways to help retain talent and attract talent to transition back in the workforce.”

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