April 16, 2025
Extra Gen Zers are seeing the advantage of a profession in accounting.
A brand new era of accountants is serving to low-income households safe hundreds of thousands in tax refunds via the IRS VITA program.
Fortune reviews that Extra Gen Zers are selecting careers in finance and accounting as older CPAs close to retirement. Many college students are already stepping up by volunteering with the IRS Volunteer Revenue Tax Help (VITA) program, which helps low-income taxpayers file free of charge and save on pricey prep charges.
“Accounting is the science of the enterprise world,” says Alana Kelley, a junior at Oregon State College learning accounting and biohealth science.
Kelley has helped dozens of households file their taxes free of charge this tax season via her college’s VITA program. Final yr, greater than 280 CSUN college students helped over 9,000 low-income taxpayers safe almost $11 million in tax refunds and $3.6 million in tax credit—whereas additionally saving them over $2 million in tax prep charges.
There are even Gen Z college students exterior of enterprise majors—learning fields like laptop science, public well being, and psychology—who’re keen to affix the tax help program. The scholars work onerous to assist households in want, with some placing in lengthy hours—working from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.—to assist households navigate their returns and perceive how a lot they’re owed or could must pay.
The rise of Gen Z accountants alerts a shift because the trade grapples with a expertise scarcity. As soon as thought-about certainly one of America’s dullest jobs, the accounting area has seen 340,000 professionals depart up to now 5 years, with estimates suggesting that 75% of remaining accountants will retire within the subsequent decade. Nonetheless, Gen Z is recognizing the profitable potential of a profession in accounting.
“Whereas accounting could have a sure picture within the background amongst younger folks of being not as intriguing and thrilling, as soon as they really interact within the follow and see the way it performs out in an actual world, it modifications folks’s thoughts and views,” stated CSUN program’s present director, Rafael Efrat.
Along with serving to People get monetary savings, pupil volunteers are gaining worthwhile hands-on expertise that prepares them to excel of their careers and land six-figure salaries upon commencement. Working with purchasers who may need advanced tax conditions affords pupil volunteers real-world publicity that reinforces their confidence within the job.
“We throw the scholars into the water, basically, and allow them to swim, after which college students truly reside as much as the problem,” Efrat stated.
With extra Gen Zers prioritizing job safety over flexibility, accounting seems to be gaining traction as a promising profession path.
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