The new generation of CAs and CA students should fill us with hope for the future of the profession, says Poppy Collinson, Director of Business Development and Commercial

One of the key responsibilities of the business development and marketing teams is to look after the student pipeline. Put simply, how do we sell the CA as a career option to the next generation coming through?

There’s sometimes a degree of negativity towards Gen Z (roughly those born between 1997 and 2012) from their elders. Personally, I find them refreshing. Though I belong to a different age group, I believe it’s healthy for us to feel challenged by the newest wave coming through.

Look beneath the surface and younger CAs aren’t so different from those who preceded them. And when you take time to listen and break down what they say, you soon realise they care about the same things as senior CAs. They may use different terminology and be forthright in their opinions, but ultimately they care about ethical leadership. And they care about sustainability, both of a business’s finances and its environmental impact.

We should celebrate what we have in common and work across age groups to ensure that Gen Z bring their excitement and enthusiasm to the profession, while also demonstrating the value that experience brings. That’s the way to ensure chartered accountancy has a bright future.

When we attend careers fairs, or stage events at schools, colleges and universities, we consistently find ethical leadership and sustainability resonate most with young people. And audit – which affords an overview of a company’s sustainability, both financial and environmental – is becoming more attractive to them as a result.

“That desire to create change from within is one of the things that makes this generation exciting”

Enter the intrapreneur

Even within a single generation there will be differences from one end of the age spectrum to the other. A few years ago, there was a lot of focus on Gen Z’s entrepreneurial drive. Now, there’s a shift towards “intrapreneurs” – people who work within an organisation, but still carry that go-getting spirit. That desire to create change from within is one of the things that makes this generation exciting.

I got to meet some of the new generation as part of a panel sharing experiences with the incoming CA students at the first ever ICAS national induction ceremony, held at the EICC in September. I was blown away by their enthusiasm and energy. They came ready to receive the information about the career they are embarking on, and to be inspired. They were really fired up.

While those newly qualified CAs would’ve completed their training under the old syllabus, our latest cohort of students will be the first to work with the new syllabus from start to finish.

Anyone reading this knows having the letters CA is a right that has to be earned. The process is challenging. In the past, our lecturers would deliver content for the first time and work through its application with students. Inevitably, some students would struggle in certain areas.

The new Advantage platform, which fully launched in 2023, means we now have access to rafts of data through our interactive digital content, giving us a clear picture of the progress each student is making. In-centre time is now spent in workshops where students work in small groups, collaborating and discussing key topics. This gives our tutors great ability to assess any areas where students may be struggling and offer support.

We can reach out to anyone who shows signs of falling below expectations, whether in class or with the mocks and assessments, and offer them support.

We share that data with the employers, so they also have that real-time picture. That means if they have a trainee who, say, is succeeding at work but faring less well with their studies, they can talk about getting a better work-study balance. This is a world away from how previous generations of students became qualified CAs.

The ways we teach and interact with our students have significantly changed, but the core objective remains the same – to produce CAs who will maintain and uphold the highest professional standards. And with the new students coming forward, and the changes to the structure and substance of the training, I’m confident we have the right content and delivery model for the next generation to do just that.

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