Culture is the New Salary: Building a Gen Z-Ready Firm

Welcome to the First Issue!

Thanks for joining Rollforwards — the weekly briefing for assurance professionals who want to stay sharp, lead smarter, and plan better.

Every week, you’ll get:

• Free CPE course alerts

• New AI and tech tools for audit/firm life

• Management strategies for people, process, and clients

• Thought-starters to help you lead with intention

Let’s kick things off with one of the most pressing challenges facing firms today…

🎯 This Week’s Focus
How Do You Attract and Retain Gen Z Employees in Your Firm?

If you're running or managing a public accounting firm, you're already feeling it:
📉 Applications are down.
😓 Entry-level hires are ghosting.
🧳 Promising juniors are leaving after 1 busy season.

This isn’t just a recruiting issue — it’s a firm survival issue. And most firms are still using 2005 solutions to solve a 2025 problem.

So, what does Gen Z actually want — and how do you build a firm they’ll want to build with you?

💬 Understanding Gen Z
They are Not Lazy, but Just Different

First, a mindset shift: Gen Z isn’t less ambitious. They’re just playing a different game.

Born between 1997 and 2012, they:

• Grew up with Google, YouTube, and TikTok as teachers

• Lived through COVID at formative career stages

• Are deeply aware of burnout and mental health

• Value freedom, flexibility, and impact over prestige

In short, they’re not anti-work. They’re just anti-bullsh*t.

🛠️ 5 Practical Ways to Attract + Retain Gen Z in Assurance Firms

1. Reframe Your Purpose

Don’t just sell audit work. Sell the mission.

2. Flexibility > Fancy Offices

The pandemic changed everything. If your firm still enforces rigid in-office schedules without strong rationale, you’re losing candidates before the second interview.

Let flexibility be default. Offer:

• Remote onboarding done right

• Asynchronous review cycles where possible

• Results > timecards

3. Growth Must Be Obvious and Ongoing

Gen Z craves clear development paths and fast feedback.
Implement:

• Shorter feedback loops (weekly check-ins > annual reviews)

• Learning budgets — including non-CPE courses like tech, writing, design

• Peer mentorship systems, not just partner talks

4. Modernize the Tech Stack

They don’t want to work in a firm that still faxes engagement letters.

Make sure you're using:

• Modern project management tools (Notion, ClickUp, or Karbon)

• Cloud-based audit tools

• Generative AI assistants (see next issue 👀)

And if you can’t upgrade fast, at least acknowledge the gaps and show a plan to evolve.

5. Pay Attention to Culture Signals

Gen Z notices what you celebrate, tolerate, and ignore.
Ask yourself:

• Do we reward overtime or efficiency?

• Are our firm leaders visible and human?

• Is DEI something we post about once a year or build into decisions?

📚 Resources to Go Deeper

🧠 What Gen Z Wants at Work — Harvard Business Review
🎧 Podcast: Leading Gen Z in Accounting
🎓 Free CPE: “Bridging the Generation Gap in the Workplace” – NASBA (2 credits)
📘 [PDF Toolkit] Coming Soon: Rollforwards Gen Z Readiness Checklist

🔁 Real Talk
Will They Stay?

Here’s the hard truth: even if you attract Gen Z talent, retention is earned, not assumed.

They’ll leave if:

• There’s no flexibility

• Their voice isn’t heard

• You treat "staff" like second-class citizens

• The only career path leads to burnout

But they’ll stay if:

• You invest in their growth

• You lead with vision

• You build a culture of trust, not hierarchy

And if they leave well? They refer others. They boomerang back. They become your allies.

💬 Closing Thought

🔜 Coming Up in Next Week’s Issue

🎯 3 CPE courses that help you stay audit-ready
🔍 Tool Review: What AI can actually do (and not do) in assurance
📘 Guide: What goes into a modern firm quality manual (and how to update yours)

Thanks again for being here. Forward this issue to a colleague who’s hiring right now. They’ll thank you.

— The Rollforwards Team