🍋 Accounting Going Outta Style

It looks like accounting is going out of style in 2023. More than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have said goodbye to their green visors in the past two years, a 17% decline. And the dwindling pool of college students entering the field can't fill the void.

January 03, 2023

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"Warren Buffett’s net worth is $84.5 billion. Of that, $84.2 billion was accumulated after his 50th birthday." — The Psychology of Money

Good Morning! 2023 could be a wild ride for the markets. The International Monetary Fund is predicting it to be even worse than last year but says the U.S. can save the world from recession if we can keep our labor market strong. The U.S. saw a 7.6% increase in holiday spending in 2022, despite high inflation.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, companies are practically begging their employees to stay by offering lavish salary increases, averaging around 5%. New York implemented a right of repair law to make repairs more affordable and comprehensive. And Americans are focusing on their financial resolutions, with building emergency savings being the most popular goal for the year. Here's hoping for a slightly less tumultuous 2023!

If you are interested in getting in front of a smart, young audience of business leaders, bankers, investment professionals, policy influencers of over 500,000 people, then fill out this form, we’ll be in touch.

1. Story of the Day: Accounting Going Outta Style

It looks like accounting is going out of style in 2023. More than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have said goodbye to their green visors in the past two years, a 17% decline. And the dwindling pool of college students entering the field can't fill the void.

But it's not just baby boomers retiring - even young professionals in their mid-twenties and mid-career professionals in their mid-fifties are fleeing the profession. Recruiters say they are moving into finance and technology jobs.

The shortage of accountants has led to salary bumps and temporary workers joining the sector, but it's not enough to fix the problem - even those who majored in accounting don't want to work in it. Students want to make more money upfront than many accounting firms are paying—and they are finding it in other industries.

With a decade-long economic boom creating new roles in sectors like banking and tech, top students straight out of college can make significantly more working for consulting outfits and banks, rival fields that are drawing quantitatively minded students away from accounting like a magnet.

Takeaway: Accounting may be reliable, but it's not exactly the most exciting career path out there. But if the job market starts to get a little tighter, we may see a surge in accounting majors flocking to Big Four jobs - a career in public accounting is considered relatively recession-proof.

2. Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower with 2022 being the worst year for stocks since 2008.

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Twilio stock had a year to forget 2022, down 82%.

If you are interested in modeling out where Twilio goes from here, Daloopa is giving away Twilio's detailed financial model to Short Squeez readers.

Top Reads

  • How the U.S. economy could escape a recession in 2023 (CNBC)

  • TV’s tough trajectory (Axios)

  • Troubles at Alameda began well before crypto crash (WSJ)

  • How new IRS changes can boost your paycheck (Axios)

  • How much money it takes to be middle class in 20 major U.S. cities (CNBC)

  • What can we learn from Barnes & Noble’s surprising turnaround (Substack)

  • The average salary each generation needs to feel financially secure (YF)

  • SBF to plead not guilty at his NYC arraignment (Fox)

  • How to know if your company’s layoff policy is a good one (CNBC)

  • Tesla reports record deliveries but misses estimates (Reuters)

4. Book of the Day: The Illusion of Control

Finance plays a key role in the prosperity of the modern world—but it also brings grave dangers.

We seek to manage those threats with a vast array of sophisticated mathematical tools and techniques of financial risk management.

Too often, though, we fail to address the greatest risk—the peril posed by our own behavior.

JĂłn DanĂ­elsson argues that critical risk is generated from within, through the interactions of individuals and perpetuated by their beliefs, objectives, abilities, and prejudices.

He asserts that the widespread belief that risk originates outside the financial system frustrates our ability to measure and manage it, and the likely consequences of new regulations will help alleviate small-scale risks but, perversely, encourage excessive risk taking.

DanĂ­elsson uses lessons from past and recent crises to show that diversity is the best way to safeguard our financial system.

“When we are healthy, wealthy and powerful, we forget about our mortality. It’s only when irreparable cracks set in that we come back to reality.”

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5. Short Squeez Picks

6. Daily Visual: A Year to Forget for the Stock Market

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Small Habits Make A Big Difference

“When we watch people make small choices, like ordering a salad at lunch instead of a burger, the difference of a few hundred calories doesn’t seem to matter much.

At the moment, that’s true.

These small decisions don’t matter all that much.

However, as days turn to weeks and weeks to months and months to years, those tiny repeatable choices compound.

Consider another example, saving a little money right now won’t make you a millionaire tomorrow.

But starting to save today makes it more likely you will become a millionaire in the future.”

8. Job Board

9. Memes of the Day

 

 

 

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