Stories from Practice

6 May 2019

‘Auditor for a Day’ attracts young professionals by Javier Quintana from ICJCE

Javier Quintana, the director general of the Instituto de Censores Jurados de Cuentas de España (ICJCE), talks about their initiative to attract young people to the audit profession by giving them a valuable day out they’ll never forget.

Making auditor an appealing career choice

In Spain, there is a war for talent in the labour market, especially in attracting and keeping younger people. We are in a critical moment where the best university students or the most brilliant recent graduates have doubts of becoming auditors. The accountancy profession here has an old-fashioned image working long hours with outdated technology and no personal life.

But this isn’t the reality. Audit is changing rapidly, becoming a dynamic and sophisticated profession that holds a lot of promise for younger generations who crave new ways of working, and we want to show this to them. Through our ‘Auditor for a Day’ initiative we’re trying to change the way young people view the profession.

A day in the life

A day spent in the audit division of participating firms was our method to show young people the modern audit profession. The firms could also meet young talent and explain how their futures would be if they joined the company.

The younger generation wants to work closely with technological disruption, they want innovation, to work in strong teams, to work flexibly. A day embedded in an audit team – meeting clients, seeing how different businesses operate, seeing how sophisticated technology is being deployed during an audit, the level of analysis that’s being done, and the importance given to team work – is an opportunity to cast off the old image and dispel misconceptions about the modern audit profession.

We started the initiative in Madrid and Cataluña in 2007 and 3 more regions joined in the last two years. Over 1,100 students and graduates from 20 university partners have taken part in our project so far. They have been hosted by Spanish firms of all sizes.

And it’s working. Many people who have already attended ‘Auditor for a Day’ have gone on to join that firm in their audit departments. We’re working to enlarge the initiative and roll it out across all Spanish regions so it can become a reference, an inspiration for young people to become auditors.

 


Connect with
the author on 

Related content

Stories from PracticeDigitalising the accountancy profession: what role for young professionals?

31 May 2021

PodcastGet your seat at the top table

5 March 2021

PodcastWithout human capital, there is no capital

19 February 2021

NewsThe most in-demand accounting specialty today? Having none at all.

4 January 2021

EventYoung Professionals Day 2020

16 November 2020

Stories from PracticeDeveloping a values-driven workplace in Romania

6 January 2020

BlogWhy the accountancy profession attracts young talents

16 September 2019

PageOur members’ initiatives for young professionals

11 June 2019

PublicationMembers’ initiatives for young professionals

28 November 2018

Stories from practiceMentoring: taking professional development to the next level

16 April 2018

Stories from practiceShaping the accountancy leaders of tomorrow

19 February 2018

In the mediaKatherine Ritchie CA on Young Professionals Day

19 December 2017

EventAccountancy Europe Young Professionals Day

5 December 2017

PublicationKeeping the audit profession attractive

18 July 2017

PublicationEthics: some views from young professional accountants

28 September 2016

PublicationEuropean young accountancy professionals, let your voice be heard!

7 January 2016

PublicationThe Future of Professional Organisations

18 December 2013

Press releaseFEE releases survey on practical experience in EU accountants’ education systems

16 September 2008

Sign up for our newsletter

* indicates required
Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?
On which topics would you like to receive news?