To encourage students to pursue a CPA, members would tell them that a CPA offers many opportunities, it is a good background for the business world, and it is an interesting and rewarding career. They would tell them that it is a good profession, that is financially rewarding and offers stability. They believe that people think CPAs have high integrity, are well-respected, intelligent, and professional. Many think the public associates the career with numbers and tax related work.
Members also think that they are stereotyped as boring and conservative.
Reasons given for not offering some of these services are that many of the members work in small companies and they do not have staff members who are qualified to handle providing extra services, nor do they see a need to offer more services. Some suggest that they cannot afford to expand, and some see a conflict of interest. Although the majority of members maintain their membership for the previously mentioned benefits, they are not more involved with the organization because of time constraints. Among the 58 members who think the Vision is very realistic or realistic, primary reasons mentioned for why they hold these opinions are that they think it is important for the profession to have goals, they also think it is needed for uniformity and for the profession to grow and change with the times. Members do not have a lot of time to spare, so these programs should be relatively short, perhaps a series of events that are shorter in length, rather than one that lasts many hours.