The Gen-Z Auditor
Let’s start with defining terms. Generation Z is perhaps currently somewhat less exalted than older siblings, The Millennials, but as progeny of the late nineties and early noughties, their time is now. Their storming of the workplace has commenced; reader, you may be one! While this is not an academic piece, I do hate generalisation, so I took some of the sweeping characteristics of googled Gen Zs and played them back to some real-life twenty somethings. What follows is a consolidation of lived-experience interviews, suggesting what is really important to this cohort, aligned with what I can see might attract them to a Career in Audit.
Their World is Digital, Connected and Infinite.
Gen Z are the first to have never known life without the internet. This is huge! Literally! Gen Z have always had global reach; they are highly connected, know, and value, diversity in an almost infinite, boundaryless universe. The maturity of today’s technology means that they embrace and drive the diversification of digital media, with all its social, visual and unimagined possibilities. What an awesome backdrop to an audit career which demands big picture perspective, while zooming down into the minutiae of the specific, then panning back out again to appreciate context. As audit technology enters a new age with generative artificial intelligence, ever-pervasive automation and cloud collaboration, what better platform for the switched-on Gen Z cohort to hit the ground running.
Supported by Robust Boundary Setting and Independence.
In a global, digital world with little in the way of theoretical boundaries, Gen Z have figured out that surviving and thriving is dependent on personal boundary-setting. Often cited for their openness and frankness around mental health, they are not afraid to ask for what they need, and in fact, demand it by voting with their feet. This emphasis on mental wellbeing is sometimes conflated with a stereotype of high anxiety. One respondent explained “prone to anxiety conveys a sense of responsibility on the young people who are experiencing it…but it is really about the much broader issue of the sheer extent of challenges Gen Z face. These are completely unprecedented, our bodies and minds are not made to be able to cope with such an overload of communication, information and stress”. And this is where the boundary setting comes in; its pragmatic and protective, and suggests a high degree of individual agency and autonomy. For the employers of budding auditors, agency and autonomy present highly attractive competencies. In the workplace they deftly translate into ownership, accountability, initiative and independence. But employers (great and small) take heed. This is a two-way contract, organisations will need to plan strategically to ensure that they can respect the personal boundaries of Zeds, while exploiting their self-reliance and initiative.
Driven by Money and Ambition, and Sustainability
While some of the research suggests motivators of money and ambition, I have been taken to task on accepting this at face-value. More pointedly, I have been told that “Gen Z are concerned about the odds stacking up against them – inflation, housing crisis, uncertain and unpredictable job markets, rather than an outright pursuit of money for moneys sake”. Similarly, ambition might be re-framed to include a broader community consciousness and environmental aspiration. This is where an audit career can open many doors, directly, and indirectly, to public service careers. Indeed at the very heart of audit is the concept of serving stakeholders through independent scrutiny, in the pursuit of compliance and assurance. Audit is undoubtedly a force for good, serving the public’s interest in corporate or not-for-profit organisations, whether attending to financial, environmental or even wider sustainability concerns.
Eschewing Homogeneity, Embracing Diversity
And finally, and unsurprisingly, as a globally connected and educated generation, Zeds care about diversity. Not only do they care but they also, fundamentally, expect it, fuelled by peer values around equity, equality and inclusion in their widest representation. Thankfully, audit is seldom a silo occupation. While we would hope to demonstrate diversity and inclusion across audit-employing organisations, beyond this, the sheer gamut of audit stakeholders, clients and collaborators vigorously eschews the homogeneity trap!
Generation Z – your future is audit!