As accounting firms across the country continue to navigate a changing workforce, Maxwell Locke & Ritter’s incoming leading partner Lesley Hargraves recently joined Accounting Today for a conversation about one of the profession’s most pressing issues: where firms will find, develop, and retain the talent they need for the future.
Hargraves participated in panel as part of the publication’s 2026 Firm Talent Virtual Summit.
The discussion brought together accounting firm leaders and industry professionals to explore how firms are responding as traditional recruiting pipelines shrink and competition for experienced accounting professionals increases.
Looking Beyond the Traditional Talent Pipeline
The accounting profession’s talent challenges extend beyond recruiting new graduates. Firms are also considering how to retain experienced professionals, develop future leaders, create meaningful career opportunities, and build workplaces where employees want to stay.
For decades, the firm has taken a different approach to recruiting than many traditional public accounting firms. Rather than building its teams primarily through large classes of entry-level hires, ML&R focuses heavily on hiring experienced professionals who have already spent several years in public accounting.
It is an approach Hargraves has seen work throughout her own career at ML&R.
In a previous conversation with Accounting Today, Hargraves noted that ML&R’s adoption of the model raised questions among peers, particularly because it differed from the traditional approach.
“I think in the beginning, decades ago, they thought we were crazy,” Hargraves told Accounting Today in its recent feature on the accounting profession’s “missing middle.”
Today, the model remains an important part of how ML&R builds its teams and serves its clients.
Recruiting Talent Is Only Part of the Equation
The Accounting Today panel also explored an important question for firms facing a competitive talent market: What happens after talented professionals join the organization?
Recruiting may bring people through the door, but developing and retaining them requires a culture where professionals can continue learning, ask questions, take on new challenges, and see a meaningful path forward in their careers.
That philosophy aligns closely with ML&R’s approach.
Experienced professionals who join the firm have opportunities to expand their skills across projects, technical issues, industries, and client relationships. At the same time, the firm benefits from professionals who have already experienced public accounting and have intentionally chosen to continue building their careers in the profession.
For Hargraves, conversations about the accounting talent pipeline are also conversations about the future of the firm.
As the profession continues to change, attracting talented people will remain important. Equally important will be continuing to foster an environment that gives those professionals reasons to stay, grow, lead, and build long-term careers.
Preparing the Profession for What Comes Next
There may not be a single solution to the accounting profession’s talent challenges. Different firms will continue to explore new recruiting channels, staffing structures, technology, development opportunities, and workplace models.
For ML&R, the firm’s approach demonstrates the value of understanding the types of professionals who thrive within its culture and the value of being intentional about creating an environment where they can build their careers.
Hargraves’ participation in Accounting Today’s panel offered an opportunity to bring that perspective to a broader industry conversation as accounting firms rethink what the talent pipeline of the future should look like.
