Another month-end, another stack of unreconciled accounts—and still no one to close them. Bachelor’s accounting completions fell 7.8% between the 2019–20 and 2021–22 academic years, wiping nearly 5,000 would-be staffers off the ledger, AICPA data show. Add 10,000 Boomers retiring every day and the faucet feeding your talent pool has slowed to a drip.

The gap hits the P&L fast. Sixty-six percent of senior finance leaders told Protiviti they can’t hire qualified talent, and Business Talent Group logged a 46% surge in interim-CFO requests last year. Vacant seats push close calendars late, cash-flow forecasts wobble, and partners spend nights reshuffling workloads instead of courting new mandates. Hours go unbilled, morale dips, and growth stalls.

A registered CPA apprenticeship offers a way out. Think of it as an earn-and-learn track: entry-level candidates split time between billable client work and structured study that counts toward the 150-hour rule in states piloting the model with AICPA and NASBA backing. Alabama’s pilot reports apprentices hit billable breakeven in four months and cut per-hire costs by 25%, with retention outpacing campus recruits. Map concrete deliverables—system closes, cash-flow modeling, board-ready decks—to each apprentice’s learning plan and senior advisors are freed for higher-margin strategy inside a year, even though full licensure still takes two to three. Ready to build your own bench? Download our apprenticeship-framework template or ask your state society whether a pilot is live in your jurisdiction.

How Doc Cheetah Solves This

Losing 5,000 graduates and thousands of seasoned pros hasn’t just shrunk your bench—it has shrunk the number of human hours available to move month-end, tax prep, and onboarding work across the finish line. Apprenticeships help, but even the sharpest apprentice can’t make up for the two-plus hours every senior and manager still wastes each day chasing bank statements, receipts, and W-2s. That manual “document hunt” is the silent capacity killer behind blown close calendars and late-night fire drills.

Doc Cheetah gives you those hours back—instantly—so the staff you do have (and the apprentices you’re grooming) can focus on higher-margin analysis instead of inbox ping-pong.

What happens when the cheetah does the chasing?

• Magic-Link Uploads — Clients receive a secure, one-click link via email or SMS. No portals, no passwords, no excuses. Average turnaround time drops from days to hours.

• Smart Checklists & Templates — Build reusable request lists for month-end, tax, or onboarding in minutes. Assign due dates, attach examples, and hit “send.” Every apprentice and senior now follows the same airtight process—no hand-holding required.

• Automated Reminder System — Gentle nudges escalate automatically until every file is in. Your team never has to write a “just checking in” email again.

• Real-Time Progress Tracker — A single dashboard shows who’s submitted what, across every engagement. Spot bottlenecks before they blow up your close calendar.

• OCR Auto-Filing — Documents land in the right client folder with the right name, automatically. Goodbye, chaotic attachments; hello, audit-ready order.

The result:

• +2.5 hours reclaimed per staff member, per day—equivalent to hiring an extra employee without adding to payroll.
• 75–80% faster document collection, accelerating apprentices to billable work and seniors to advisory conversations.
• 30% greater firm capacity, so you can take on new clients even in a talent-scarce market.
• A modern, friction-free client experience that boosts satisfaction and retention.

Staffing shortages may be outside your control; the document chase isn’t. Plug Doc Cheetah into your workflow today, and turn every scarce hour you still have into profitable, proactive work.

Cpa Apprenticeship Programs: The Earn-And-Learn Solution To The Accounting Talent Shortage For Fractional Cfos