Whether or not you are a CPA, if you used to work in a standard office setting pre-pandemic, you may be wondering if your firm or company will loosen its standard dress code. If you are in a public accounting space, a typical office attire used to be business casual. Sometimes you could wear jeans on Fridays, for example, during summer months. 

Now that many of us are returning from our remote work-arrangements, we all want to know whether employers will loosen their standard dress codes to allow what I call a “casual professional attire.”

Last year proved that dressing up in a suit every day doesn’t make you any more successful. In fact, we all got our jobs done and done well while dressed in our sweatshirts, “zoom” shirts and even pajamas.

Casual professional attire combines comfort, style, and demonstrates professionalism at the same time. This lingering image of a CPA wearing a dull suit of neutral colors should be a thing of the past. Casual professional attire reflects current state of accounting profession. Profession that is driven by data analytics and financial expertise. Profession that doesn’t end with debits and credits. 

Simply put, nobody should be required to dress up in a suit anymore.