Icebreakers & Networking Games for Accountants: 10 Ideas for CPA Chapter Events

Accountants are great at conversations once they get going. The hard part is the first thirty seconds.

These 10 icebreakers and networking games give members a clear, low-pressure way to start — at networking nights, CPD seminar breaks, and chapter socials.

• CPD seminar break (10–15 min): Two-Question Swap or Speed Rounds
• Networking night (30–100 members): Find Someone Who or Career Path Bingo
• Large chapter event (100+): a phone-based game like Jam Bingo
• Seated dinner: Table Topics

• Clear rules and a clear goal — no vague 'mingle'
• One-on-one or small-group conversations, not performing for the room
• Professional prompts that go beyond 'where do you work?'
• Nothing that touches client information
• Fits in 10–30 minutes

Everyone gets two questions on a card. Find someone new, ask your questions, answer theirs, then swap cards and find someone else.

• Best for: CPD seminar breaks
• Time: 10–15 minutes
• Tip: Put career questions on one side, fun questions on the other

Three-minute conversations with a prompt on the screen, then switch partners. Three rounds is plenty.

• Best for: 20–80 members
• Time: 10–15 minutes
• Tip: Use a timer and a clear signal to switch

A list of prompts like 'Find someone who has worked in three different sectors' — each with a follow-up question.

• Best for: networking nights
• Time: 20–30 minutes
• Tip: Add prompts that send members across practice areas

A printed bingo card with squares like 'Started in audit' or 'Works in government.' Members collect a name in each square.

• Best for: 30–80 members
• Time: 20–30 minutes
• Tip: One square per person, so members meet more people

A discussion question on each dinner table: 'What's one skill you wish you'd learned earlier in your career?'

• Best for: seated dinners and galas
• Time: throughout the meal
• Tip: Mix firms at each table

In small groups, each person shares their funniest (non-confidential) busy season moment. Guaranteed laughs at a post-busy-season social.

• Best for: post-busy-season socials
• Time: 10–15 minutes
• Tip: Remind everyone — no client names

Pair members from different sectors — public practice with industry, government with not-for-profit — and give them three questions to ask each other.

• Best for: chapters with diverse members
• Time: 10–15 minutes
• Tip: Use colored name tag stickers by sector

Pair students or newly designated members with experienced members for short conversations about their careers.

• Best for: student nights and new member welcomes
• Time: 20–30 minutes
• Tip: Brief experienced members with a few questions to ask

At small tables, members share two true facts and one false one about their career path. The table guesses.

• Best for: tables of 4–8
• Time: 10–15 minutes
• Tip: Chapter leaders go first

Jam Bingo is a phone-based networking game. Members scan a QR code, get a prompt, find someone who fits it, and scan that person's QR code to unlock the next prompt.

• Best for: any size — especially 100+
• Time: 20–30 minutes
• Tip: Pair anyone without a phone with a buddy

Schedule networking at the start, before dinner or the CPD session. The free Icebreaker Time Calculator shows how many people each member can meet in the time you have.

Start from the CPA Chapter Mixer template — 15 prompts written for accountants that stay away from client details.

Mention the networking activity in your invitation. It reassures members who don't know many people yet. The free Invitation Templates have a line for it.

At a large chapter event or annual conference, paper cards and speed rounds get hard to manage.

Jam Bingo gives every member their own prompts on their phone. There's nothing to print, and every prompt sends members to someone from a different firm or sector.

See how the networking game for CPA chapter events works, step by step.