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For years the accounting industry has been shouting the same warning on repeat: the US is running out of accountants.New data, however, suggests that the profession's talent crunch may be — cautiously — easing.
Graduates who earned a bachelor's or master's degree in accounting fell to 55,152 in the 2023-24 academic year, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants .That's a 6.6% decline from the year prior — still a drop, but a slower one than the 9.6% decline in 2022-23 and 7.4% in 2021-22, years when pandemic disruption dragged down college completion rates across the board.There's also a positive trend in the growing number of high school students pursuing accounting degrees.Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that spring accounting enrollment in the 2024-2025 school year grew 12% year-over-year — the third consecutive semester of growth in accounting enrollment."I am certainly seeing students more knowledgeable about the opportunities in accounting, and more students going into accounting in the US," Yvonne Hinson, CEO of the American Accounting Association, told Business Insider."I'm very excited about where we're headed now," Hinson said.Students are responding to the combination of better pay and the promise of a stable career, said Hinson.Accounting majors were the fourth-best degree ranked by return on investment after five years in the workforce, according to analysis by Student Choice, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Engineering, computer science, and nursing took the top three spots.In high schools, the stability of the profession is the strongest message that resonates with students, said Hinson. "You just don't see a lot of unemployed accountants and CPAs out there. They usually can find a job."Employers have also been making concessions to make the field more attractive, especially for younger generations who have different demands of the workplace."Gen Z is just not going to do what we did," said Hinson. "I never questioned if I had to work late at night or weekends. They're just flat-out not going to do that."The big firms have been investing in affinity groups and retention programs, boosting workplace culture, and embracing hybrid work to bridge that gap, said Hinson.Compensation for junior workers — long a sore point — has also undergone a reset."We've had a salary issue for a long time, and that has turned around," Hinson said. Entry-level pay, which previously ranged from $55,000 to $60,000, has increased to around $85,000, or even six figures, depending on the city, she said.Technology is also redefining the type of work that accountants do, which leaders hope will make the profession more appealing."AI is a welcome relief for these people that are out there, that they have another tool to be able to help and do more," EY's global managing partner, Raj Sharma, previously told Business Insider.At PwC, new hires will be doing the roles that managers currently perform within three years as AI takes on the more mundane aspects of the job, Jenn Kosar, PwC's AI assurance leader, told Business Insider in August.Technology has widened what you can do with an accounting career, said Hinson: "If you have a base in accounting, you can jump off and you can do so many exciting things, valuations, forensics. Now that we've got all of this technology, it makes it even more sexy, more fun."The uptick in accounting's talent crisis is encouraging, but it's neither evenly distributed nor permanent, warned Hinson.The Big Four and the top schools "get the talent they want," but community colleges and smaller firms aren't experiencing the same enrollment boost. Demographic shifts and a widening array of majors within business schools threaten to dilute the flow of students into accounting."We see the enrollment cliff coming," Hinson warned. "There are going to be fewer students from high school. When you add to that the questioning of higher education that is going on, even if the same percentage choose business school, that's a declining number."For Hinson, the takeaway is clear — the profession can't afford complacency."Don't take your foot off the gas pedal," she said. "We've got to keep talking about how great this profession is and keep getting young people to go into it because we are going to need them."Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at pthompson@businessinsider.com or Signal at Polly_Thompson.89. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.
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