Pool of Accounting Graduates and Potential Accounting Careers
A 2023 report by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) noted that the number of college accounting graduates dipped in the 2021-2022 academic year. The report, “2023 Trends: A Report on Accounting Education, the CPA Exam and Public Accounting Firms’ Hiring of Recent Graduates”, indicated that about 47,000 students earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in the 2021-2022 school year. This was down 7.8% from the previous year, which followed a steady decline of 1-3% per year from 2015-2016 (p. 5). Additionally, the number of students earning a master’s degree in accounting slipped 6.4% to 18,238 students. The number of students earning a master’s degree in the 2020-2021 and 2019-2020 years was 19,484 and 20,442, respectively. The report included completion data for those student degrees and programs categorized in the following Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes for all U.S. universities: Accounting, Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping, Auditing, Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Business/Management, Accounting and Related Services-Other, and Taxation.
Despite these declining figures, accounting program enrollment expectations were optimistic for 2023-2024 with 75% of responding bachelor’s programs and 78% of master’s programs expecting enrollment to be the same or higher as in 2021-2022 (AICPA, p. 5). Accounting graduates may choose to focus their career choices on a variety of career paths, and some of them include financial accounting, management accounting, finance, auditing, and taxation. Franklin University (n.d.) lists the top three accounting career sectors as public accounting, corporate accounting, and financial services. They list the five most popular careers for corporate (private) accountants and their average median annual salary in the U.S. as general accountant ($81,000), financial analyst ($86,000), budget analyst ($84,250), internal auditor ($90,500), and IT auditor ($96,000). Franklin University also notes the demand for accountants is expected to grow citing “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), jobs for accountants and auditors are predicted to grow by 7% by 2030. About 135,000 openings for accountants and auditors are projected each year, on average.” (para. 1).
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