The number of accounting grads has dropped in recent years, as students realize they can make higher starting salaries in related fields like finance. That’s contributed to a persistent and perhaps growing shortage of accountants.

Firms may have taken notice. The median starting salary for new accountants at public firms rose 11% since 2023, climbing to $60,834, according to the AICPA’s Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey.

And that’s just for new hires with bachelor’s degrees. Those with master’s degrees have seen salaries jump 17% to a median $67,750 since the last time the survey was conducted two years ago.

Whether that’s enough to lure students away from other fields remains a concern. “Higher starting salaries and more competitive pay across the board will definitely help accounting firms attract and retain more talent,” Lisa Simpson, VP of firm services at the AICPA, said in a Journal of Accountancy article. “The profession is making progress in this area, but we need to continue to evaluate pay compared to other career opportunities.”

Partners are still making bank, the survey found. Their compensation grew 10% over 2023, to a median of $202,521. Net remaining per owner, or profit per partner, rose 12% to $252,663.

How well are accounting firms doing?—CV

CFO Brew joined a crowd of corporate finance practitioners who recently descended on the Gaylord National convention center in Washington, DC, for Workiva’s 2025 Amplify conference.

Surprise, surprise: The prevailing topic this year was AI. Thought leaders and attendees waxed poetic on the technology’s potential to transform all facets of corporate finance. But existential talk is one thing. Practical use is another.

That was one of the prevailing questions during the three-day conference: How exactly are accounting, audit, and reporting teams using AI? As it turned out, the use cases flowed as freely as the coffee.

Oh, the possibilities. Amplify was like a Golden Corral of use cases—there was a little something for everyone. Here are some of the highlights.

The internal audit team at financial services firm StoneX uses AI tools to help write data queries and then check the results for accuracy and completeness, Jeanne Cline, StoneX’s chief audit executive, said during a panel session.

Consumer loan fintech Best Egg’s risk management team used AI to write first drafts in a series of eight policies, Chief Risk Officer Heather Holding said. “I was actually able to do them in a day,” she told session attendees. “Of course, obviously my team had to look at it and refine it and make sure that it was good for the organization.”

For more AI use cases, click here.—AZ

Let’s do our own poll. How confident are you about the state of the US economy? Well, there ya go. We had a feeling.

Consumer sentiment dropped in September, while long-term inflation expectations rose, according to a preliminary monthly reading from the University of Michigan.

The confidence index dipped to 55.4, from 58.2 in August. That was lower than the 58.1 economists expected. Meanwhile, consumer expectations about long-term inflation climbed to 3.9%, up from August’s 3.5% reading. In the year ahead, consumers expect prices to climb by 4.8%, unchanged from last month.

“Consumers continue to note multiple vulnerabilities in the economy, with rising risks to business conditions, labor markets, and inflation,” Joanne Hsu, the director of the university’s consumer surveys, said in a statement. “Likewise, consumers perceive risks to their pocketbooks as well.”

That isn’t too much of a surprise. In case you haven’t been following along: The consumer sentiment report arrived after a spate of disappointing data for the US economy.

How dour are consumers?—NP

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