News built for finance pros
CFO Brew helps finance pros navigate their roles with insights into risk management, compliance, and strategy through our newsletter, virtual events, and digital guides.
CFOs’ hiring woes may continue into the near future: The supply of new accountants is set to shrink yet again.
That’s according to AICPA’s 2023 Trends Report, which found that the percentage of bachelor’s degree graduates in accounting last year dropped 7.8% from the previous school year. Masters’ graduates in accounting declined 6.4% over the same period.
Accounting enrollments dropped 16.9% from 2012–13 to 2021–22, the Journal of Accountancy reported, though it should be noted that overall college enrollment dipped 13% over the past decade.
Low starting salaries are a primary reason fewer students are going into accounting, the Wall Street Journal reported. Starting salaries have remained static for accounting, while they’ve risen for other business-related fields such as marketing, consulting, and finance. Students are paying attention: In a survey earlier this year, they named low salaries as the top reason they weren’t choosing to major in accounting, according to the WSJ.
The AICPA report did note one positive trend: 75% of accounting bachelor’s degree programs and 78% of master’s programs surveyed said they expected enrollments to stay the same or higher in 2023–-24 as in 2021–22, compared with only 58% that said so in 2019–2020, the last time the survey was conducted.