What's the future supply and demand for accountants look like? Startups are leading to more companies pushing for an IPO or a healthy acquisition, the PCAOB continues getting nit-picky while auditing accounting firms, SOX compliance, XBRL, IFRS, and new business models and transactions create new accounting guidance and rules for companies. Oh yeah...taxes too. All of these things require strong accounting talent...so, yes, we need accountants!
The mid-90's reached a peak for enrolled accounting majors in college with 210,319 total, but that dipped to a low by the turn of the century (143,670 total enrolled in 2000). Since then the number of enrolled accounting majors steadily increased to the highest number in two decades - 253,082!
AICPA: 2015 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and Demand for Public Accounting Recruits
It looks like we'll be okay with plenty of accountants for the future, right? BUT, how many of those enrolled in an accounting program will actually be awarded an accounting degree? It's easy to know a career in accounting can lead to lots of money and a secure job for life...as you're enrolling in an accounting program. Accounting isn't easy for everyone, though.
According to the AICPA, of the 203,366 total Bachelor's and Master's who enrolled in '07-'08 (expected graduation 2014), only 40% or 81,782 were awarded degrees in accounting. See? Not that easy.
Despite looking at 2014 to determine the number of newly qualified accountants in one year, we have decades of accounting talent currently in the workforce, pushing our economy forward, and you'll see overall the number of 2014 graduates is still a strong increase in supply.
How about the number of graduates hired by CPA firms? While there was a peak of students enrolled in an accounting program in the mid-90s, the number of graduates hired by CPA firms consistently hovered around 20,000 each year during that time. The creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act triggered new demand and a surge in hiring by CPA firms from 2004 through today. The number of new hires have now doubled since the mid-90s, resulting in 43,252 graduates hired by CPA firms in 2014.
And the outlook for 2015 looks even stronger according to the AICPA trend report, while 91% of the firms plan to increase the number of new hires or keep it the same compared to the prior year or hire while only 9% plan to decrease their number of new hires.
The number of currently employed accountants is a good indicator of the demand. There are approximately 218,000 accountants employed by the top 25 CPA firms in the U.S. as of 2014 and the latest census by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 1.3M of the national labor market is classified as "Accountants and Auditors."
There is a clear increase in the demand to be an accountant at the time a new college student decides on a college program. Even though only 40% of the original enrollees graduate with an accounting degree, there is still an overall, strong increase in new accounting graduates being hired by CPA firms.
Supply is up. Demand is consistently up. So how are you going to make sure your company is attracting the best accounting talent available now and for years to come?
The mid-90's reached a peak for enrolled accounting majors in college with 210,319 total, but that dipped to a low by the turn of the century (143,670 total enrolled in 2000). Since then the number of enrolled accounting majors steadily increased to the highest number in two decades - 253,082!
AICPA: 2015 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and Demand for Public Accounting Recruits
It looks like we'll be okay with plenty of accountants for the future, right? BUT, how many of those enrolled in an accounting program will actually be awarded an accounting degree? It's easy to know a career in accounting can lead to lots of money and a secure job for life...as you're enrolling in an accounting program. Accounting isn't easy for everyone, though.
According to the AICPA, of the 203,366 total Bachelor's and Master's who enrolled in '07-'08 (expected graduation 2014), only 40% or 81,782 were awarded degrees in accounting. See? Not that easy.
Despite looking at 2014 to determine the number of newly qualified accountants in one year, we have decades of accounting talent currently in the workforce, pushing our economy forward, and you'll see overall the number of 2014 graduates is still a strong increase in supply.
How about the number of graduates hired by CPA firms? While there was a peak of students enrolled in an accounting program in the mid-90s, the number of graduates hired by CPA firms consistently hovered around 20,000 each year during that time. The creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act triggered new demand and a surge in hiring by CPA firms from 2004 through today. The number of new hires have now doubled since the mid-90s, resulting in 43,252 graduates hired by CPA firms in 2014.
And the outlook for 2015 looks even stronger according to the AICPA trend report, while 91% of the firms plan to increase the number of new hires or keep it the same compared to the prior year or hire while only 9% plan to decrease their number of new hires.
The number of currently employed accountants is a good indicator of the demand. There are approximately 218,000 accountants employed by the top 25 CPA firms in the U.S. as of 2014 and the latest census by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 1.3M of the national labor market is classified as "Accountants and Auditors."
There is a clear increase in the demand to be an accountant at the time a new college student decides on a college program. Even though only 40% of the original enrollees graduate with an accounting degree, there is still an overall, strong increase in new accounting graduates being hired by CPA firms.
Supply is up. Demand is consistently up. So how are you going to make sure your company is attracting the best accounting talent available now and for years to come?
Source: www.linkedin.com
