The report on The Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits is prepared for anyone interested in the demographics of the accounting profession. The following information from the 2005 edition (for the 2003-2004 academic year) is based on a survey conducted of U.S. colleges and universities that offer accounting degrees at the Baccalaureate, Master’s or PhD level and a survey of public accounting firms and sole practitioners affiliated with the AICPA.

Here are some of the highlights of this year’s report:

• Enrollments in accounting programs continue to climb. For the four-year period 2000 to 2004, enrollments are up 19 percent (to 171,000 in 2004.)
• Since 2000, accounting graduates are also up
  19 percent.
• The increase in enrollments from 2003 to 2004 was
  1.5 percent.
• The number of bachelor’s degree recipients (40,400) increased 9 percent compared to 2003.
• The number of master’s degrees awarded in 2004 (13,350) increased 5.4 percent for the same period.
• In 2004, 55 percent of accounting bachelor’s and master’s graduates were female.
• Ethnic minorities accounted for 23 percent of bachelor’s graduates, 21 percent of master’s graduates and 38 percent of PhDs.
• In 2004, there was a 17 percent increase in the number of new accounting graduate hires by the firms compared to 2003. The number of bachelor’s hired increased 13 percent (to 15,000) and master’s hires increased 33 percent (to 4,700).
• Females accounted for 53 percent of accounting graduates hired by the firms.
• Twenty-three percent of the firm hires in 2004 were ethnic minorities.

Regarding firms’ hiring trends, estimates of percentage changes from actual in 2004 to predicted for 2005, 2007 and 2009 are optimistic across all firm sizes.

Download the complete report from the AICPA's Accounting Education Center.

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