![]() ![]() Looking ahead, it’s unclear whether accounting will continue to hold the same sway for students. “When they look at our program and see they can get a master’s degree in five years, all of a sudden accounting looks pretty attractive.” “Once students take their first couple of accounting classes, they find that accounting is not as dreary as they thought and we dispel some of the myths,” he says. Students that pursue the master’s program are encouraged to take coursework in finance, risk management or human resources to broaden their understanding of how accounting fits into the business world, Warfield says. ![]() About two-thirds of those students end up pursuing the school’s Integrated Master of Accountancy, an additional fifth year that allows them to earn the 150 credits hours needed to sit for the CPA, and gives them internship opportunities. “It is one of the few professions that you can typically find steady employment in when things go sour.”ĪCCOUNTING ENROLLMENT STEADY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSINĪccounting enrollments have held steady at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business, where about 472 students have signed up to major in accounting this fall as of October, down just slightly from last year, according to Terry Warfield, the head of the business school’s accounting and information systems department. The school recently added a new graduate-level master of science in accounting program that will start in the fall of 2016, based on growing interest in the field from students outside of Stern, Dontoh says. “What ultimately drives the popularity of accounting is that it is recession proof,” he says. Today, accounting is the third most popular major at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with 162 students doing a concentration in general accounting, about 65 of whom plan to go on to earn a master of science through the undergraduate school. Those efforts have paid off handsomely for Dontoh. He raises students’ awareness by bringing accounting executives into the classroom, making them aware of scholarships available to them and getting them to understand the numerous paths and specializations students can pursue in the field. ![]() “It is very difficult to convince them otherwise, but we do.”īRINGING ACCOUNTING EXECUTIVES INTO THE CLASSROOM “When students come in here, they want to do finance or marketing, and go work for Goldman Sachs,” Dontoh said. That’s something Alex Dontoh, deputy chair of the accounting department at New York University’s Stern School of Business comes up against every fall when the new freshman class arrives. It can be a challenge for accounting departments and professors to convey the appeal of the profession to today’s millenials, many of who often don’t even consider the career when they step foot into business school their freshman year. ![]() I’m glad they’re laughing at me, but I still worry about it.“ “The employers have laughed at me because turns out I was wrong. I didn’t think the enrollment numbers would hold up,” says Benjamin. and other majors having good job opportunities. “I came in sounding the alarm bell a few years ago with the economy heating up. He’s seen demand for other majors, such as finance and supply chain management, skyrocket on campus in the last few years. Two years ago, he convened a special advisory council meeting with employers that recruit at the school to warn them there may not be as many potential future hires for them. He’s happy with the school’s enrollment figures in accounting but remains wary of enrollment dips. The program lets students earn the 150 credit hours required to sit for the CPA exam and a graduate degree, an attractive value proposition for many, says James Benjamin, head of the accounting department. To counteract that, the group is doing everything from creating websites geared toward college students, organizing accounting competitions and scholarships and trying to dispel some of the stereotypes that exist around the accounting field, Blough said.Īccounting is a popular major at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, with about 260 students enrolled each year in the school’s professional program, a five-year program where students earn a BBA in accounting and a Master of Science from the business school in their major of choice. The AICPA is working hard to make sure that accounting is a profession still on students’ radar as the number of students taking the CPA, considered the gold standard in the accounting and finance industry, has slowed down in the last few years. University of Wisconsin’s Grainger Hall in the Wisconsin School of Business. ![]()
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