Opinion: On-the-Job Experiential Learning Credit to Meet the 150-hour Requirement Makes Sense
Ed. note: the following is by Joseph P. Petito, Esq. Joe currently serves on the Maryland State Board of Accountancy and the board of directors of the NASBA Center for the Public Trust. Full bio at the bottom. I love accounting. Though an attorney and not a CPA, I’ve spent over 30 years in and […]
Keeping the 150 Hour Rule Is Making the Profession’s Diversity Problem More Pronounced
by Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver The AICPA announced the formation of a National Pipeline Advisory Group, published an article about its focus on the accounting talent shortage, and scheduled a webinar titled “Special Pipeline Series: Path to 150.” All of […]
A Tale of Two Business Majors Speaking to Young People About Their Careers
Under the “Teen Talk Tuesdays” category in the Milwaukee Community Journal there is a charming story about exploring career pathways written from the perspective of a young man who had three guest speakers come to his school and talk about their career paths. He writes: Two of the visitors were teachers at a University. The […]
Guy Who Works at a Firm Actually Named FML on Why Accounting Is a Great Career
So a guy named Brian Kelleher who works for the hilariously named FML CPAs has written an opinion piece for the Hartford Courant entitled “Opinion: Accounting is a fantastic career — despite common misconceptions.” Let me preface everything that is about to be said here with this: Accounting is a fantastic career and I sincerely believe […]
150 Hours is a Barrier – Really!
By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver A friend asked why I believe the 150-hour requirement is more of a barrier of entry to the accounting profession than a 120-hour requirement with added experience. That is a great question. Although, it does […]
CPA Exam Changes and Pipeline Woes Are a Perfect Storm of Problems For the Profession
Ed. note: The following is a guest post by Liz Kolar, EVP at Surgent. It is of particular interest to professors, accounting department chairs, other assorted academics, and any accounting profession meteorologists who are tracking the perfect storm of pipeline problems and a completely revamped CPA exam debuting in just a few months. Comments from […]
Withum’s Solution to the War on Talent Is to Throw Students Onto the Battlefield
Adamant that there is no way the burden of 150 units for CPA licensure will ever be rolled back to 120, the AICPA and NASBA have scored a second school-firm collaboration for their CPA Pathway Apprenticeship initiative: Seton Hall University and Withum. The program trades work in the field for credits toward 150. From Withum’s […]
‘The American Accounting Association Is Not Serious’ and Other Such Thoughts From a Professor Who’s Quitting the AAA
Editor’s note: The two essays you are about to read were sent to us by J. Edward Ketz, Associate Professor of Accounting at Penn State. In the first, he explains why he is quitting the American Accounting Association (AAA). The second essay — “Ernst & Young in an Ethics Scandal: Ho-Hum” — is the opinion […]
Research: Why Students — Particularly Diverse Ones — Aren’t Pursuing Accounting
The Center for Audit Quality — the AICPA-affiliated “nonpartisan public policy organization serving as the voice of U.S. public company auditors and matters related to the audits of public companies” — has released a 63-page report entitled Increasing Diversity in the Accounting Profession Pipeline that tackles the historically under-reported and totally mysterious issue of why […]
AICPA Council Approves 12-Point Plan to Do F*ck All to Solve the Accountant Shortage
Last week, the AICPA released a revised pipeline acceleration plan, the goal of which is to get more young people into accounting to save the profession from extinction. To save you a click, I’m putting it here. At its spring meeting in Washington this week, the AICPA’s governing body (“Council”) approved this plan. Yay. Cue […]
Accounting Summer Camp is a Thing in New York
High school students in the state of New York have the chance to participate in the Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession program this summer, the deadline to apply is Friday, June 23, 2023 at 11:59pm which you can do at this link. Let’s skip the unnecessary commentary and get straight to the details. From […]
Big 4 Firms Are Noticing a Sudden Skills Gap in New Hires
It’s funny, I was just talking about this yesterday to a state society leader, how there’s been talk in recent weeks that offshoring and automation have reduced the “skills gauntlet” interns and new hires go through to learn the tedious details which in turn is making a crop of staff and associates who feel almost […]
Would Mobility Go Away Without the 150-Hour Rule?
by Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver There has been much discussion about the 150-hour rule recently. Going Concern previously reported the AICPA and NASBA are trying to strong-arm Minnesota into maintaining the 150-hour rule. I wrote that NASBA can be a […]
Academics Pitted Human Accounting Students Against GPT-3, Students Won
As aspiring lawyers everywhere learned with horror that GPT-4 is capable of passing the bar exam (in the 90th percentile of test-takers, no less) a whole bunch of academics were not-so-quietly putting GPT-3 to the test on accounting. Literally. Published in Issues in Accounting Education, a total of 328 authors from 186 different institutions in […]
What Would the Accreditors Say About AICPA’s ELE Program?
By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver Last week I raised the question of whether it is ethical to promote an educational path to CPA licensure that is (highly) susceptible to cheating. The AICPA’s pipeline acceleration plan proposes an Experience, Learn & […]
One of Minnesota’s Largest Accounting Firms Can Totally Get Behind the Alternative Pathway to CPA Licensure
In a LinkedIn post published March 3, CLA CEO Jen Leary — who graduated wayyyy back when only 120 units were required — threw her support behind Minnesota Society of CPAs’ initiative to add a second pathway that would allow CPA licensure at 120 units and two years of experience. It may not seem like […]
Is It Ethical to Endorse an Educational Path That Is Susceptible to Cheating?
By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver The AICPA’s website includes a statement titled Purpose in action that, in its 129 words, uses “trust” (twice), “integrity”, “ethics”, and “public interest”. Yet, its pipeline acceleration plan proposes an Experience, Learn & Earn (ELE) […]
PwC UK Has a Soft Spot For Students Who Got Wrecked By the Pandemic
It’s no secret the pandemic screwed a lot of things up. Firms suddenly had to figure out how to manage an entirely remote work force, CPA exam candidates couldn’t test for months due to Prometric closures, and let’s not forget the poor interns and first years who had to wait for answers in Teams while […]
MNCPA to Educators: “We Do Not Need New CPAs Who Have Additional College Credits; We Need More CPAs, Period.”
Minnesota Society of CPAs has sent a message to educators in the state regarding legislation that would introduce an alternative pathway to CPA licensure and the message to these stewards of the next generation of accountants is clear: no one is trying to eliminate MAcc programs. As you should well be aware, MNCPA wants to […]
PSA: Do Not Suggest That We Make the CPA Exam Easier in Order to Solve the Accountant Shortage
Y’all need to calm down, I’m running out of “angry person” stock photos. With the accountant shortage in full swing and the profession’s talking heads, peanut galleries, unwashed masses, and unelected old white guys in charge discussing ways to ease it, it’s inevitable that we’ll start throwing out some WILD ideas. Like this one: Want […]
Why NASBA Can Be a Bully and What CPAs Can Do About It
By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver Going Concern previously reported on bits of an interview with Ken Bishop, President and CEO of NASBA, published in Journal of Accountancy. A cut out in the article includes this quote, “Should any state or […]
Actual Kids Are Working at EY Now
Just the other day we were talking about initiatives around the profession to ease the burden of the 150 hour requirement for CPA licensure that tie together education and work experience, like work-for-credit programs or 5th year education partnerships between firms and universities. Today, we’ve learned of another education-experience partnership: a high school in North […]
Baker Tilly Banks on Celebrity Endorsements to Bring in Young Talent
In case you didn’t notice because who cares, Baker Tilly has engaged the help of filmmaker and adventurer Jimmy Chin and teenage tennis star Coco Gauff to brighten up the Baker Tilly name and recruit the youfs to this exciting accounting firm. Said Coco Gauff at gunpoint in a press release about the partnership: “I […]
Integrating Experience and Education is One Way to Ease the Accountant Shortage at Least a Little
There’s a contentious battle raging over the 150 unit requirement for CPA licensure as we speak and in the meantime we have to figure something out to ease the accountant shortage that has a bit more immediate impact (and doesn’t involve paying people more because clearly the firms are not down with that idea). Wherever […]
The Beef Between the AICPA and Minnesota Over the 150 Hour Rule Heats Up
I’m dating myself here but do you remember the East Coast/West Coast rap beef of the 90s? That’s sort of what’s happening in the profession right now over proposed legislation in Minnesota that offers an alternative to the traditional 150 units of education required for licensure. Except in the case of 90s rapper beefs, Tupac […]
What You Should Know About Changing the 150 Hour Rule Before You Debate For or Against It
All-around awesome person Byron Patrick tweeted a bit of a manifesto on the 150 hour rule today and I want to share it as a movement to lower the CPA licensure requirement of 150 units to ease the CPA shortage is currently underway. Minnesota just introduced a bill to add a 120 units/two years of […]
Accountants Are the Referees of Business, Says Guy Who Would Know
There’s another article about the accountant shortage today and this time it’s in Insider. There’s nothing in there you don’t already know — enrollments are down, boomers are retiring, the process of becoming a CPA is extra and sucks, kids need to be convinced that accounting is great, blah blah — but they did get […]
The 259th Largest Accounting Firm Is Paying For Unlicensed Staff to Pursue a Master’s at the 87th Best Online Business School
Tiny little Southfield, MI firm Clayton & McKervey won’t be making Vault prestige lists any time soon but it is doing something to support its people through the process of getting the necessary 150 units for licensure: offering scholarships. Ranked #259 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 500 with revenue of $16,392,083, Clayton & McKervey […]
Believe It Or Not, KPMG Is Helping to Fix the Accountant Shortage Through Its Terrible Audit Work
A little data point for you to feast on as we go forth into the new year: the PCAOB levied record fines of $11 million in 2022, more than $8 million against KPMG alone. 2022 was also the year the PCAOB handed out the largest civil money penalty against an individual in PCAOB history ($150,000). […]
Yale Grad and Grant Thornton Lawyer Argues The Case For an Undergraduate Accounting Program at Yale
Alexandra Newman (Yale University, B.A. 2005 with Distinction in Philosophy; Northwestern University School of Law, J.D. 2010) has penned an article for Yale Daily News that argues — quite well — why Yale needs an accounting program. Any time the discussion of Ivies and accounting comes up, people who aren’t accounting graduates like to remind […]
This One Chart Shows Just How Boned the Accounting Profession Is
Perusing The CPA Journal as one does when one is tasked with the onerous burden of reporting on happenings in a profession in which so few things happen, I saw this discussion on CPA Evolution by Nina Terranova Dorata, PhD, CPA and Vincent J. Shea. In it, questions are tossed out about how accounting education […]
Is an Accounting Major Too Hard? A Thread
Is accounting too hard? That is the question posed by Dr. Josh McGowan, CPA on Twitter: Is the accounting major too difficult? At many universities, accounting courses (especially Principles I & II) have some of the lowest GPAs compared to other disciplines. Why? Are we deterring the next generation of accountants or upholding a needed […]
College Accounting Programs Are Taxpayer-Funded Training Programs for the Big 4 and Other Such Muckraking
Ed. note: the following is penned by Bob Jennings CPA, EA for his Taxspeaker.com newsletter. Bob has given us permission to reprint in full and we are enthusiastically doing so in the hopes it will spark much-needed conversation about one of the profession’s most significant issues: the Big 4 oligopoly. According to the SBA, small […]
Young Accountant Narrowly Misses the Tragedy of Working For Grant Thornton
Someone on r/accounting posted this over the weekend and I thought it worth sharing because it reminds everyone of two very important facts when it comes to recruiting: 1) never bank on a verbal offer and 2) don’t work for Grant Thornton. Oops wait, I meant 2) if firms recruiting on campus engage in any […]
We’re Going to Solve the Accounting Pipeline Shortage With 2013 Buzzfeed Quiz Results, You Guys
With the accounting pipeline drying up, the profession is throwing all kinds of things at the wall to recruit young people hoping just one of them might stick. One such venture is Accounting+, a Gen Z-ified recruiting site brought to you by the Center for Audit Quality that might give young people the impression that […]
Accounting Firms Can No Longer Hold Sadistic Survivor-y Competitions For Talent, Says Guy Who Sounds Disappointed About That
There was an article in the Denver Post last week about the accountant shortage and in it, the Post talks to a professor who suggests that business students once fought over coveted, well-paid positions at accounting firms. This must have been before my time because in 2007 Big 4 firms were paying $50k starting salaries […]
In 2019, Academic Researchers Tried to Answer the Question ‘Is Accounting a Miserable Job?’
Stumbled across this interesting paper by authors Paul Madsen and Jeffrey Piao today and thought it worth sharing despite its age (2019). Misery in accounting is timeless after all. Plus it’s relevant given the ongoing accounting pipeline problem and concerns about accountant shortages as the paper talks about how the stereotype of “the miserable accountant” […]
Why is the Accounting Profession Scaring Everyone Away?
Saw this on our Twitter timeline, thought I’d throw it to the sharks and see if anyone has some thoughts: Accounting industry. We all agree there numerous issues & major changes are needed. The ultimate question is even with all the issues, why are ppl not willing to overcome all of them & either enter […]
YSK: AICPA Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop Application Period Ends June 15
As Going Concern fully supports the profession’s diversity initiatives and various pipeline-filling activities (despite comparing the AICPA to an 80s anti-drug PSA creep giving away free drugs to children), we want to let everyone know that the application period for the AICPA Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop ends on June 15, 2022. The workshop takes place […]
If the AICPA Offers You a Career In Accounting, Just Say No
With the AICPA making filling the CPA pipeline one of their 2022 primary strategic initiatives (see page 11 of the 2021 AICPA Trends report for the full list of pipeline-filling activities they will be going hard on this year), I thought now might be a good time to dust off the ol’ 1980s D.A.R.E. programming […]
4 Reasons Why the Profession Is Struggling to Convince Students to Become CPAs, #4 Will Not Shock You
I buried the link I’m about to share with you all in Footnotes last Friday; however, since its author intended for it to spur a conversation about the profession’s pipeline problem, I thought it best to highlight it in its own post should any of you feel like discussing it. “In my view, the future […]
State of the Accounting Profession 2022 Via the AICPA Trends Report
As I snarkily mentioned last week, the AICPA has finally released its much-anticipated 2021 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits (or Trends, for short) report [PDF here], a behemoth data dump of accounting industry stats first released in 1971 and released every two years since 2009. We’re […]
Accounting Bottoms Out the List of Master’s Degrees That Offer the Best Salary Boost (Read: It Doesn’t)
The AICPA finally got around to releasing its Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits report (hereby referred to as the Trends report), which we’ve been waiting to see since last August, but hey, I get it, people are busy. As we work on crunching the data and […]
Team With No Accounting Majors Takes On Another Team With No Accounting Majors For Men’s College Basketball Supremacy
Tonight at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the eighth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels will be taking on the No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks for the 2022 men’s college basketball championship. After disposing its longtime archrival Duke and Coack K (thank god) on Saturday, the Tar Heels are looking to win their seventh NCAA men’s […]
ICYMI: The AICPA Legacy Scholarship Application Period Is Open Until March 1 (IOW Free Money For School)
According to the cute little countdown on the AICPA Legacy Scholarships page, as of right now (right now as in the date this post is published) you have 35 days remaining to apply for the 2022-2023 AICPA Legacy Scholars program scholarships. They include: AICPA Foundation Scholarship for Future CPAs $3,000 – $10,000 AICPA Scholarship Award […]
TIL Doing Porn Is (Probably) Not Considered an Act Discreditable to the Profession (Side Hustle, Anyone?)
Today’s nugget of knowledge comes courtesy this Reddit post and the OP’s ethics textbook: Debit Does Dallas heh. The textbook author who came up with that deserves a raise. In case you didn’t know, Rule 501 of the AICPA Code of Conduct is a bit controversial due to its completely open nature. The code itself […]
A Pair of Senators Are Trying to Get the Kiddos Hooked on Accounting In Grade School
Do you guys remember those after-school specials of the ’80s that made it seem like drug dealers hiding around every corner offering free drugs was going to be something one would have to be concerned about as we got older? I imagine I’m not the only one who was tremendously disappointed to find out there […]
Is Accounting an Obsolete Major?
Is accounting an obsolete major? That’s the question posed by John “Jack” Castonguay, PhD, CPA, in the August/September 2021 CPA Journal. He writes: Accounting — at least as an independent field of study — is becoming obsolete in today’s technology- and analytics-focused world. Its value lies in its interdisciplinary applicability and position as a foundational […]
CPA Canada Congratulates 5,912 CFE Passers and Throws Some Cash at Top Performers
On December 3, CPA Canada announced 5,912 writers of the Common Final Examination — Canada’s version of the CPA exam — passed the grueling, three-day examination required for licensure. This is down from 6,371 in September 2020, an impressive 75.8% pass rate for first-time writers (note: they’re called “writers” not candidates up north, don’t ask […]
The Bar Has Been Raised For New Hires and There’s One Skill In Particular Firms Are Looking For
Although the old guard (read: Boomer partners who refuse to retire) might tell you that kids these days have it too easy, the reality is that today’s accountants are expected to possess a far more varied Swiss Army Knife of knowledge compared to the whittlin’ stick of yore. What’s our evidence for this claim? The […]
Accounting Student’s Faceplant Was a Sign of Things to Come For Ohio State
Poor Austin Bowman. The second-year accounting student and the first sophomore head drum major at Ohio State University since 2010 was hyped to run out onto the field at Ohio Stadium on Saturday before the No. 4-ranked Buckeyes took on the No. 12-ranked Oregon Ducks in the first football game at the stadium with fans […]
The IMA Is Beefing With the AICPA and NASBA Over the Future of Accounting Education
Today, the AICPA and NASBA unveiled their highly anticipated CPA Evolution Model Curriculum — CPAEMC if you’re nasty — which the Journal of Accountancy describes as “a recommended blueprint for an accounting program designed to help educators prepare graduates for the changing demands of the CPA profession.” Times they are a-changin’, kids, so much so […]
$58,508: The Average Starting Salary for New Accounting Grads
Accounting students who are graduating in 2021 are the beneficiaries of an average starting salary that has increased by nearly 11% over last year, according to the most recent salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). The average starting salary for accounting undergrads this year is projected to be $58,508, up […]
These Colleges Give Accounting Grads the Most Bang For Their Buck In the Real World
We’re less than two months away from the class of 2021 tossing their mortarboards high in the sky (either in-person with their classmates or virtually, not sure which at this point), thus signaling a new batch of eager beavers who will soon be starting their journeys in the meat grinder that is public accounting. But […]
AICPA Report: Accounting Education Is Lagging Woefully Behind Necessary Real-World Skills
Not sure if y’all heard but we live in the future now. Not the cool Ray Bradbury one with casual weekend trips to exotic Mars destinations and robots to do all the tedious things we’d rather not, but the future no less. And here in this dystopian nightmare glorious future, technical aptitude is in high […]
Why You Should Just Read the Chapter Already
I had a dream the other night that I was back in managerial accounting. A few of my classmates back then would call it a nightmare. It was second semester of my sophomore year and somehow this general business course was harder than the first intermediate accounting that I was also taking at the time. […]
The Big 4, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Is it Just Corporate BS?
I am a Big 4 alum and I spent many years in the audit profession before I transitioned to academia. I teach accounting in the Southeast at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), which means that at least 25% of the students are Hispanic. I am also Hispanic. I grew up at Deloitte, the same as Joe […]
How to Absolutely Kill It at Virtual Recruiting and Interviews
Becker CPA Review wants you to master virtual recruiting and interviews, here’s how you do it. Recruiting season is anxiety-inducing enough in the most normal of times: making small talk, promoting yourself without coming off as self-absorbed, and let’s not even get into worrying about your lunch lingering in your teeth. As Covid drove the […]
Talent Crunch: There Are Far More CPAs in Korea Than Big 4 Firms Have Jobs
While we here in the good ole U.S. of A. are constantly talking about the “talent shortage” and industry concerns that not enough new accounting grads are taking the traditional CPA path, South Korea has a different problem: too many CPAs, not enough jobs. According to a report in The Korea Times, the Big 4 […]
These Colleges Have Cranked Out the Most Public Accounting Firm CEOs and Managing Partners (2020)
Now that INSIDE Public Accounting has released its latest ranking of the top public accounting firms in the nation by revenue, we thought we’d update a post from last year about which colleges and universities have graduated the most firm CEOs, chairmen, and managing partners. As we did last year, we looked at IPA’s most […]
Why Pretty Much Everybody Should Major In Accounting
I was not a good accounting student. Despite trying hard, always showing up to class, and doing most of the homework, my brain just didn’t seem wired to be a great accountant. Regardless, I still think everybody should major in accounting, whether they work in the field or not. Let me explain. My experience To […]
Attention Accounting Students, the AICPA Is Giving Away Money Because COVID-19 Was Such a PITA
At this point, all of us have been affected by the Rona in one way or another (or many as the case may be), and I don’t need to waste precious word count rambling on about it. For some, the hit has been mostly a financial one, as we’ve seen week after week in the form of […]
Three Out of Four Big 4 Firms Have Pledged to Honor New Hire Offers For 2020 Grads
While everyone is trying to balance staying healthy with having something to wipe your ass with these days, one big concern we’ve been seeing is whether or not accounting grads should count on their existing offer letters or consider printing out those recruiter emails to use as TP. It’s a valid concern, no one knows […]
The Latest U.S. News Best Graduate Accounting Schools Ranking Will Take Your Mind Off of Coronavirus For a Minute
The 2021 U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best graduate accounting programs in the nation is out, and just in the nick of time to give you guys a diversion from being micromanaged while working at home or wondering if the partner who has a dry cough and didn’t cover his mouth just […]
The AICPA Is (Still) Giving Out Free Money For Education, Here’s How to Get Yours
Last year around this time, we gave you a heads up on the AICPA Legacy Scholars program, an AICPA initiative to make it rain on the future rockstars of the profession. Do people still use make it rain these days? Whatever, I’m old. Anyway, they give out cash, and that’s most definitely a good thing. […]
Attn Minority Accounting Students: The AICPA Wants to Send You to a Leadership Conference (Free!)
Setting aside the snark for a moment to let you younguns know about an opportunity specifically for minority accounting students interested in attending the AICPA Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop, which is going down May 13-15, 2020 in fabulous New Orleans. The AICPA Foundation is covering the entire experience including the cost of student attendees’ transportation […]
These Colleges Have Cranked Out the Most Public Accounting Firm CEOs and Managing Partners
Last Thursday I got an email from Renaissance Capital listing the colleges that have produced the most initial public offering CEOs in 2019. If you’re curious, the answer is Princeton University with four. So that got me wondering about which colleges have produced the most public accounting firm CEOs/chairmen/managing partners. So I took a look […]
Why Yes, We Do Have Another List of the Best Online Accounting Degree Programs In 2019
If you haven’t grown tired of websites trying to explain why Clarion University and the University of the Cumberlands have better online master’s in accounting degree programs than, say, the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland, then we present to you this ranking from Accounting Degree Review. For this list of the 50 […]
Here Are the Top 25 Online Graduate Accounting Degree Programs In 2019, According to Some Site
Since Adrienne designated me as the “accounting school/program rankings guy” earlier this year, I thought I’d bring to your attention a new ranking of the best online master’s in accounting degree programs. This list was put together by the website College Consensus, which researched more than 600 schools in the U.S. and weighed three factors […]
AICPA Report: Accounting Firms Just Aren’t Hiring Accounting Grads Like They Used To
The latest Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits report came out this week, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been anxiously waiting two whole years for it. I mean, I didn’t save the date or anything, but all of us around here have been […]
College Students Would Rather Work at Walt Disney World Than at the Big 4
There was a time when the Big 4 used to dominate the top 10 companies in the business category of Universum’s list of the 100 most attractive employers for U.S. college students. But not so much anymore. In 2017’s ranking, only two Big 4 firms made the top 10 (EY at No. 8 and Deloitte […]
Here Are the Best Graduate Accounting Programs as Ranked By U.S. News & World Report
During our editorial meeting on Monday, Adrienne jokingly told me that, because I reported on the top accounting school rankings from Study.com and College Factual recently, I’ll now have to write articles on rankings any schmuck puts out. She’s probably right about that. Well, this week’s schmuck is U.S. News & World Report. The publication […]
Here Is Another Top 50 Accounting Schools In 2019 List for You Guys to Debate
Earlier this month we posted a list of the top 50 accounting schools in 2019 from online education platform Study.com, and based on the comments we received, I think many of you guys thought Study.com’s rankings sucked. There were a lot of schools traditionally known for their top-notch accounting programs that were omitted, like Bentley […]
Here’s How to Score Free Money for Education From the AICPA
Psst. Hey you. Yeah you. Want some free money for school? The AICPA wants to hook you up. You have until March 1 to apply to become an AICPA Legacy Scholar, which includes not just bragging rights but cold, hard cash to put toward your education. Check out the following scholarships and see if you […]
Where Did Your Alma Mater Rank In This List of the Top 50 Accounting Schools In 2019?
Now, before you break out that Jimmer Fredette BYU basketball jersey from 2011 or start tomahawk chopping in front of your co-workers, keep in mind this isn’t U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the schools with the best undergraduate accounting programs. This ranking of the top 50 accounting programs in the U.S. is from […]
MBA Holders Have Bigger Paychecks, Especially White Dudes
Last October, we published an article written by a former KPMG senior associate, which you guys seemed to like, on why accountants should have both a CPA and an MBA. But what the article really doesn’t talk about is the earning potential of having an MBA. Well, a new study from the Forté Foundation sheds […]
Desperate for More Accounting Professors, the AICPA Is Literally Paying People to Take the PhD Track
I dunno if you guys heard but the profession is getting old. Just in case all the liver-spotted Cryptkeepers haunting accounting firm halls didn’t give that fact away, we have almost daily reminders from the AICPA that CPA exam candidate numbers are down and future accounting grads are in need of new professors to take […]
Mastering Data Analytics Can Make You a More Valuable Accountant
What can you do to make yourself more valuable to your organization? If you’re an accountant or if you work on a corporate finance team, becoming a master in data analysis is a big step forward. But why? And what does data analytics have to do with accounting? Accountants use data analytics to help businesses […]
How Deep Accounting Skills Can Help You Unlock Cool New Jobs
There’s a lot of upside to adding deep accounting knowledge and skills to your resume—impressive credentials, prospects for higher pay, and a chance to take your career to the next level, among other positive career boosts. If you already have solid work experience and have developed expertise in certain areas, adding accounting knowledge—and a Master […]
Party Animals at Irish University Accounting Club Suspended for Fratty Rager on Campus
Those who believe accounting students are all buttoned-up introverts obviously haven’t met the Accounting and Finance Society at Dublin City University, which was suspended this month after word of their wild and crazy activities got back to school leaders. At an October 4 “initiation” for first-years, committee hopefuls were asked to engage in a variety […]
The Penny Harvest: Accounting Skills Making a Difference
Accounting skills are helping the kids in After-School All Stars in Columbus, Ohio, turn a profit for local charities…and helping the organization’s director of operations maximize resources. Young students in Columbus, Ohio, are making a difference in their community, one penny at a time. By learning and applying basic business and accounting skills, the children […]
KPMG Master’s Degree Program Admits 135 into Indentured Service in 2018
As a Big 4 alumna, when I saw the KPMG master’s degree program, I immediately thought, “What’s the catch?” But before we get to the catch, let’s look at the program itself a little more. The KPMG Master’s Degree Program Per Accounting Today, the cohort of 135 program participants for the 2018-2019 start class will […]
Are You Ready for the Next Big Step in Your Accounting Career?
If you’re ready for a promotion, but your career isn’t, it might be time to consider graduate school. When you first went to work for your current company, it was pretty cool. Your friends and family were excited about your new job. You were excited. You were meeting new people, learning new things, making a […]
Why Does (and Why Should!) Data Analytics Matter to Accountants?
Successful accountants and business leaders who have mastered data analytics can provide unique insights, making them bigger assets to their organizations. “What do the numbers tell us?” “Let’s dig into the data!” “Can we analyze this in real-time?” It’s very likely that you’ve heard these expressions around the office. Big data. Data analytics. Data science. […]
Protip: Don’t Give Your Bank Information to Anyone Claiming to Be an Accounting Firm Recruiter
Never trust anyone online wearing a hoodie. Good night, nurse, what is this: Executives at UHY Advisors are sounding the alarm about online scammers who have been impersonating recruiters at accounting firms, offering enthusiastic young job seekers new career opportunities and internships. All the applicant must do, scammers tell them, is sign an acceptance letter […]
AICPA Trends Report Finds Enrollment in Master’s Programs, Hiring by CPA Firms Taking a Breather
The AICPA released its much anticipated 2017 Trends In the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits (“AICPA Trends” or “TSAGDPAR” for those of you who can’t resist an acronym) report today, and it shows two major developments: 1) A dropoff in enrollment for master’s in accounting programs; 2) Slower hiring […]
Considering an MBA? 3 Key Questions to Ask Yourself
Please enjoy this sponsored content from Beech Valley Solutions. I’ve never been water-boarded (I keep begging my wife…), but I’m guessing it’s a lot like busy season. I’d say just about anything to make it stop…like, “maybe I should get my MBA?”. Should you? Maybe (probably not). It truly depends on a series of questions […]
Exposure Drafts: Attracting New CPA Talent Starts Early
Exposure Drafts appears every other Wednesday. Send suggestions to [email protected].
PwC’s Recruiting Will Take a Hit Over the Oscars Debacle
Forty-two years ago I sat down to make an important life decision, my second in two years. The first was to go to graduate school instead of accepting a commission in the Marine Corps. The second was to join Price Waterhouse. Marriage would come later. I was the first in my family to go to […]
Drones Set to Disrupt the “Ideas Accounting Firms Won’t Pursue” Niche
In a recent Journal of Accountancy piece, a bunch of people with way too much time on their hands to consider things that will never happen seem to think that drones are the next wave of innovation for accounting firms. Mind you, it was only a few years ago that one Big 4 firm made […]
5 Unique Master’s Programs That Might Not Be on Your Radar
Please enjoy this sponsored content brought to you by our graduate university partners. Googling online graduate programs can be a nightmare. First off, it will take a while to trudge through 25 million search results. Ugh… ain’t nobody got time for that. Why is it so hard to find a worthwhile program to make all […]
Let’s Talk MBA Specializations With Utica College
This is a sponsored conversation brought to you by Utica College. At some point in your career, you may have heard a self-deprecating quip from someone who claimed to be a "jack of all trades, but a master of none." It's a slight nod to the idea that someone couldn't decide what they wanted to […]
Sponsored: The CFO Track Demands More Skills Than Ever
Have you considered changing your career track or expanding your skills profile? Please enjoy this sponsored content from Georgetown University about their Masters of Finance program. If you’re an ambitious accounting professional, you might have the title of CFO on your career bucket list. Chief financial officers are quickly becoming the most indispensable and sought […]
Sponsored: Questions to Ask an Interviewer
Please enjoy this sponsored content brought to you by our graduate university partners. Interviews are one of those things that you either walk into with a little moxy or you walk in terrified. Ideally, you've done your research and know almost everything and anything about the firm and the person you're interviewing with, your resume […]
Starting Salaries for Accounting Positions Keep Going Up
If you're a college student studying accounting, prepare your gloat face. Starting salaries for accounting and finance positions are expected to go up 3%-4.3% next year according to Robert Half's new salary guide.
Let’s Welcome Public Accounting’s Summer Interns
Monday marks the first day of summer so I suppose we should salute the young men and women who will invade accounting firms for the next couple of months. To the Twitter! BDO is excited to welcome over 300 summer #interns! Check out some tips from former #BDO interns: https://t.co/2pEUkFzabk — BDO USA Careers (@GetToKnowBDO) […]
A Few Law Schools Come to Their Senses, Start Offering Accounting Boot Camps
“Lawyers, because they work for and with business people, think that they’re good at business. Lawyers are NOT good business people.”
AICPA Making it Rain (on College Students)
Since 2011, the AICPA's Legacy Scholars program has put much-needed scholarship cash into the hands of worthy students. The program also "uses service work to help them develop the soft skills, including leadership and communications, needed to maintain a successful career," which is something every accounting student could use scholarship aside. Let's take a look: […]
Let’s End the Big 4 or Bust Myth Once and For All
It’s recruiting season on campuses all across America; that special time of year when accounting students get a taste of what it’s like to be a five-star middle linebacker — minus the “hostesses,” envelopes stuffed with cash, and any semblance of athletic ability. For you soon-to-be graduates deciding on your first employer, however, recruiting season […]
The CGMA Blog is Excited About the CGMA Exam
Because of course they are. Excited? About an exam? Seriously? Yes, seriously. As studious and determined people with big dreams and ambitious life goals, we’re used to being tasked with reciting formulas, choosing the best answer and memorizing large quantities of information in order to prove our aptitude in traditional school subjects. But how do […]