Rules Spur Demands for Accountants
By: Barbara Hagenbaugh
2005, USA Today
While many professions have been slow to hire, accounting firms have been
adding to their payrolls, leading to greater pay and perks for the nation's bean
counters. In the last three months of 2004, the number of people working as
accountants or bookkeepers rose 2.4%, nearly five times the rate of increase in
jobs economy wide, according to the government.
''It's clearly one of the hottest markets (for
accountants) that I've seen,'' says Brent Inman of
PricewaterhouseCoopers. On-campus hiring by his firm in 2004 was up 45% from two
years earlier and is expected to grow 20% this year. Hiring of experienced
accountants has been growing at a similar rate.
The increases are mostly attributed to the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law, which
created new government standards in the wake of accounting scandals, most
notably at energy giant Enron, and led to a greater need for accountants.
The job growth has sparked greater interest in accounting on college
campuses. In the 2002-03 academic year, the most recent data, nearly 50,000
students received either bachelors’ or masters’ degrees in accounting, up
11% from the prior year and the largest number in seven years, according to the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
But the increase in students still can't keep up with demand.
''There are still a lot of seats that need to be filled,'' says William
Hogan, a partner at accounting firm John R. Waters in Chicago.
Accountants are increasingly able to call the shots when looking for jobs.
They're demanding higher pay, flexible work arrangements and even signing
bonuses. Hogan says annual pay for entry-level accountants at his firm rose
approximately $10,000 to between $50,000 and $55,000 in two years.