In the early 1990s, college accounting enrollments nationwide dried up. Lured by the promise of greater pay on Wall Street, college students switched their majors to finance. Schools went from graduating 62,000 accounting students nationally to a low of 44,000.
Fast forward to 2010 and the trend has done a 180 degree turn. Thanks to a job market that's better than most sectors and a decade of recruiting programs designed to attract students into the accounting profession, accounting enrollments are now at all-time highs. Ironically, the attention heaped upon the accounting profession following the Enron and Worldcom debacles, and the subsequent passage of Sarbanes-Oxley, helped drive students toward accounting, not away as many had feared.
But despite the recruiting successes of the past 10 years, the NJSCPA, the AICPA and other state CPA societies continue to educate college students and CPA-exam candidates about the path to becoming a CPA and the multiple career opportunities in the profession.
Membership organizations like ours are concerned about members of the Boomer generation, who currently dominate the accounting profession, exiting the workforce in droves in the next 10 years. As the years tick by, more and more Boomers will retire, leaving the leadership reins in many organizations up for grabs.
Here are just a few of the NJSCPA's and AICPA's programs designed to keep the CPA pipeline pumping:
- Pay It Forward - The NJSCPA encourages members to spend a couple hours of their time talking to high school students at their local school, alma mater or in their community. Last year, more than 100 member volunteers reached over 9,000 New Jersey students. The program takes place every November and we're currently looking for volunteers.
- “Who Wants to be a CPA” - Our tongue-and-cheek spoof of the popular game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, “Who Wants to be a CPA” shows the advantages of being a CPA and member of the NJSCPA. The video will be shown to accounting majors during the Society's visits to local colleges and universities. The video will be unveiled soon.
- CPA Exam Cram - Gain some insight from aspiring CPAs studying for and taking the CPA Exam.
- CPA Exam Study Session - Join us for this unique program on Tuesday, November 16, from 6:00 to 9:00pm in the Roseland office.
- ThisWaytoCPA.com - A companion to the AICPA’s popular website, StartHereGoPlaces.com, which educates high school students about accounting careers.