Just when I was thinking of not doing accounting anymore (I'm a second year undergrad at UT Austin), I read this article... I hear that finance majors are having a hard time finding a job after graduating, and accounting majors (esp. PPA majors at UT) have no problem getting a job...anyone know anything about this? link Based on the number of college freshman who are making it their career choice, accounting is the new 'sexy' college major. Yes, accounting. It's now the most in-demand major on college campuses, according to both AccountingWeb.com and the Job Outlook 2005 survey, conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Why is it so popular? Academics say the numerous corporate accounting scandals over the last few years have piqued the interest of today's students. Add to that new regulations that are a result of those scandals, and the number of jobs, especially for auditors, has skyrocketed. AccountingWeb.com cites these statistics from the Wall Street Journal: The number of accounting degrees awarded nationwide in 2003 jumped 11 percent from 2002. The largest accounting program in the nation, at Florida International University in Miami, saw a 43 percent increase in student enrollment between 2000 and 2003. The University of Michigan saw a 76 percent increase in accounting master's students over the past three years. The University of Illinois, one of the nation's biggest producers of accountants, saw a 66 percent increase in undergraduate accounting majors from 2001 to 2004. "What this tells us is there's no such thing as bad publicity," Ira Solomon, head of the department of accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign told AccountingWeb.com. "All the focus on accounting created a perception to students that accounting matters and is perhaps even sexy." There's just one problem on the horizon: Accounting professors are retiring in droves, and there is no one to take their place. According to the American Accounting Association, there are more than twice as many faculty openings as there are applicants. The top 10 most in-demand college majors: Accounting Electrical engineering Mechanical engineering Business administration/management Economics/finance Computer science Computer engineering Marketing/marketing management Chemical engineering Information sciences and systems
Baqui, I know you went to UT, so do you know how much starting pay for PPA graduates is, as opposed to finance majors?
Not sure about PPA, but I know that the CPAs are much more marketable, and command at least $60-65K, if not more.
At the end of the day, in order to be successful in the real world in business, you have to know accounting at a relatively decent leve. Even if you don't want to be an accountant in the sense that you do people's taxes or audits, you still need to know basic (and more in-depth accounting), so take at least two intro classes.
Georgia Southern requires all buisness students to take Accounting 2101 before they can even choose a specific major beyond pre-business. It is the only accounting class required for all business majors.
You may want to consider other factors besides simply which major pays the most out of college. Accounting is incredibly boring and you will work with other geek accountants.
I thought we stopped calling people geeks, dorks, etc. once we graduated college. Hell, make that high school.
ok fine, I shouldn't paint with such a broad brush. I do in fact know some fairly cool accountants, but also many geeks.
An Accounting major is so boring. If you want an exciting major that you will find a fun job after college with try Parapsychology.
The major I would go with that utilizes accounting, finance and law would be Sports Management. I took a class in college that was Sports Law 101, with a management twist as well. It was pretty fun. Should have taken more.
