Does Anyone Really Want to Be an Accountant? A Tailgate Survey

Last Saturday I was part of that great autumnal experience – tail-gating and a football game at a major American university.

For non-US readers perhaps unfamiliar, the rituals partake of religious cults: Adherents converge in vast throngs, dressed in exotic pilgrims’ vestments of bizarre colors. They drink copiously of the sacred brew, they invoke the spirits of sunny weather and the glow of victory, and they noisily exhort their muscular youth to inspired feats of glory.

Secondary to its storied gridiron history, this school is also a major supplier of feedstock to the accounting profession’s voracious appetite for new recruits, through its large departments of accounting and finance.

So because my generation’s children have grown to be college students and fresh alumni, the convivial afternoon gatherings around grills and coolers in the stadium parking lot also gave a chance for some rough field research on that age group’s attitude toward their studies and the state of the profession’s process of self-renewal – first-hand inquiry of bright young graduates prepared for the bottom rung of a new career ladder.

Caleb Newquist, Francine McKenna and the Junior Deputy Accountant give a lot more attention to the dynamics and travails of the firms’ recruiting and retention issues than I can. But the results of four discussions amid the marching bands and the waving pennants, although plainly anecdotal and unscientific, do give pause:

• One new accounting graduate, having spent a Big Four internship assigned to the box ticking of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work, was bailing out on debits and credits altogether and re-orienting for law school.
  
• A second, well into a master’s program under-written by a large firm where his job offer awaits, is primarily motivated to obtain his degree and pass the CPA exam by the salary bonuses that are promised at each step.
• The youngest new alumna, celebrating her last weekend before reporting to be junior audit staff in a major-city office of another of the Big Four, expressed her ambiguity in the phrase, “My life is about to be over!"
  
•  Meanwhile the eldest of the group, an ex-survivor of three staff years in yet another large firm, is wildly happy having moved to a new position as financial controller at a division of one of her former clients.

A large-firm leader once put it to me that the main purpose of hiring new university graduates is to cultivate staff accountants to become the next generation of managers and partners. If so – although the depth of malaise revealed by my brief survey of this decade’s best and brightest may not generalize – neither is it cause for confidence in the profession’s ability to stay on top of the talent level demanded for the retention of its reputation and credibility.

Those engaged with both our students and our future are advised accordingly.

Postscript:

Our celebration took place at a leading church-affiliated school, seriously conservative in its theology, culture and politics. Although it would never condone the burning of a Koran, it is likewise not likely to permit the opening of a mosque on its campus any time soon.

For all the atavistic hoopla around the game, Saturday was also the ninth anniversary of September 11. It was an affecting moment, to stand with 80,000 people in a moment of silence for all the casualties of that awful day, to join in a prayer of remembrance, and to unite in the nation’s anthem while our flag was raised high and lowered in honor to half-staff.

In that context, the home team’s inability to hold off the visitors’ last-minute scoring drive for the win seemed not to matter quite so much.

 

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Comments

[Edith Orenstein]

Jim,
Very meaningful post, and postscript. Someone should share this with Paul Volcker, I thought he made a lot of sense when he served on ACAP and was critical of the lack of engineering majors interested in improving the infrastructure of this country, vs. financial engineers (not that we don't perhaps need both, but there was a shortage in one area, and an overflow in the other). This would also be of interest to the new AAA-AICPA committee addressing educational issues.

[Jim]

Thanks Edith. As we all give you credit for knowing where the levers are, there inside the Beltway, this will authorize you to use all your stroke with Volcker.
Jim

[Dean Fuhrman]

As time passes, my memory has faded, but nonetheless herewith: I do not think those comments vary substantially from those of my generation (graduated 1977 ... man that sounds so long ago).

Perhaps we were just cynical back then coming off of events (almost) rivaling today's in terms of lows for the country.

[Joe]

Perhaps I can offer a counter-insight to some of the views expressed here.

I am also part of a conservative Christian university environment, pursuing my masters' degree in accountancy. My undergraduate degree was in finance and most of my internship work before the accounting was in IT.

Currently I'm doing an international billing internship with a Big 4 firm. It's a lot of debits, credits, accruals, etc. I'm in the middle of recruiting season and could not be more excited about starting my career.

A notable difference from myself and accounting "majors" was that I had very little of the debit/credit work and was much more experienced on the IT side. As such, I was recruited into the masters' program to go after controls, systems weaknesses, etc.

It is entirely possible that some of the accounting student malaise is due to the fact that students are expected to unofficially start preparing themselves for recruitment at 19 with internships and coursework. I did something I was passionate about, then moved to accounting because it was a wonderful fit.

[jerry]

I don't know how to respond to this post.

I can lose the forest for the trees and note that accounting is steady, but low-paid in comparison to many higher-prestige and higher-pay finance jobs. If you really want a business career, many others have more to offer.

I could, conversely, get broader and note that choosing accounting as a career is almost always a pragmatist's choice. How many can actually call accounting a calling? I can't. After 15 years as an accountant, I can, with solid assurance, say I know of not one who can. Do something you love instead. You and society will be better off.

[jerry]

P.S. I have a lot of experience with grads from the thinly-veiled university of which you speak. In fact, I married one. While I applaud the university for keeping the game outcome in context with respect to the harsh realities of the historical significance of the date, I have to note that the university's homogenous student body probably doesn't help them develop the diverse attitudes and experiences that will be necessary to help the country heal from the wound of 9/11.

[International internship]

Every business, whether large or small, already established or just starting, successful or not,involves some kind of accounting.I can lose the forest for the trees and note that accounting is steady, but low-paid in comparison to many higher-prestige and higher-pay finance jobs. If you really want a business career, many others have more to offer.

[Sarah]

This was an interesting post. I didn't realize that accountants faced these realities, though it does make sense now. Thanks for sharing and all the best!

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