A major problem facing the accounting profession today is the shrinking pool of accounting school graduates from which to recruit. An obstacle accounting educators must overcome in recruiting students is a misguided perception that (1) accounting as a profession offers narrow career opportunities and (2) accounting positions do not offer variety in the type of work performed. While anecdotal evidence exists that an accounting degree provides broad training suitable for a variety of business careers, this proposition has not been well-established empirically. The purpose of our research is to determine whether students majoring in accounting are favorably recruited for general entry-level business positions.
The research resulted in several findings. The most notable was that accounting majors are significantly preferred by recruiters over general business majors for general entry-level management positions. A second result was that students with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree were not significantly preferred over those with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree. This second result, however, was strongly influenced by the effect of accounting as an undergraduate major. For example, an accounting major with only a BBA received a higher mean recruitment rating than a student with an MBA (having general business as the undergraduate major).
The motivation for our research is the potential to enhance the efforts of attracting students into accounting programs. Our findings provide evidence that selecting accounting for an undergraduate major offers a variety of career alternatives. Not only does this result have positive implications for recruiting students to major in accounting, but it also reinforces the efforts of IMA and the AICPA in promoting accountants as professionals possessing a variety of business skills.
Read more...
