The AICPA and NASBA's Inadequate Response to Reaching 150 Hours

Seeking Win-Win Solutions for all Stake-holders, not a Zero-Sum Game

John “Jack” Castonguay, PhD, CPA (Va.)

According to the AICPA's 2023 Trends Report and identified in more recent articles in The CPA Journal, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Bloomberg, bachelor's degree completions in accounting have declined annually since the 2015/16 academic year (AICPA, 2023 Trends Report, https://www.nysscpa.org/2023-trends). The number of bachelor's degrees awarded has fallen 17% over that time, from 56,715 degrees in 2015/16 to 47,067 in the most recent academic reporting year, 2021/22. Over that same period, master's degrees in accounting have declined 21.2% (from 23,139 down to 18,238). More recently, hard data on the reasons for such declines has been found by the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ, “Increasing Diversity in the Accounting Profession Pipeline,” July 2023, https://tinyurl.com/j4v4unwb). Among the top reasons keeping students away from majoring in accounting are the following: lack of passion for the topic, the 150-hour requirement for CPA licensure, and low starting salaries for entry-level accounting professionals. Fewer accounting students leads to fewer CPA exam candidates (which have also fallen annually since 2016, according to the AICPA Trends Report) which leads to fewer CPAs. Fewer CPAs leads to fewer auditors and tax accountants.