Accounting enrollments spike

The accounting world just got some good news.

Undergraduate accounting enrollments are up by double digits for the second straight semester, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In fall 2024, undergrad enrollments climbed by 12% year over year, the Journal of Accountancy reported, reaching their highest levels since fall 2020. The spring semester of 2025 has seen a similar jump, with enrollments up by another 12% year over year.

Enrollments at two-year colleges rose a remarkable 24% over spring 2024. At four-year colleges, they were up 11%.

Even master’s degree programs in accounting appear to be on the rise: Almost three-quarters of programs had more applications in 2024 than they did the previous year, Graduate Management Admission Council survey data shows.

The new data hints at a reversal of a decade-long trend of declining accounting enrollments. Data from the AICPA’s biennial Trends survey, last released in 2023, showed that enrollments fell 16.9% in the time period spanning 2012–2022. In the 2021–22 school year, bachelor’s graduates in accounting dropped a worrying 7.8%.

Students’ perceptions of accounting: Efforts on the part of the AICPA and other organizations to boost perceptions of accounting may be paying off. An AICPA pulse survey of 786 accounting majors this April showed that around 80% of students had been to an event featuring an accounting professional. Around two-thirds (62%) said the event swayed their choice of major.

Students also appear to be getting the message that accounting can be a pathway to stable, well-paying jobs. Two-thirds of the accounting majors surveyed said that high demand for accounting jobs was a top reason for their choice of career path, and 56% said earning potential was. (Fingers crossed that AI won’t dim these students’ job prospects.)