Master’s Degrees in Accounting Are on the Rise. Here’s Why.
Credit: d3sign / Getty Images- 72% of master of accounting programs reported growth in applications in 2024, the GMAC reported.
- That growth follows a period of decline.
- Job security, pay, and innovation are all helping to drive demand.
- Some master’s in accounting programs are geared toward students who don’t have an undergraduate degree in accounting.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to shake up the accounting industry, just as accounting master’s programs are on the rise.
New Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) data paints a positive picture of master’s of accounting programs in 2024 after years of decline: 72% of U.S. master of accounting programs reported growth in applications last year.
That’s far higher than 43% in 2023, 34% in 2022, 30% in 2021, and 51% in 2020.
The GMAC found in its survey of prospective students that global interest in master’s accounting programs fell from 16% of candidates considering the degree in 2014 to 8% in 2023, although it rebounded slightly in 2024 after a long period of stagnation.
The application growth also comes with increased hiring plans from employers. The 2024 GMAC survey of corporate recruiters found a year-over-year increase in employers’ hiring plans for master of accounting graduates.
That trend is also reflected in Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which shows employment for accountants and auditors is projected to grow faster than the average for all U.S. occupations from 2023-2033.
Why Are Accounting Degrees in Demand?
New technologies like AI are changing accounting.
They’re automating much of the compliance and minute work that accountants have long done. But experts in accounting are still in demand to interpret and advise even as technology boosts efficiency in the sector.
Courtney Knoll, a professor of accounting and associate dean of the master of accounting program at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, said in an interview that the nature of accounting work is changing.
“We’re becoming less focused on compliance aspects, as technology can be leveraged to do some of that, and increasingly leaning into our role as trusted advisors,” Knoll told BestColleges.
Knoll said some of the factors motivating more students to head into accounting could be the rise of starting salaries in entry-level positions over the past few years.
“The market just absolutely demanded it, as fewer students were going into accounting and into other fields that we’re paying more,” Knoll said.
Kaci Kegler, managing director of one-year master’s programs at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, said accounting’s job security also appeals to students.
“Students are aware that it’s a very reliable field that’s always going to be needed no matter what’s happening in the economy,” Kegler told BestColleges in an interview.
“So sometimes, when there is economic uncertainty or changes politically, students see that as a very safe field to choose.”
Kegler also noted that there’s a surge in employer demand as accountants retire.
A national shortage of qualified accountants exists across the country, with state governments stepping in to try to make certified public accountants (CPA) licensure more modernized and accessible to students.
“We’re really starting to see a big retirement gap in the field of accounting,” she said. “So I do think that the public accounting firms are doing a lot to make it known that jobs are ample, and that they really need a lot of talent.”
Accounting for All
Kenan-Flagler and Ross are also at the forefront of a growing trend in accounting education: making graduate degrees accessible to students who didn’t major in accounting during their undergraduate years.
Knoll said Kenan-Flagler has geared its master’s in accounting program toward non-accounting undergrads for decades, and she’s recently seen more schools make their programs more accessible for non-accounting majors.
“I think some other programs are starting to take a page out of that playbook and recognize that the easier we can make the pathway for students into accounting, the better it is for everybody,” Knoll said.
Ross has done the same. Kegler said the school doesn’t have an undergraduate degree in accounting, so it’s always made its program accessible to students without an undergraduate specialization in the field.
“We have really had to embrace the economics, the mathematics, the statistics, the music majors who have taken accounting for non-accounting majors, accounting for non-business majors,” Kegler said.
That openness to students of all backgrounds still translates to success in the field. Both Kenan-Flagler and Ross see high graduate placement ratings with the “Big Four” accounting firms — Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC.
As for emerging technologies, Knoll said AI helps with the more mundane — and at times tedious — parts of accounting, so that professional accountants can work more with clients and focus on their advisory work.
“Those are the parts that make accounting fun and interesting and valuable, and so the technology lets us do more, and then more of that, and less of the stuff we don’t want to spend our time doing,” Knoll said.