PwC, which ranked third last year, leapfrogged past Deloitte & Touche to tie AA's ranking in the CPA Personnel Report's 19th annual Survey of Accounting Professors, CPA Personnel Report said. Firms are ranked by faculty in seven categories: outlook for business success, client service quality, technical reputation, staff training, compensation, career opportunity, and work/life balance.

PwC and AA both scored an eight overall on a scale of one to 10. D&T took third, with an overall score of 7.93, followed by Ernst & Young (7.89), KPMG (7.68), Grant Thornton (6.85), and BDO Seidman (6.78). This year marked the first significant decline since 1994 in the top seven firms' overall ratings, as well as declines in most individual category ratings, CPR noted.

"This is an era in which the accounting profession is waging a cutthroat battle to recruit talented young people, while the largest firms are undergoing major structural changes," commented CPR publisher Richard Ossoff. "Both of these factors seem to be impairing firms' reputation with university professors."

Accounting faculty also ranked the top schools for accounting programs. Professors ranked the University of Illinois, University of Texas, and Brigham Young first through third respectively for both undergrad and graduate programs, according to the report.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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