"The existing requirements are not barriers. Most students aren't even aware of the requirements to become a CPA," Scott Taylor, president of The Taylor Research & Consulting Group, explained at the American Institute's Fall Council Meeting in Las Vegas on Monday.

The meeting of the 263-member Council, which is being held in Las Vegas' Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, was held Monday and Tuesday. The Council meets twice a year, in the fall and the spring, and is responsible for establishing policy for the Institute.

In an effort to find out why students are losing interest in the profession and how to reverse this trend, the AICPA commissioned the research group earlier this year to conduct a study among high school and college students. Research consisted of nine focus groups among high school and college students in four cities nationwide. In addition, 2,174 telephone interviews with high school and college students were conducted. The results, which many in the profession may find unnerving, were presented to members of the Council on Monday.

According to Taylor, the survey finds that the number of college students majoring in accounting dropped from 4 percent in 1990 to 2 percent in 2000. And among high school students, only 1 percent plan on majoring in accounting, compared to 4 percent in 1990.

Why the downward spiral? Taylor said "student ignorance, misinformation and negative perceptions" of the profession are to blame -- not the licensing exam, 150 hours and continuing education requirements.

"Accountants are seen by students as doing boring, tedious, monotonous number-crunching," said Taylor, who added that more than one-third of high school and college students do not know what a CPA does.

Taylor said that 35 percent of high schools don't even offer accounting courses, while the 65 percent that do are not painting an accurate picture of the accounting world. Taylor said the "accounting courses currently offered by high schools are remedial in nature and therefore do not create the type of interest necessary to increase the number of accounting majors."

But there's hope.

"The data suggests there are major opportunities to reverse this trend," he said.

In order to overcome these challenges, said Taylor, the profession must: reach out to young people earlier, even before high school; it must work to improve the profession's image and stress to students it is not a world of solitude, taxes, and basic bookkeeping; it must work to make the curriculum more relevant and engaging; and broaden the credential itself.

"Kids see an MBA as limitless and a CPA credential as limited," said Taylor.

-- By Antoinette Alexander

Send comments to information@smartpros.com

Back to NewsLine