Yes, something happened on the way to the accounting forum -- but it isn't very funny. About five to 10 years ago, accounting graduates commanded some of the highest starting salaries, typically trailing only some engineering programs. Now accounting graduates are among the lowest paid in the college of business. How the mighty have fallen!

Details about this predicament have come from Steve Albrecht and Robert Sack. In their recent American Accounting Association monograph, these professors document that nationwide accounting programs are off approximately 20 percent. While several reasons exist to explain this phenomenon, the most important seems to be the paltry salary offers.

Not only have salaries failed to keep up with those in finance and MIS and other areas, prospects appear low that they will rise in the near future. Some professors in academia insist that this problem is only temporary, that labor markets will discover the smaller number of accounting graduates and increase salaries accordingly, and equilibrium will resume. Not so fast my friends -- you've been studying market efficiency too long!

This state of affairs has nothing to do with a temporary market imbalance between supply and demand; instead, there has been a structural change in accounting labor markets. Accounting firms, especially the Big Five, have abandoned accounting programs. Instead of hiring rookies out of universities, they are recruiting individuals with two to four years of corporate experience. We academics should have believed KPMG when it mailed us that letter a couple of years ago saying that it would cut the number of new hires in half.

While we could sit around some table in our favorite coffee shop and bemoan life and its problems, there are more productive things to do rather than crying over spilt latte. I have a few suggestions for juniors and seniors in accounting.

First, don't lose hope. Accounting degrees still have great worth even if they aren't valued by accounting firms. Other entities place great significance on your degree.

Second, I suggest that you forget the Big Five for your first job. If they insist on paying low salaries, walk away. Plenty of corporations will pay you what you are worth. Examine the companies at which finance majors are looking. If you are a good student, you should be able to compete with the finance majors for these jobs.

Third, keep in mind that the Big Five actually do have one good point: accounting programs are not preparing you adequately for the real world. Faculty usually teach accounting well enough, but there's more to business than accounting. Use your electives to take courses in MIS, finance, public speaking, technical writing, and computers. With a good background in accounting plus these electives, you will get the job of your choice at a premium salary.

Fourth, if you really want a job in public accounting look for it two to four years after you have worked in corporate America. At that time the Big Five will make you a good offer.

Fifth, forget the 150-hour program. Everybody realizes that such a program doesn't really provide any benefits but forces students to incur a high cost. If you enter public accounting and you live in a state that requires the extra year of schooling, negotiate with the Big Five. Tell them that they created this worthless degree, so they should pay for it.

So the accounting forum isn't bad after all. Just different.

More by J. Edward Ketz