Comment on this Article

Accounting Grads Flood the Job Market Employee-hungry accounting firms have a lot more to feast on as the most graduates in at least 36 years hit the streets.

Marie Leone, CFO.com | US
May 8, 2008

Salary Correction

Mr. Van Loon is correct -- young accountants are paid well, but are bested by a few other young guns. Thanks for pointing out the error -- we have corrected the story accordingly.

Posted by Marie Leone | May 23, 2008 11:19 AM ET

Starting Salaries

The article is incorrect in saying that Accounting Services salaries are second only to Engineering Services. If you read the source, accounting is actually 4th. The table does not list the starting salaries in descending order, but instead a random order. Petroleum & Coal Products ($59,227), Engineering ($56,114), and Consulting Services ($55,262) all top the $49,085 starting salary for accounting.

Posted by Kevin Van Loo | May 23, 2008 10:01 AM ET

pass rate statistics

To answer someone's question, see below URL with CPA exam pass stats.

Pass rate actually going up. Personally, I think it is easier now under the newer format to take it module-by-module and really focus studies on that one module.

http://www.mncpa.org/career/Becoming_a_CPA/cpa-exam-statistics.asp

Posted by Jason Clark | May 9, 2008 11:47 AM ET

starting salaries

The difficulty with such high starting salaries is that the cost can not be passed on to the customer. The new graduates are not capable of handling an audit or review engagement without significant supervision. Larger firms can absorb this training cost, but smaller ones cannot.

Posted by Patricia Kahn. | May 9, 2008 11:40 AM ET

CPA pass rate

I believe the CPA exam pass rate is declining. Can someone confirm this? Could that mean more graduates of poorer quality?

Posted by Hassen Al-Shawaf | May 8, 2008 5:16 PM ET