Public accounting firms employ almost 22,000 new grads.

A total of 21,990 new accounting graduates started their careers with CPA firms in 1993, according to the American Institute of CPAs' annual survey of colleges, universities and CPA firms, The Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits--1994.

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"Assuming the economy gradually continues to improve, we expect to see a modest increase in the number of new accounting graduates hired by public accounting firms," said Rick Elam, AICPA vice-president--education.

Supply and Demand, prepared by the Institute's academic and career development division, is based on surveys of all U.S. colleges and universities that offer accounting programs and of CPA firms and sole practitioners affiliated with the Institute. Although initially 1,139 schools were surveyed, because some of them produced very few accounting graduates the report includes responses from 864 schools.

On the demand side, 6,506 of the 21,191 firms contacted responded to the questionnaires. Respondents ranged in size from firms with more than 200 AICPA members to those with fewer than 10 members.

According to the report, the number of new employees with bachelor's degrees in accounting decreased slightly, from 19,870 in 1992 to 19,320, while the number of those who had master's degrees rose slightly (from 2,650 to 2,670).

In responding to today's changing business environment and the needs of their clients, CPA firms increasingly are hiring staff with a broad range of educational backgrounds, in addition to those with degrees in accounting. Thus, 18% of the graduates hired had majors in subjects other than accounting. Of this group, 39% had nonbusiness degrees, 14% had degrees in management information systems, 9% had degrees in finance and 6% had law degrees; the remainder (32%) majored in a variety of other business subjects.

More than 80% of the firms said they hired about the same number of experienced recruits and paraprofessionals in 1993 as they had in 1992.

Although the report did not tell where the entire 1993 crop of accounting graduates found employment, it reported that business and industry attracted the highest percentage--28%. Public accounting took 26%, graduate school was the destination for 7%, government hired 5% and 2% took jobs with not-for-profit organizations. The remaining 32% went into other areas.

Among the findings from the schools:

The 1992-1993 total of 55,590 accounting graduates included 50,060 with bachelor's degrees, 5,330 with master's degrees and 200 PhDs. This represented an 8% decrease from the 1991-1992 number.

Both public and private schools in all parts of the United States reported declining numbers of accounting graduates with either bachelor's or master's degrees. At the master's level, about one-third fewer degrees in taxation and slightly less than half the number of MBAs in accounting were awarded, as compared with the previous academic year.

The survey also presented information about students in the pipeline. Nearly 180,000 were enrolled in bachelor's of accounting programs in 1992-1993, 55% of them females. Of the approximately 12,000 students enrolled in various master's of accounting or taxation programs, 46% were female, as were 39% of the 1,070 in PhD programs.

To order a copy of The Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits--1994 (product no. G00100JA) at no charge, write to the AICPA Order Department, P.O. Box 2209, Jersey City, New Jersey 07303-2209, or call (800) 862-4272.