Accounting remains a large U.S. professional-services field, with 1,579.8 thousand accountants and auditors projected for 2024 and 1,652.6 thousand projected for 2034. The industry also combines a broad employer base, substantial annual hiring needs, rising accounting enrollment, and major differences in pay and professional-exam outcomes.
Contents
- Employment outlook and annual openings
- Pay across the accounting profession
- Education, work requirements, and workplace conditions
- Accounting education and graduate hiring
- CPA firms, fees, partners, and exam performance
- Industry establishments and payroll employment
- Global professional-services networks
Employment outlook and annual openings
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Projections Table 1.2 projects 1,579.8 thousand accountants and auditors in 2024. By 2034, the projection reaches 1,652.6 thousand, an increase of 72.8 thousand jobs. That is projected growth of 4.6% from 2024 to 2034.
The same BLS projection identifies 124.2 thousand annual openings for accountants and auditors over the 2024–2034 period. Annual openings are a measure of recurring labor-market demand over the projection window, while the 72.8-thousand figure describes the expected net increase in employment.
For small businesses, these figures describe the broader talent market that supplies bookkeeping, tax, assurance, financial reporting, and advisory work. They do not measure the number of small-business clients or the number of accounting practices serving them.
Pay across the accounting profession
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reported a median annual wage of $81,680 for accountants and auditors in May 2024. Pay varied substantially across the distribution: the lowest 10% earned less than $52,780, while the highest 10% earned more than $141,420.
The BLS also reported different median wages by industry for May 2024. The highest listed median was in finance and insurance at $87,980. Management of companies and enterprises followed at $86,010. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals, had a median of $81,120. Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services had a median of $80,510.
| Employment setting | Median annual wage, May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Finance and insurance | $87,980 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | $86,010 |
| Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals | $81,120 |
| Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services | $80,510 |
These are occupation-level medians for accountants and auditors within the listed settings, not revenue or profit measures for the businesses themselves. A firm’s staffing costs can also include other occupations and benefits that are not represented by these medians.
Education, work requirements, and workplace conditions
The BLS Occupational Requirements Survey (ORS) reported that a bachelor’s degree was required for 91.3% of accountants and auditors in 2025. Prior work experience was required for 70.7%, and on-the-job training was required for 74.1%.
Telework was routinely allowed for 68.4% of accountants and auditors in 2025. Work was self-paced for 73.5%, while work was controlled by people for 26.2%. Schedules varied for 34.9%.
The ORS also reported that the ability to pause work and take brief unscheduled breaks was present for more than 99.5% of accountants and auditors. A supervisor was present in the immediate work area for 50.2%, and supervising others applied to 21.3%.
Physical and environmental measures show a predominantly seated occupation. Accountants and auditors spent 96.2% of the workday sitting on average in 2025 and 3.8% standing. Speaking was required for more than 99.5%. Driving was required for 12.1%, climbing structure-related ramps or stairs for 4.2%, and performing work in low postures for 2.0%.
Noise exposure was classified as quiet for 38.3% and moderate for 61.7% of accountants and auditors. These ORS percentages describe measured job requirements and conditions for the occupation in 2025; they are not claims about every accounting workplace.
Accounting education and graduate hiring
The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) reported 266,507 undergraduate accounting students in spring 2025. That was an increase of 29,312 students, or 12%, from the prior year. Two-year institutions accounted for 77,936 students, while four-year institutions accounted for 188,571.
The AICPA’s fall 2025 enrollment release reported 313,397 total postsecondary accounting students. Undergraduate accounting enrollment grew 7.3% year over year, and four-year undergraduate programs reached 204,283 students. Graduate accounting enrollment reached 25,580. One in eight undergraduate business students majored in accounting in fall 2025.
The same AICPA release reported that accounting enrollment rose 11.3% year over year in fall 2024, following a 1.9% increase in fall 2023. Undergraduate enrollment at four-year programs rose 7.4% in fall 2025.
The education pipeline and hiring pipeline did not move uniformly. The AICPA 2025 Trends hiring release reported that public accounting firms responding to its survey hired 11,985 new graduates in 2024. Accounting graduates represented 75% of those new hires. Among firms that hired in 2024, 75% expected to hire the same amount or more in 2025, while 18% anticipated lower hiring.
At the same time, accounting degree output declined in academic year 2023–24. Accounting graduates with bachelor’s or master’s degrees fell to 55,152. Bachelor’s degree earners totaled 40,817, and master’s or taxation degree earners totaled 14,335. Total accounting graduate output fell 6.6%, bachelor’s degree output fell 3.3%, and master’s degree output fell about 15%.
CPA firms, fees, partners, and exam performance
The AICPA 2025 Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey received information from more than 1,400 CPA firms, with 1,073 firms completing the survey. Firms with revenue of $5 million and below supplied 81% of responses. The survey reported median total net client-fee growth of 6.7% in 2025, compared with 9.1% in the 2023 MAP survey.
Several partner and compensation measures also increased. Net remaining per partner or owner rose 11.9%, from $225,725 in fiscal 2022 to $252,663 in fiscal 2024. Compensation per equity partner increased 10.2% overall. Over two years, the median average salary for a new accounting graduate with a bachelor’s degree rose to $60,834, while the comparable figure for a new accounting graduate with a master’s degree rose to $67,750.
The AICPA’s 2025 CPA Exam pass-rate release reported different cumulative results by section:
| CPA Exam section | 2025 cumulative pass rate |
|---|---|
| AUD | 48.21% |
| FAR | 42.12% |
| REG | 63.12% |
| BAR | 41.94% |
| ISC | 67.79% |
| TCP | 77.65% |
For comparison, the AICPA reported 24Q1 2024 pass rates of 44.63% for AUD, 41.92% for FAR, 63.42% for REG, 42.94% for BAR, 50.93% for ISC, and 82.36% for TCP. The periods and reporting labels differ, so these figures should be read as reported results rather than a single continuous trend calculation.
Industry establishments and payroll employment
The U.S. Census Bureau Profile for industry group 54121 reported 137,069 employer establishments in 2023 for accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services. Within the more specific profiles, tax preparation services had 28,762 employer establishments, payroll services had 5,556, and other accounting services had 47,699.
For context, professional, scientific, and technical services as a broader industry group had 989,182 employer establishments in 2023. These categories have different scopes, so the broader total should not be treated as an accounting-industry subtotal.
The BLS Current Employment Statistics Table B-1b reported 1,221.2 thousand nonfarm payroll employees in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services in January 2024. The figure was 1,239.5 thousand in April 2024, while the table reported a net April change of negative 2.5 thousand. Establishment counts and payroll employment measure different aspects of the market: one describes employer locations or businesses, while the other describes payroll jobs at the reported time.
The Census Bureau’s accounting-industry profile also contained a reference to offices of certified public accountants within the industry-profile context. The supplied profile data did not provide a separate quantified establishment total for that category, so no separate count is assigned here.
Global professional-services networks
Large professional-services networks show the scale of the upper end of the accounting and advisory market. PwC firms around the world reported gross revenues of US$55.4 billion for FY24, with revenue growth of 4.3% in U.S. dollars. PwC’s workforce grew to more than 370,000 people in 149 countries, and the network served 86% of Fortune Global 500 companies.
PwC announced US$3.6 billion of new investment in FY24, including US$1.5 billion to expand AI capabilities. Its alliance partner wins grew by 24.5% in FY24. These are global network figures and investment announcements, not measurements of U.S. small-business accounting practices.
Deloitte reported aggregate global revenue of US$67.2 billion for FY2024. Its revenue increased 3.6% in U.S. dollars and 3.1% in local currency. Deloitte’s workforce expanded to approximately 460,000 globally in FY2024.
Together, the employment, education, firm, and wage measures show an industry with a large domestic workforce and employer base, continuing projected demand, expanding recent enrollment, and a wide range of firm sizes. The global network figures provide scale context, while the BLS, AICPA, and Census measures describe distinct U.S. labor, education, practice-management, and establishment dimensions.