Students are into accounting, apparently. At least, according to a new report by the American Institute of CPAs which reveals those who graduated with accounting degrees in the 2007-2008 school year surpassed the previous year’s record level.

More than 66,000 students achieved bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, 3.5 percent higher than 2006-2007. Enrollments for the 2007-2008 school year in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs achieved a 4.7 percent boost over the previous year, with an aggregate total of 213,000 students.

The AICPA sent invitations to 955 colleges and universities granting accounting degrees and 4,941 firms of varying size. The response rate for colleges and universities was 25 percent, while the response rate for firms was eight percent. However, 63 percent of the largest firms surveyed responded.

Although the hiring of new graduates has declined overall as a result of the weakened economy, midsize/large regional firms (50 to 200 CPAs) did report an increase in recruiting new accountants.

As the U.S. capital market gets ready to transition to International Financial Reporting Standards, 80 percent of the accounting programs participating in the study reported that they currently offer IFRS material in their curricula and an additional 15 percent said they will add it by Fall 2009