By almost anyone's accounting, accounting is making a comeback.

According to data from the American Institute of CPAs, the number of accounting degrees awarded nationwide in 2003 jumped 11 percent from the year before, to nearly 50,000 -making the days when the siren call of the dot-coms lured away many would-be CPAs seem like a distant memory.

The number of undergraduate accounting degrees awarded nationwide climbed 6 percent to just over 37,000 for the 2002-2003 academic year (the most recent for which data is available), while the number of graduate accounting degrees soared 30 percent, to 12,655.

Although last year's totals are still well below the peak levels of 1993 and 1994, when enrollments topped 60,000, executives at schools around the country offering accounting programs are optimistic, with many reporting significant increases for the 2004 academic year.

The AICPA numbers bode particularly well for public firms - 28 percent of undergraduates and 59 percent of graduate students took positions in public accounting firms. One-fifth of undergrads and nearly the same number (18 percent) of grad students took jobs in business and industry. (See chart, page 46.)

Leaders at accounting schools nationwide say that a number of factors - Sarbanes-Oxley, scandals such as those at Enron and WorldCom, and the economy - have all contributed to the growing ranks of future CPAs.

Four years ago, enrollment in both undergraduate and graduate accounting programs at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business hovered around 135 to 140 students combined. That number has crept up steadily to hit 220 this year.

"We didn't expect the numbers that we got this year. They're about 25 higher than we expected," said Ron Kucic, director of the school of accounting at Daniels. In addition, he said that the school's enrollments in a recently added combined finance and accounting degree have picked up, particularly among finance students who found that employers in the finance area want candidates with a basic accounting background.

"I think it's a few things," said Kucic. "The economy certainly has helped us. We've had jobs all along in Colorado. We've had no trouble placing our students - placements have been at 95 to 100 percent consistently for a number of years. We also drew away some students from technology and finance, areas we lost them to five or six years before."

For better or worse, Kucic said, "The visibility for the profession that came along with the accounting scandals helped. High school students figured out that maybe there's something important here and maybe the profession isn't what they thought it was, and they looked at it more closely."

Sarbanes-Oxley, which Kucic referred to as "accounting's full-employment act," also has been a factor. "The large firms simply can't get enough people," he said, adding, "I'm not sure how long that will last. It could just be a three- or four-year phenomenon until everyone gets sorted out as to how they're going to handle SOX. But some states are talking about their own versions of SOX," which could keep demand steady.

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