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At a time when workers everywhere are feeling uneasy about the future of their jobs, and experts keep warning that white-collar careers could be the next casualty of AI, one unlikely field is coming out on top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Accounting, often dismissed as dull and number-heavy, has spent years struggling to attract young talent. The profession\u2019s aging workforce hasn\u2019t helped, and between 2019 and 2022, more than 300,000 accountants left<\/a> the field to move into other sectors, like finance and technology. That exodus forced firms to scramble to fill openings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the story is starting to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gen Z is starting to take notice of accounting. Fortune<\/a> recently reported that accounting is making a quiet comeback, with young workers gravitating towards a field that promises stability, steady demand and starting pay of around $75,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bigger picture in enrollment data makes the accounting rebound even clearer. In 2025, a total of 313,397 students enrolled in college accounting programs \u2014 up from 293,759 the year before, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center<\/a>, an educational research firm.<\/p>\n One student, Jack Blazevich, a 24-year-old who graduated from the University of Iowa in late 2024 with a degree in accounting, immediately found a job as an assurance associate at PwC, making nearly six figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have not talked to another accounting person who has a degree in accounting who cannot find a job,\u201d Blazevich told Fortune.<\/p>\n At the University of Iowa, 95% of the class of 2025\u2019s accounting graduates found a job or continued their education, with a median salary of $75,000, per Fortune. That\u2019s significantly higher than the 86% of bachelor\u2019s degree graduates<\/a> overall who were employed or enrolled in further education within six months of graduation, according to college research firm NACE.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Another Gen Z accounting major, Austin Price, graduated from Brigham Young University last spring. Price told Fortune that he and his accounting classmates \u201chad the luxury of choosing from multiple offers rather than worrying about whether we\u2019d land a job at all.\u201d Price now works in technology risk assurance at EY.\u00a0<\/p>\n AI, often cast as a threat to white-collar jobs, is changing accounting in ways that could make the field more appealing. According to a Stanford Graduate School of Business report<\/a>, AI is taking over mundane tasks like data entry, transaction matching and sorting through financial records, giving early-career professionals more time to focus on client relationships and analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report found that accountants using AI tools support more clients each week and close the books about 7.5 days faster than those relying on traditional methods. They also spend 8.5% less time on administrative work.<\/p>\n Still, AI could potentially replace accountants. A study<\/a> released last month from AI startup Anthropic suggests AI could take on more than 90% of the work typically done in math and business jobs \u2014 meaning fields like accounting, which blend the two, are right in the crosshairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n While AI has raised fears about white-collar job losses in fields like accounting, it\u2019s fueling a revival in blue-collar work. A 2025 report<\/a> from research firm Validated Insights projects that U.S. trade school enrollments will grow 6.6% per year \u2014 far faster than the 0.8% growth rate for overall higher education. At the same time, a 2025 FlexJobs poll<\/a> of more than 3,000 professionals found that 62% would consider taking a blue-collar job with better pay and stability over their current role.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n At a time when workers everywhere are feeling uneasy about the future of their jobs, and experts keep warning that white-collar careers could be the next casualty of AI, one unlikely field is coming out on top.\u00a0<\/p>\n Accounting, often dismissed as dull and number-heavy, has spent years struggling to attract young talent. The profession\u2019s aging workforce hasn\u2019t helped, and between 2019 and 2022, more than 300,000 accountants left<\/a> the field to move into other sectors, like finance and technology. That exodus forced firms to scramble to fill openings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the story is starting to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nAccounting students have exceptional job placement rates<\/h2>\n
AI is shaking up accounting<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
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