Factors that Determine the Decision to Major in Accounting: A Survey of Accounting Graduates

Abstract

Demand for accounting professionals is currently strong and is expected to remain so into the foreseeable future. As accounting programs help satisfy demand, recruiting and retaining the best students is important. While existing research has examined what factors lead students to choose accounting as a major, research on the success of recruitment and retention efforts is minimal. This paper examines the success of recruitment and retention efforts by the accounting department at a state university in the southeast. Each semester the department recruits successful students enrolled in the first introductory accounting course, with the goal of encouraging high performing students to consider majoring in accounting. Once students become accounting majors, follow up occurs with out-of-the-classroom opportunities in students’ junior and senior years. A survey of graduates was conducted to determine the perceived usefulness of the recruitment and retention efforts. Results indicate that the efforts are perceived by graduates as valuable. Other programs looking for ways to enhance recruitment and retention efforts may find ideas herein.