Amid a long-awaited and encouraging uptick in accounting student enrollment comes a more alarming trend—fewer internships and entry-level jobs to go around. Whether due to economic uncertainty, evolving workforce strategies, outsourcing cost savings, or artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, many certified public accounting (CPA) firms appear to be reevaluating their approach to entry-level hiring.
Three years ago, accounting students enjoyed multiple internships and signing bonuses. In fact, more than 83% of DePaul University accounting graduates were hired for full-time positions last year by the 10 largest public accounting firms. The remainder went to smaller firms, corporations, or graduate schools.
This year, however, students are seeing a much different landscape: Signing bonuses have disappeared and full-time offers, even after an internship, are harder to come by.
“There was virtually no unemployment last year,” says Margaret Tower, CPA, MBA, senior instructor of accounting and director of the Office of Student Success and Engagement at DePaul University.
“What we’re seeing this year, unfortunately, is accounting students graduating without a job, and that’s very unusual.”
Even more unusual is the fact that interest in accounting degrees is rising at the same time. For instance, DePaul University saw a 10% increase in accounting student enrollment this year compared to last year, and enrollment for 2027 is trending even higher.
The Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), state educators, and firm leaders are seeing a similar trend. National statistics show that while interest in accounting careers is clearly growing, internships are more difficult to find, and not just in accounting but across a range of other professions.
Of course, this disconnect is colliding with the real challenges organizations face or will soon face filling experienced manager roles, raising a pressing question: What does the accounting profession risk if firms stop investing in internship programs?
According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse, accounting undergraduate enrollment rose for the third straight year in fall 2025. Overall accounting undergraduate enrollment grew by 7.3% year-over-year in the fall 2025 semester, following an 11.3% rise in fall 2024 and a 1.9% increase in fall 2023. That increase compares with a 1.2% increase in enrollment across all majors.
Tower believes incentives, such as flexible work arrangements and signing bonuses, are attracting younger talent into the profession, along with recent changes that expand CPA exam eligibility and introduce new pathways to CPA licensure. Additionally, firms have increased their hiring since the COVID-19 pandemic, and due to the shortage in accounting students then, internship and full-time salaries also increased.
Kari Natale, CAE, ICPAS’ chief operating and strategy officer, adds that coordinated efforts across the profession—highlighted by initiatives like the AICPA’s National Pipeline Advisory Group and Pipeline Pledge, the American Accounting Association Foundation’s Two-Year Bridge Symposium, and expanded high school outreach— have contributed to increased awareness about accounting.
The impact is also being seen in record-high interest across ICPAS’ student programs. For example, the Mary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program (MTWW IPP) attracted the largest applicant pool in its 14-year history. Scholarship applications are also up, as is increased student membership and participation overall. Yet, despite growing interest, Natale says she’s consistently hearing from students that they need help securing internships and full-time jobs.
Of course, the concerns aren’t just unique to Illinois. Nationally, internships across a range of professions are getting harder to find. Early-career job platform Handshake, which surveyed more than 6,000 students and recent graduates, reported that its internship postings declined by more than 15% between January 2023 and January 2025.
Meanwhile, competition for those internships is getting more intense. As of January 2025, 41% of 2025 graduates applied to at least one internship through Handshake, compared to 34% of 2023 graduates. Additionally, professional services internships saw a decline of 42% between 2023 and 2025.
Natale noticed declines in internships and job offers a few years ago. More than 85% of MTWW IPP participants typically received internship or full-time offers shortly after completing the program. Last year, just 17 of 49 students secured offers at that point, and so far this year, only three of 39 participants have secured offers at the time of writing this article. What’s more, several participating firms were unable to take part in interviews this year, and ICPAS also paused plans for its 2026 virtual career fair amid lower employer participation levels.
Further adding to the challenges are the ways in which firms recruit interns. Tower notes that firms have been recruiting for interns earlier, offering internships as much as two years in advance, which primarily benefits freshmen who are organized and committed to accounting. Students who declare accounting as their major later in their educational career may miss the window entirely.
Tower sees a couple of reasons behind the recent decline in intern and entry-level staff hiring. One is that firms are using AI to improve productivity by absorbing some of the more mundane work interns and young professionals historically performed. Another is that fewer early careerists are leaving their jobs, leaving fewer openings for others.
As Tower explains, graduates typically take jobs at larger firms, stay for 18 months or two years, and then leave for a smaller firm or industry. Now they’re staying put longer because the jobs don’t exist.
Despite many firms scaling back, the internship program landscape isn’t all bleak. Some firms are purposefully choosing to invest strategically in the next generation of accountants.
That’s simply the case for Minneapolis-based CLA, which has consistently attracted 900-1,000 interns annually across its 130 locations. The $2 billion firm converts up to 80% of its interns into full-time hires. The firm also launched a high school internship program four years ago, with 80 students enrolled this year, the biggest class since it started.
“At CLA we’re not thinking about early talent as a standalone recruiting program. We’re thinking of it as a front end of our workforce, both locally in our Chicago office and nationally,” says Kirthi Mani, CPA, chief people officer at CLA. “With the growth that we have in mind, that pipeline will increase. I can’t imagine how we can shrink it.”
Part of the reason CLA maintains its high level of internships and early hires is because the firm doesn’t outsource entry-level work, which is common practice at other large firms. Mani notes that CLA has invested $500 million into AI, but the investment is to automate pain points and not people.
Back at DePaul University, students are adapting to the (hopefully temporary) new normal.
Accounting students are going so far as to delay graduation in hopes of securing an internship that’ll lead to a full-time offer. Tower says she’s encouraging students to start working toward earning their CPA credentials while waiting for employment opportunities and/or to obtain a certificate in some type of technology program.
Tower is also encouraging students to cast a wider net in their job search and be more ready to compete through extensive networking, knowledge of the newest technologies, and sharpened professional skills, such as relationship building and communication. As Tower puts it, a high GPA isn’t enough: “You’re not going to study your way into a job.”
Mani agrees, pointing to how the profession is changing due to AI, new service models, and shifting client expectations. CLA is now looking for more than just technical acuity but grit, adaptability, strong communication skills, and innate curiosity. The intention is to move early-career professionals into industry specialists sooner than the three or four years it took in the past.
Natale warns that short-term decisions to scale back internships and entry-level roles could create long-term consequences for the accounting and finance profession.
“At a high level, we’ve made real progress on the pipeline, but if we’re not careful, we could undo some of that progress if there aren’t enough opportunities for new talent,” Natale stresses. “One of our priorities is understanding how to better connect this growing interest in accounting with employers’ evolving hiring needs.”
As Natale explains, the opportunities for firms are an investment in talent development, profession sustainability, and future leadership—all things they risk losing if they turn their backs on students and early-career professionals.
Mani says a scaled-down approach to internships and early hiring is like failing to plant seeds in a garden: “I don’t know how magically you build the next generation if you scale back.”
She adds that early-career development is about shaping the future, not just filling the next open seat: “It means building pathways, not just posting jobs.”
