Accounting Leaders Cite Lagging Wages Among CPA Drought Causes

Stagnant entry-level wages for auditors is compounding the profession’s challenge to find fresh recruits, two of the accounting industry’s top leaders said Monday.

Starting wages for junior accountants have lagged behind starting pay in other fields and should be examined as the profession grapples with a shrinking pipeline, Paul Munter, chief accountant to the Securities and Exchange Commission, told an American Institute of CPAs conference in Washington. “So that’s I think also part of the landscape that we have to collectively own up to and think about,” Munter said of compensation.

He urged the profession to make a case ...