AT&T Woos Accounting Students, Bypasses Big Four Training Ground

AT&T Inc.'s top accountant is confronting a competitive job market by rethinking the company’s traditional reliance on large CPA firms as a training ground for new hires, taking her recruiting pitch on-campus instead.

Sabrina Sanders, AT&T’s chief accounting officer, is targeting graduate students for the company’s two-year-old, in-house training program. It’s a shift in strategy from the telecom giant’s past practice of hiring alumni from the biggest accounting firms, where young accountants often start their careers before turning to corporate jobs that typically offer higher pay and more predictable schedules.

“With our world rapidly changing, it’s just one of the ...