Accounting enrollment rises again, easing KPMG talent pipeline worries

KPMG’s campus recruiting pipeline got a cleaner signal this spring: four-year undergraduate accounting enrollment rose 8.9% from spring 2025 to spring 2026, reaching 205,180 students. The bigger accounting pool also expanded to 281,992 undergraduates across four-year, two-year and hybrid programs, a gain that could eventually ease pressure on audit, tax and advisory staffing, but only after a lag that stretches through recruiting cycles, internships and CPA licensure.

The rebound matters because it is the third straight year of enrollment gains and it is showing up where Big Four firms hire most aggressively. Four-year programs are the main feeder for KPMG’s summer internships, campus hires and early-career staff classes. Two-year and related undergraduate programs moved the other way, falling 3.2% to 64,900, which means the strongest pipeline gains are still concentrated in the traditional university track that feeds large accounting firms.

The numbers also suggest this is more than a short-lived bounce. Total undergraduate accounting enrollment had already risen 12% in spring 2025 to 266,507 students, including an 11% increase at four-year institutions to 188,571 and a 24% jump at two-year schools to 77,936. The latest increase to 281,992 total students and 205,180 at four-year schools points to a profession that may finally be stabilizing after years of worry about shrinking entry-level supply.

That still does not solve the near-term staffing problem for firms like KPMG. Students can enroll today and still be years away from helping relieve the load in busy season, when audit teams, tax specialists and advisory groups need junior staff the most. The real benefit arrives only after firms convert interns into full-time hires, keep them through the grind of early career training and help them progress toward the CPA credential.

The credential path is getting clearer, and that is part of the enrollment story. First-time CPA Exam candidates in 2025 reached their highest level since 2018, and the number passing all four sections hit its highest mark since 2017. The exam itself was revamped in January 2024 under CPA Evolution and now includes three Core sections and one candidate-selected Discipline section. That combination appears to be helping students see a more direct route from classroom to career.

The AICPA also launched its Profession Ready Initiative on February 2, 2026, to identify the skills early-career CPAs need in an AI-driven marketplace. For KPMG, which has said its firms operate in 147 countries and employ more than 219,000 people, the message is straightforward: the talent market may be improving, but the benefit will arrive slowly, and firms that want the best graduates will still have to compete hard for them.