States are opening less costly and more accessible pathways for students to become certified public accountants in an effort to keep the talent pipeline flowing.¹

At least seven states — Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, and Hawaii — have passed or enacted laws in 2025 that would allow aspiring accountants to trade some tuition costs for a working paycheck on their paths to obtaining a CPA license. Several others are considering changes.²

The standard "150-hour rule" requires accountants to complete 150 credit hours, typically five years of college with a master’s degree, along with a certain amount of work experience, before they can be eligible to take the CPA exam.³ 

That rule isn’t going away, but more states are opening a second career pathway.⁴ More states are allowing prospective CPAs to replace the fifth year of education with a year of job experience at an accounting firm, which would have to certify that dozens of professional and technical skills were learned.⁵

Strong job growth 

Backers of new state laws are hoping that more flexible education requirements will have a big impact on a field that’s been grappling with an aging workforce and a wave of retirements since the pandemic.⁶

The 150-hour standard rose to prominence in the late 1980s and was adopted by all states by the early 2000s to replace a traditional 120-hour, four-year bachelor’s degree.⁷ A key turning point for alternative pathways came after national accounting groups proposed the change last year.⁸ 

The number of students that completed either a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in accounting was 18% lower in 2022 than a decade prior.⁹  Fewer students are taking the CPA exam, declining to just over 67,000 in 2022 from a peak of 100,000 in 2017.¹⁰ 

Demand for accountants is strong thanks to a growing economy, globalization, and a complex tax and regulatory environment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau projects 6% job growth for accountants and auditors until 2033, with about 130,000 job openings each year.¹¹

Empower research shows that AI is becoming a regular part of the modern workplace, with 58% of Americans currently using such tools on the job.

New technologies in AI, as well as cloud computing and blockchain, are expected to make accounting work more efficient, without lessening  job demand. Freeing up more time from routine tasks like data entry could make accounting more attractive, with advisory and analytical duties becoming more prominent.¹²

Read more: GenAI tools that are reshaping daily life and business

Attracting Gen Z workers 

Students who choose accounting careers are drawn to the profession’s reputation for stability.¹³

Replacing some credit hours with work experience allows students to earn money, while avoiding some tuition costs and potential student loan debt.  The Big Four accounting and consulting firms have also been raising entry-level wages in recent years, including double-digit increases for newly minted CPAs.¹⁴

Steps have also been taken to improve perceptions of accounting among Gen Z workers who grew up on tablets and smartphones. There have been recommendations to change how accounting is taught, including more engaging entry-level courses that tout the field as more than number-crunching or complex regulations.¹⁵

Every industry and sector — including banking, technology, healthcare, education, nonprofits, and government — needs accounting skills to operate and many companies offer remote, hybrid and international opportunities.^16,17

Some schools have experimented with gamification to enhance student engagement on things like budgeting and forecasting or compliance training. Other new methods include student hackathons and innovation challenges to brainstorm solutions to complex accounting problems.¹⁸

One encouraging trend is that enrollment of undergraduate accounting majors increased by 12% in fall 2024 from the previous school year, to the highest level since 2020.¹⁹

Read more: Generation Money: Gen Z’s snapshot