Accounting grads hardest hit by decision to retain skilled migrant status

[Fyrefly]

Link: AFR

As an accountant, I don't want to turn anyone away from this awesome career, but still... there are a lot of hard facts to face and it's a bit of an uphill struggle for many accounting graduates. On the flip side, many companies only accept applications from graduates who already have their PR or are Australian citizens.

[slothpomba]

As an accountant, I don't want to turn anyone away from this awesome career, but still... there are a lot of hard facts to face and it's a bit of an uphill struggle for many accounting graduates. On the flip side, many companies only accept applications from graduates who already have their PR or are Australian citizens.

What field isn't doing it tough lately? I heard law too. Seems like things are really taking a dive off a cliff.

It's a shame they let the department of educations recommendation get shot down. It does seem like business/accounting is a fairly big cash cow for the already cash strapped universities.

That said, i guess it still comes down to competition. If you are good applicant, you'll get the job. Sure there are more applicants but very few fields are so closed that it's almost a 1:1 ratio of jobs to graduates.

The decision, a boon to employers and a $4.8 billion cash cow for university business schools, comes despite the Department of Employment, which wanted accounting removed from the list, concluding there was a surplus of accountants and “deteriorating outcomes for graduates . . . relatively low pay rates for bachelor graduates and weak employment outcomes for masters graduates”.

Universities, who rely on international accounting students as a valuable source of income, and two of the major accounting bodies, who charge foreign accountants for membership and ­evaluation of their qualifications for migration, support keeping the occupation on the list.

These two groups cite, in part, shortages of accountants in certain specialisations and regional areas as evidence of the need to keep accounting on the list.

[MJRomeo81]

This has crippled the IT industry in Australia for years.

[ninwa]

Mildly relevant: Graduate Outlook Survey for 2013

Grad Jobs & Dollars

Employers’ Perspectives on Graduate Recruitment

[Professor Polonsky]

It's a shame they let the department of educations recommendation get shot down. It does seem like business/accounting is a fairly big cash cow for the already cash strapped universities.

Uhh, that 'cash cow' subsidises your degree. It's a shitty system, but unless the gov't pumps in a lot more money into universities, dismantling that cash cow does mean that they'll have to cut elsewhere.

[slothpomba]

Uhh, that 'cash cow' subsidises your degree. It's a shitty system, but unless the gov't pumps in a lot more money into universities, dismantling that cash cow does mean that they'll have to cut elsewhere.

Never said it didn't subsidise the degree or there isnt a better system out there :p.

It was more canceled out by my final sentence re:competition anyway.