Business Major Enrollment Trends: Finance and Accounting Lead

According to the June report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, among the five largest business majors at four-year U.S. universities in spring 2025, finance and accounting saw the most significant year-over-year enrollment growth, at 9.4% and 8.9%, respectively. The report, which tracks higher education trends, shows that these two majors grew at rates far exceeding the overall 2.2% growth rate for business programs.

By comparison, business administration and management saw only a slight increase of 0.8%, general business/commerce was essentially flat (down 0.1%), and marketing declined by 2.9%. Among four-year undergraduate institutions, business majors overall still rank first among all fields with 1.6 million enrolled students, followed by health professions and related clinical sciences (1.05 million) and engineering (647,877). Notably, health-related programs grew at 6.2%, higher than business's 2.2%.

Accounting Industry Continues to Recover

The strong enrollment growth in accounting has encouraged the industry. In recent years, the accounting profession has launched a multi-pronged strategy to attract young talent, including relaxing educational requirements to become a certified public accountant. Susan Coffey, CEO of public accounting at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said in a statement on June 9: "This is the third consecutive year of growth, and accounting is truly showing strong momentum among students right now. We're seeing strong interest in the new CPA exam, entry-level salaries at firms and finance teams are rising, and accounting is gaining more attention as a quality career choice for students and young professionals—word is spreading."

As early as 2024, a group of accounting industry stakeholders put forward specific recommendations to address the talent shortage, including tackling the time and cost of education required to become a CPA and raising starting salaries. Since then, as CFO Dive previously reported, more than 40 states have revised CPA licensure rules to allow certification with only a bachelor's degree, eliminating the 150-credit requirement.

Salary Competition and Career Appeal

Despite the accounting industry's efforts to boost its appeal, the report also notes that finance graduates typically command higher entry-level salaries than accounting graduates. In response, accounting firms have indicated they will seek to raise salaries and optimize compensation packages in other ways. For example, PwC and EY each announced this year that they would double bonuses for new hires who pass the CPA exam to $10,000, as CFO Dive previously reported.

While accounting salaries can reach high levels at the Big Four firms, the allure of high pay on Wall Street may still push some students toward finance. The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that accountants and auditors earn an average annual wage of $94,750, while financial and investment analysts earn an average of $116,800 per year.

Overall, the divergence within business majors is clear: finance and accounting are achieving strong growth thanks to clear career paths and industry momentum, while traditional business and management majors are stagnating. The accounting industry's ongoing reforms and salary adjustments are gradually reshaping its talent appeal, but the high-salary advantage of the finance sector remains a key factor in the competition.