College of Business launches new accounting major

By BZ Zuniga

Students may now enroll in the new Bachelor of Science in Accounting major in Cal State Monterey Bay’s College of Business, for the Fall 2025 semester.  

This new program is timely, given there are 340,000 fewer accountants in the U.S. now than there were five years ago. Only 1.6 million accountants remain in this nation of over 340 million people and 34 million small businesses that produce almost half of U.S. GDP each year. Joel Vander Weele, managing director at Accenture – a multinational professional services company – notes in “The CFO,” a Wall Street Journal publication, “Without adequate financial analysis and planning, organizations struggle with budget management, cost control, and strategic planning.”

Accounting firms—both nationally and in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/San Benito tri-county region—are facing increased demand for entry-level professionals. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the California Employment Development Department, accounting jobs in our region over the next decade are projected to grow between 9% and 14%. Sharon Hua, CSUMB associate professor and faculty lead for accounting, says local accounting firms have said that, to fill that need, they would like to see the College of Business graduate twice the number of students that it does now.

Accounting is currently a concentration within the CSUMB business major, but is being elevated to a major, according to Hua, in part to better prepare students to take the revised Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, as well as to better position students given the evolving hiring practices in the profession. 

The accounting concentration in the business major includes six accounting courses (22 units). The new major will include 14 accounting courses (42 units), and will be well-positioned to address the workforce shortage with freshly minted CSUMB graduates on their way to becoming accountants.  

“The accounting major includes courses on all topics in the new, six-part CPA exam and incorporates AI components encouraged by the Chancellor’s AI initiative,” said Hua. “It also prepares students for the higher-level reasoning skills they need as they enter the profession. Graduates of the program will benefit from strong connections to accounting firms, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations that regularly recruit from our program and often result in multiple job offers for our graduates.” 

She said accounting students have a wide range of career paths available to them in the public, corporate and government sectors, including becoming auditors who help clients prepare financial statements, assisting with tax planning, consulting on accounting information systems, analyzing and forecasting financial data, and ensuring compliance with regulations.

“It is a dynamic field where professionals are constantly learning, adapting and even enjoying flexible, remote work opportunities,” Hua said. “One of our alumni traveled to Singapore, England, and Mexico, and is scheduled to visit Dubai next month and Asia later this year. As technology advances, accounting roles are evolving—not disappearing. Rather than replacing accountants, tools like artificial intelligence and data analytics are enhancing their capabilities..” 

She calls the new accounting major a logical next step in the evolution and development of the College of Business into a more complete business school, one that gives students precise and efficient accounting preparation without the expense of a master's degree.  

Marylou Shockley, interim dean of the College of Business, added, “The secret weapon to this new major is the accounting faculty. Not only is it dedicated to helping students learn accounting, but also to mentoring them to find career jobs in accounting.”