Accounting Historians Journal Accounting Historians Journal
Volume 10
Issue 2
Fall 1983
Article 8
1983
Bureau for placements Bureau for placements
Elliott L. Slocum
Alfred Robert Roberts
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The Accounting Historians Journal
Vol. 10, No. 2
Fall 1983
Elliott L. Slocum
and
Alfred R. Roberts
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
THE BUREAU FOR PLACEMENTS
Abstract: The Bureau for Placements sought to encourage qualified college
graduates to choose public accounting as a career, to place them with public
accounting firms, and to remove the problem of seasonal employment. During its
six years of operations, the Bureau published and distributed to college students
thousands of copies of the first Institute pamphlet on careers in public account-
ing, and it placed 250 college graduates with public accounting firms. As a
result, the Bureau started, or at least accelerated, the trend by public accounting
firms toward the hiring of college graduates.
Only in recent years has it been generally accepted that entry
level positions in public accounting require a college education.
Certainly such acceptance would have to be placed in the post-
World War II period. In the decade prior to World War II a college
education had become desirable, but was not required. Larger
proportions of those entering public accounting, approximately
half, were college graduates, and public accounting firms were
more actively recruiting college graduates. As of 1938, New York
State required applicants for the CPA examination to have a college
degree and also required completion of specified accounting
courses. Prior to World War I, and to a large extent in the 1920s,
the profession did not require a college education, and many mem-
bers of the profession did not believe college training was desirable.
At the turn of the century, only five colleges or universities taught
commerce and accounting courses, and very few accounting prac-
titioners had any formal college education. Eighty years later, the
baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting is generally re-
quired, and many believe a master's degree should be required.
The change in attitude by public accountants toward the employ-
ment of college graduates can be traced, in some measure, to the
efforts of the Bureau for Placements of the American Institute of
Accountants. In this paper we will review briefly the environment
of accountancy and education prior to the establishment of the
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The Accounting Historians Journal, Fall, 1983
Bureau. Then we will review the establishment and operation of the
Bureau, and the contributions of the Bureau to accountancy and
education.
Prior to 1920
The early efforts to organize professional accountancy in the
United States sought to establish accountancy as a learned pro-
fession. Joseph E. Sterrett expressed this view in his address to the
delegates to the 1904 Congress of Accountants:
Legislation for a profession only grants opportunity.
Education must be underneath and around all our legisla-
tion and organization. ... In view of the need for proper
training for men seeking admission to our ranks it is a
matter of . . . interest to note the educational movement
that is now underway. . . . The success of these schools
[New York University and the University of Pennsylvania]
means the recognition of business as a proper subject for
educational effort, and to us more important still, the final
step in establishing accounting as a learned profession in
the United States.
1
The American Association of Public Accountants (AAPA) and
many of its members were influential in establishing schools of
commerce and initiating the teaching of accounting in a collegiate
environment. Numerous and complex problems were faced in the
efforts to establish the "proper type" of accounting education.
Accounting courses were expected to provide a study of theory as
well as practice in contrast to the "procedural method" of study
employed by many proprietary schools. However, relatively few
full-time academics taught accounting at the collegiate level. Most
of the instructors were practitioner-adjunct faculty, and they em-
phasized the application of procedures and techniques.
Academics resisted the acceptance of commerce as a proper
area for study at the collegiate level. In fact, there were differences
of opinion among accountants and businessmen as to the type of
training that should be required for the practice of accounting.
Some in the commercial world believed that business education
was an experiential process and a long, formal education was
neither necessary nor desirable. Some in the profession preferred
a liberal education.
2
The AAPA recognized that accounting education was a major
problem to the profession and, through its Committee on Education,
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Slocum and Roberts: The Bureau for Placements
119
set out to devise a solution.
3
Its Committee on Education had begun
to monitor accounting education in 1908. This committee noted the
diversity of accounting courses and became concerned about the
content of accounting education needed to successfully pass the
CPA examination. It recommended, in 1919, the development of a
syllabus, if not a complete accounting curriculum, directed toward
preparation for the CPA examination.
4
Recognition of Problems
Public accounting was a seasonal business concentrated between
December and April which led to the employment of temporary
staff. During the 1920s, public accounting firms expanded rapidly
to meet the increasing demands for their services. Thus, some
firms did not hold rigidly to high standards of character and per-
formance.
5
By the mid-twenties, the American Institute of Accountants, (In-
stitute) recognized that accounting firms needed to secure better
educated employees. Inability to offer permanent employment made
it difficult to attract college-trained personnel.
6
The Institute believed college students would be more interested
in the profession if they were properly informed about the nature
and importance of public accounting.
7
In response to this belief,
the Institute created the Bureau for Placements. The objectives of
the Bureau were (1) to encourage highly qualified college graduates
to choose public accounting as a career, and (2) to remove the
problem of seasonal employment. In announcing the Bureau's
formation, the Institute said:
... It is a concrete attempt to help in one way to solve
the problem with which the profession has been faced for
several years, namely, that of building a permanent staff
qualified to carry on in a field where the work has in-
creased greatly in volume and has become increasingly
exacting in its demands upon those who undertake the
practice of accountancy.
8
Organization of the Bureau
In 1925, representatives of several New York City accounting
firms met in joint session with the Executive Committee of the
Institute and requested that the Institute participate in a program
to attract college graduates to public accounting. As a result, the
Executive Committee authorized the Special Committee for Place-
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ments,
9
and by March 1926, the Special Committee was established.
This Special Committee was responsible for conducting the opera-
tions of the Bureau for Placements.
The Bureau was an independent, self-supporting operation.
10
Its
services were available to all members of the Institute and to col-
lege students. The Bureau operated on voluntary contributions from
supporting firms in its first three years. In the original plan, em-
ployers were to pay a fee of $50 per graduate: $25 at the time of
request, and the remainder when the graduate was hired.
11
How-
ever, the employer fee was not required until 1928.
The Special Committee prepared a questionnaire (application)
and distributed it to college students. A procedure was established
to screen applicants prior to the employment process. This pro-
cedure included the following:
1. The applicant was required to provide a personal history, a
detailed certified college record, a letter of endorsement from the
dean of the college, a photograph, a short statement "in the appli-
cant's own handwriting" stating the reasons for desiring training
in public accounting.
2. Each application was to be examined carefully to determine
if the applicant had suitable credentials.
3. Each acceptable applicant was to be personally interviewed
by a member of the Institute residing near the applicant.
4. Interview reports were to be reviewed by the Special Com-
mittee, and the applicants found acceptable would then be assigned
for the personal employment interview.
12
Originally, the Institute and the Special Committee for Place-
ments made their appeal to all college graduates. The Special Com-
mittee, primarily concerned with the quality and character of the
graduate, placed little value on education in business and account-
ing. In fact, the Special Committee believed the accounting major
to be inferior, and few were accepted in the early years of the pro-
gram.
13
The March 15, 1926 Bulletin stated emphatically that "the
essential requirement of all applicants will be a broad general
education."
14
The Special Committee established several requirements for em-
ployment. First, an accounting firm was not required to hire an
applicant without a personal interview. This appears to be a re-
sponse to criticism that the Bureau infringed on the employer's
prerogative to select personnel. Second, the employment agree-
ment was for a minimum of three years. An applicant, once hired,
could not be discharged during this period because of the lack
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Slocum and Roberts: The Bureau for Placements
121
of business. The applicant also agreed to the three year period.
Third, a minimum salary of $125 a month was established for the
first year.
15
The Bureau viewed the employment as a training process and
expected it to provide a means of attracting college graduates as
trainees.
16
The Institute believed that:
The unusual opportunities offered by this training are
such that to a wide-awake young man they should be at
least equivalent to a postgraduate course at a school of
business administration, a course which would be im-
possible except to a few who are able to expend the
necessary time and money.
. . . Needless to say these firms will be eager to make
mutually satisfactory arrangements to retain promising
men in their employ at the end of the training period.
17
Career Publicity
As one of its first activities, the Special Committee prepared a
brochure describing the opportunities in accountancy, requirements
for the profession, and work of the accountant, and it included a
short history of accountancy. The original brochure, entitled "What
Will You Do After Graduation?,"
18
was prepared in 1926. As a
result of suggested changes by representatives from several large
universities, the brochure was completely revised during the
1926-27 operating year
19
and retitled "Accountancy is A Career
for Educated Men."
20
These brochures were the first official In-
stitute career publications.
21
In 1926, more than five thousand
copies of the brochure were distributed.
22
Five thousand copies of
the revised brochure were distributed during 1927.
23
In addition to distribution of career brochures, the Special Com-
mittee had extensive correspondence with students and faculties
and made numerous campus visits. In 1930, visits were made to
address classes and confer with students at Carleton College,
University of Chicago, Franklin and Marshall, Hamilton, Harvard,
Hobart, University of Illinois, Princeton, Syracuse, Tufts, Union,
William and Mary, and Yale University. The Special Committee con-
sidered its efforts to publicize career opportunities to be almost
as important as its primary purpose because faculties and students
better understood the work of public accounting than they had
five years before.
24
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Placement Activities
The Bureau's primary function was to place promising college
graduates with accounting firms. Concurrent with the activities to
inform students and academics about public accounting, the
Bureau made an effort to determine the number of firms which
would participate and the staff positions available. Editorials in
The Journal of Accountancy and articles in the Bulletin were pub-
lished, and speeches were made to various groups. A questionnaire
was sent to all members and associates of the Institute.
25
Repre-
sentatives of 28 firms responded.
Of 120 applications approved in 1926, Table 1 shows that 32
placements were made. In 1927, requests for graduates came from
143 firms. In addition, the number of colleges cooperating with the
program grew from 94 in 1926
26
to 126.
27
The Special Committee
increased the rigor of its examination of student applications and
revised the screening procedures.
The procedures as revised in 1927 were as follows:
1. A questionnaire [application] is filled out and sub-
mitted. This gives the applicant's personal history, an
official transcript of his college record, and his photo-
graph.
2. If the questionnaire is satisfactory, the Bureau com-
municates directly with the dean of the college and obtains
a confidential report on the man's personality, character,
mental ability, etc.
3. If the dean's reply is satisfactory, the applicant is inter-
viewed by a member of the Institute located in the same or
a neighboring city. The interviewer is particularly con-
cerned with the question of whether or not the applicant
is a desirable man to bring into the accounting profession
and he sends in a confidential report on the interview.
4. If the report on the interview is satisfactory, the appli-
cant's qualifications are circularized (without using his
name) among members of the Institute located in the cities
in which he desires to work.
5. The applicant is referred to one of the firms who report
that they are interested in him and final arrangements for
employment are made directly between the employing
firm and the applicant.
28
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Slocum and Roberts: The Bureau for Placements
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Table 1
Summary of Applicants and Placements*
1926-1931
Year
Applicants
Placements
Firms
1926
285
32
16
1927
210
47
18
1928
215
49
12
1929
240
45
* *
1930
270
50
* *
1931
* *
27
* *
Total
250
* Determined from data in 1926-31 Yearbooks.
**Not available
Contributions from a few firms financed the Bureau's operations
in 1926 and 1927. The Institute assumed responsibility for operating
expenses in early 1928. Employing firms were charged $50 for each
graduate employed.
29
Assumption of budgetary responsibility in-
dicated that the Bureau for Placements was an accepted function
of the Institute. Indeed the Council stated in 1929 that the Bureau
". . . has established itself as a permanent function of the In-
stitute. . . . The work of this bureau will doubtless increase in use-
fulness and it will almost certainly be self-supporting in the near
future."
30
The Special Committee stated that:
Perhaps the most gratifying result of the work of the
bureau for placements is the rapid increase in number of
Institute members who are using its facilities. This natu-
rally pleases the members of the special committee for
placements because it proves that the beliefs which moti-
vated the inauguration of the bureau in March, 1926, were
sound.
31
Although an operating deficit was reported in the year ending
August 31, 1929,
32
the Special Committee and Council expected 52
placements in the next year. A deficit was reported in 1930 although,
as Table 1 shows, 50 placements were made. The Special Com-
mittee reported that a very large number of highly qualified persons
were not placed "because of exceptionally quiet business con-
ditions."
33
Despite the effects of the depression, the Committee on
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Budget and Finance projected the placement of 50 graduates in its
1930-31 budget.
34
The Bureau was unable to obtain as many positions as in prior
years, and a deficit for the Bureau was reported as of June 1931.
The Executive Committee resolved to support the Bureau's opera-
tions from general funds until the close of the year.
35
In September
1931, the Council reported that the Bureau of Placements had cur-
tailed its activities as a result of an extreme decline in demand for
graduates.
36
Although 27 graduates were placed in 1931, the Special
Committee for Placements presented no report, and it was dis-
continued at the end of 1932 with no comment in the reports of the
Secretary, Council, or Executive Committee.
Accomplishments of the Bureau
The profession, from its origin, had sought public recognition
and status as a learned profession. Elevation to a learned profes-
sion could only come from placing the study of accounting in an
academic environment and requiring its members to possess a
college education. In addition, public accounting experienced
growth and demand for more complex services. This resulted in a
need for personnel who possessed abilities to solve
#
complex prob-
lems and the potential to develop beyond junior "levels. College
graduates were the most promising sources for such qualities. Yet
by the mid-twenties, less than a third of those in public accounting
had a college education, and even fewer had studied business or
accounting in college.
The Bureau for Placements was established to encourage college
graduates to choose public accounting as a career and to eliminate
dependence on part-time personnel. It was an experiment without
precedent. The Bureau's mission was contrary to tradition and did
not have wide-spread support.
The Special Committee for Placements developed and dis-
tributed the first accounting career brochure. Nissley said . . what
we have in mind is rather an attempt to show precisely what the
character of the work is, the difficulties that have to be faced, and
to hold out the hope of final success for those who are adapted to
the work."
37
Direct communications were established with college
faculties and students through letters, questionnaires, and
speeches.
Many believed in 1926 that the average ability of business gradu-
ates was inferior to that of other college graduates. Few of these
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Slocum and Roberts: The Bureau for Placements
125
graduates were placed during the early years of the Bureau. How-
ever, conditions in the ensuing years changed:
. . ., students in colleges have become familiar with pro-
fessional accounting work and most practitioners have
gradually come to the conclusion that men obtained from
the colleges are the best type of young men to engage as
beginners on their staffs. During this period the quality of
the students in the collegiate schools of business also has
improved substantially we are now looking more and
more to the collegiate schools of business for our raw
material. In fact, it is probably safe to say that we now
look to that source almost exclusively.
38
The Bureau brought about a trend toward the hiring of college
graduates. Cary noted that a number of those hired through the
Bureau became partners in the accounting firms, and it became
recognized that college graduates were more promising junior
accountants than high-school graduates. After World War II, ac-
counting firms began college campus recruiting programs, and
college graduates became the desired source of new blood for the
profession.
39
According to Carey, "if the bureau for placements did
not single-handedly start this trend, it certainly dramatized and
accelerated it."
40
FOOTNOTES
1
Sterrett, pp. 32-33.
2
Previts and Merino, p. 149.
3
Ame.ican Association of Public Accountants, p. 78.
4
American Institute of Accountants, 1919 Yearbook, p. 106.
5
Carey, p. 150.
6
American Institute of Accountants, "A Bureau for Placements," pp. 1-2.
7
American Institute of Accountants, "A Bureau for Placements," p. 1.
8
American Institute of Accountants, "A Bureau for Placements," p. 2.
9
American Institute of Accountants, 1926 Yearbook, p. 160.
10
American Institute of Accountants, 1926 Yearbook, p. 127.
11
American
Institute of Accountants, "A Bureau for Placements," pp. 1-2.
12
American Institute of Accountants, 1926 Yearbook, p. 185.
13
Warren W. Nissley, "Selection of Personnel," p. 102.
14
American
Institute of Accountants, "Special Committee for Placements," p. 1.
15
American
Institute of Accountants, 1926 Yearbook, p. 187.
16
"What Will You Do After Graduation?," p. 290.
17
"What
Will You Do After Graduation?," p. 290.
18
"What
Will You Do After Graduation?," p. 290.
19
W. W. Nissley, "Progress of the Bureau for Placements," pp. 38-39.
20
"Education and Schools," p. 54.
21
"Warren W. Nissley," p. 188.
22
American
Institute of Accountants, 1926 Yearbook, p. 185.
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23
American
Institute of Accountants, 1927 Yearbook, p. 172.
24
American
Institute of Accountants, 1930 Yearbook, pp. 176-177.
25
American
Institute of Accountants, "Special Committee for Placements," p. 2.
26
American
Institute of Accountants, 1927 Yearbook, p. 172.
27
American
Institute of Accountants, 1928 Yearbook, p. 178.
28
Nissley, "Progress of the Bureau for Placements," pp. 39-40.
29
American
Institute of Accountants, 1928 Yearbook, pp. 155-156.
30
American Institute of Accountants, 1929 Yearbook, p. 152.
31
American Institute of Accountants, 1929 Yearbook, p. 185.
32
American
Institute of Accountants, 1929 Yearbook, p. 146.
33
American Institute of Accountants, 1930 Yearbook, p. 176.
34
American Institute of Accountants, 1930 Yearbook, p. 165.
35
American Institute of Accountants, 1931 Yearbook, p. 216.
36
American Institute of Accountants, 1931 Yearbook, p. 212.
37
Warren W. Nissley, "A Bureau for Placing Junior Accountants," p. 67.
38
Nissley, "Selection of Personnel," p. 102.
39
Carey, p. 277.
40
Carey, p. 278.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Association of Public Accountants. American Association of Public Ac-
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. "Special Committee for Placements." Bulletin of the
American Institute of Accountants, March 15, 1926, pp. 1-2.
. 1919 Yearbook of the American Institute of Accountants.
New York: American Institute of Accountants, 1920.
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_ . "Progress of the Bureau for Placements." The Account-
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New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1979.
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Sterrett, Joseph E. "Chairman's Address." Official Record Congress of Account-
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