r/UniversityofArkansas • u/Safe-Fact-6312 • Sep 10 '26
Question Career readiness in Accounting
I am looking to connect with recent grads of the accounting program -
is there a pipeline at Walton COB that stays on top of current hiring trends? I’m referring to what major companies target UArk for accounting hires - Thank you
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u/Itchy-Insurance2403 Sep 11 '26
Recent grad here. Lots of my colleagues went big 4, lots went top 10 US accounting firms, and lots went to other financial institutions like fidelity, and Arvest. Some went to the other major company’s that hire UA business grads, like Walmart, JB Hunt, etc.
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 Sep 13 '26
could i ask a favor? Do you think most were able
to secure their internships-that led to offers- through the campus career fairs or did they approach the companies on their own?
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u/Mundane-Emergency225 College of Graduate Engineering Sep 10 '26 edited Sep 10 '26
Here are the sponsors for accounting. This university is ranked 64th by Niche, 56th by US News Education and 185/3,049 schools that teach accounting. The rank of the School of Business is trending slightly higher over the past few years.
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 Sep 10 '26
thank you so much for your response! Sadly I don't see anything at the Walton careers that highlights acounting , only marketing , etc. Not was I was hoping to find out
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u/Mundane-Emergency225 College of Graduate Engineering Sep 10 '26 edited Sep 10 '26
u/Safe-Fact-6312 If you are looking for a pipeline, the best options are university career fairs, Handshake, and student or alumni groups. I wish you well, break a leg!
Edit to add * Reach out to the Student Center that is what it is for!
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 Sep 12 '26
thank you and will do !
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u/Mundane-Emergency225 College of Graduate Engineering Sep 12 '26
FYI - A career fair is happening soon, I will PM you.
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u/dasnoob Sep 10 '26
I haven't dealt with UofA accounting grads in about 10 years because we stopped hiring them due to the level of competence we were seeing. No clue if it got any better since.
source: Senior roles in Accounting and Finance at a Fortune 500 located in Arkansas.
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 Sep 10 '26
Thank you so much for your input- would you be able to tell me the main deficits you were finding?
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u/dasnoob Sep 10 '26
Mostly lack of basic knowledge. The candidates we hired did not understand how accrual based accounting worked. Frequently got the debits and credits confused on double sided entries. Could not build amortization schedules. That was the highlights on the last one we hired. He had a bachelor's in accounting from UofA and a masters in accounting from UofA.
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u/Itchy-Insurance2403 Sep 11 '26
Recent (and probably biased) UA grad here. Lots of changes occurred in the last 6 or so years, new faculty, especially in the masters program have significantly increased the quality of education imo. I’m doing fine on a pretty technical international tax consulting team at a big 4 currently, same job since graduating.
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 Sep 12 '26
thank you so much for
the response- do you mind telling me how you got the imternship for the position? was it a company that recruited at
school or did you look to other avenues as well?
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u/UAr_Accounting_tutor Sep 13 '26
I would suggest stay in touch with your advisor, department head to find out which faculty are engaged in this area and other college resources that your department would be able to suggest. This will help stay on top some trends and might help you determine some coursework to focus more on. Knowing if you are more interested in public or private is helpful - CPA vs CMA (or both).
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u/Safe-Fact-6312 28d ago
hello - if you see this ; I’m thinking that if i can get on with a public firm for a couple of years that would make
me pre attractive to corporate?
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u/dasnoob Sep 10 '26
https://career.uark.edu/aboutus/studentstats/OutcomesReport2024-2025.pdf
Here is the most recent outcomes report.
Accounting had 126 graduates 71 of which had found a job within six months of graduating.