Job requirement changes in state auditor’s office, openings now for those with associate’s degrees

MASON CITY — Graduates with an associate’s degree from an accounting program at one of Iowa’s 15 community colleges are now eligible to apply for some of the jobs in the state auditor’s office.

State Auditor Rob Sand stopped at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City on Monday afternoon and says Iowa has a shortage of people with four-year accounting degrees.  “There are a ton of people out there who have a lot of intelligence and a lot of common sense who choose to get a two year degree instead of a four year degree. We shouldn’t discriminate against them,” Sand says. “We should welcome them into the office just like we would anywhere else.”

The number of people working in accounting jobs in the United States has declined 17 percent since 2019. Sand says that means hiring and retaining staff difficult in the public and private sectors.  “What we see when we don’t have enough people in accounting is reports that are getting done more slowly and people who are doing the work who are carrying a bigger workload, who are more stressed,” Sand says. “That makes it harder for them to stay in the industry.”

According to the American Institute of C-P-As, the number of students graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting peaked in 2012 and, by 2018, had already dropped by seven percent.