Should Accounting be Considered a STEM Field in K-12?

By Hunter Hanson

Accounting is becoming more and more technology-savvy with each day that passes by. Right now, in the United States, legislation has introduced accounting to be considered part of the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field instead of being in the business field in K-12 Education. Accountants are responsible for recording the financial transactions of a business or organization. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing, and reporting financial statements. All businesses need an accounting professional to do their finances, which makes them in high demand in almost every economy today. STEM provides some of the fastest-growing jobs related to cloud computing, engineering, mathematics, and sciences.

The legislation would allow STEM K-12 grant funding to be used to help with accounting awareness and education. The activities would promote the development, implementation, and strengthening of programs to teach accounting. The goal of the bill is to help increase access to high-quality accounting courses for students in high school who would like to go into the accounting field. If passed accounting still wouldn’t be considered a STEM field at the post-secondary level, but if passed would strongly help it to become one.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA) has wanted this bill to be passed for some time now because their argument is that there is a clear and logical overlap between accounting and technology. As the profession has become bigger than ever, CPAs have become some of the biggest leaders in the technology field with many having to manage and analyze big data and help with data security every day working alongside information technology (IT) professionals. Business professionals and accounting firms are looking for more tech-savvy CPAs and accountants, which increases the need for more technology classes in the field. Overall, accounting is a great profession, with many opportunities in the field, and time will tell if accounting will be considered a STEM field.