According to a recent survey, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that accounting graduates are most likely to get a job after college.

"Accounting was the major [most] in demand," Andrea Koncz, NACE spokeswoman, said.

Patrick Duffy (senior-accounting), president of the Penn State Accounting Society, said accountants have more responsibilities than in the past and therefore more jobs are available. "It's a really exciting field to be in. The rules that have changed have increased the demand," Duffy said. "[The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has] increased the amount of work accounting firms have to do. It's increased their work by about a third."

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has increased the responsibilities of accountants by outlining tighter auditing, quality control and independence standards for accountants to decrease cases of fraud, therefore increasing the demand for more accounting majors.

"These are new tasks that weren't there before," Dan Givoly, Penn State accounting department chair, said.

Employers from many industries told NACE that they plan to increase the number of college graduates they hire this year by 13.1 percent from last year.

Givoly said he has noticed an increase in students with an interest in accounting. "We almost doubled the size of the incoming class over the past five years," Givoly said.

Jodi Ryan, recruiting manager at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), said the accounting industry is changing. "It's a return to our roots with auditing being a focus. There is much more of a focus that there's proper internal controls," Ryan said. "It's being much more highlighted in schools and corporate America."

However, Penn State Accounting Society membership secretary Luke Curley (senior-accounting) said in spite of the increasing demand for accountants, he has not noticed an increase in the club's membership.

"[The numbers have] always been pretty high. [However,] the number of people coming out to company presentations has increased," Curley said.

Duffy said his involvement in the Accounting Society helped him to get a job at KPMG, an accounting firm.

"It's given me the opportunity to meet a large number of employers," Duffy said.

NACE also asked the employers to rate the importance of a candidate's experience. "Internship experience and relevant work experience were rated the highest," Koncz said.

NACE sent surveys to 199 employers and 99 responded. NACE surveyed service-sector employers, manufacturers and government/non-profit employers.

The average overall starting salary increased by 3.4 percent, with the service sector increasing the most at 4.4 percent. The exact salary figures will not be released until next month, Koncz said.

Jack Rayman, Penn State Career Services director, said he thinks more accounting students are securing jobs through internships, and added that less accounting students are scheduling interviews with on-campus recruiters.

"It could be an indication of demand," Rayman said.