Given the essential role accountants play in the economy, the dynamics of accountant supply and demand have significant consequences for businesses, their stakeholders, and the functioning of capital markets. This paper analyzes the employment patterns, career trajectories, and earnings of college graduates in business fields to understand these dynamics. Utilizing a large dataset of resume information, we estimate a dynamic labor market equilibrium model that jointly characterizes (i) workers' choices among six sectors: Big 4, Non-Big 4, Internal Accountants, Finance & Consulting, Technology, and Others, considering current and future wage and non-wage attributes; and (ii) employers' within- and across-sector oligopsonistic competition for heterogeneous labor. Our estimates uncover the magnitude of entry barriers, wage markdowns, and marginal product of labor across sectors. We conduct quantitative exercises to understand factors affecting the equilibrium employment in accounting sectors given the recent decline in the number of accountants in the economy. Reducing the entry barrier into accounting firms for non-accounting majors significantly increases accountant supply. Reducing the market power of the Big 4 or introducing a positive technology shock to external accounting jobs produces a similar effect on external accountant employment, but a more nuanced effect on internal accountant employment. Equalizing the gender (partner) promotion gap in accounting firms has a meaningful effect, though the effect size is smaller.
