NEWS FEATURE RECRUITMENT.

The article discusses a serious concern facing the accounting profession, that is, how to attract and retain top students. Dean Button, former chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, voiced concern that accounting is no longer the preferred career choice for the brightest students at the undergraduate college level. Moreover, he added, the major accounting firms today are demonstrating an inability to seek, attract and pay for the best and brightest graduates of graduate schools or to keep those few that are hired. The most serious challenge confronting the profession, according to Russell E. Palmer, dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, is that too few of the best young people are entering the profession. The business and economic atmosphere with which accountants must cope has changed dramatically. Increased competition from within the profession and pressures from financial service groups are now a way of life for accounting firms. The computer has certainly affected virtually all segments of society, and accounting has been no exception. While today's brightest students take for granted the computer's number-crunching skills, many certified public accountants can remember long hours working on trial balances or a client's hand-kept records. INSET: LOOKING AT TODAY'S ACCOUNTING MAJORS.