The economy is in the dumps. The job market is weakening. The government has just provided $700 billion to rescue the financial system. But Dave Kitchens is not the least bit worried.

Kitchens, a graduate student in the University of Kansas’ masters of accounting program, has crunched the numbers and figures and the job odds are in his favor.

In an economy with such uncertainty, the University’s one-year accounting graduate program is prospering. The program averages a 95 percent job placement rate. Last year, it was 100 percent. The program’s job placement rate is one of the highest on campus, and the University’s accounting students’ average CPA test scores rank among the top four nationally.

“If we didn’t have a strong program and we weren’t KU, I don’t think we would have the same story,” said James Heintz, professor and director of accounting and information systems. “We’d have a good story, but I think ours is overwhelming.”

The demand for accountants has remained stable, despite the current economic climate. Kitchens said that whether the job market was strong or weak, taxes and audits weren’t going away.

“Pair that with the fact that many accountants are at the point of retirement, and you have the perfect work opportunity,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the accounting industry has withstood hardship. In 2002, with the collapse of energy company Enron and the Chicago-based Arthur Andersen LLP, once one of the five largest accounting firms in the U.S., the accounting sector appeared to be entering a tough period. But the long-term effects turned out to be positive for accountants.

“Even though the company went under and a public accounting firm went under, it actually increased the need for accountants,” said Lisa Ottinger, director of the University’s masters of accounting program. “Also, there was so much publicity about it that students became interested in the profession. It’s kind of an interesting turnout.”

Ottinger said the Enron collapse caused companies to enforce regulations to try to prevent something similar from happening again. Because of the fallout, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress in 2002. This federal law imposed stricter regulations on public businesses by setting requirements for how businesses must keep their records.

“That act changed the accounting and auditing regulatory environment,” Heintz said. “It ramped up the requirements. That act has caused an explosion in the demand for accountants beyond what we had before.”

Paige Hatfield, an accountant for Lawrence’s Mize, Houser and Company, said accounting wouldn’t go out of style any time soon.

“With accounting, you don’t want to do it yourself. You need a specialist’s help,” she said.

The demand for accountants is also reflected in the burgeoning number of students seeking to join the masters program. Ottinger said the program, a 30-hour curriculum, had grown 50 percent from last year.

Kitchens said accountants always stayed relevant regardless of economic ups and downs. That continued relevance is a draw of the accounting program at the University, he said. Beyond that, he credited accounting professors such as Timothy Shaftel with getting students exciting about the profession.

“I enjoy everything about accounting,” Kitchens said. “I enjoy crunching numbers. I enjoy the work that goes into it.”

Kitchens would like to work for one of the big four accounting firms: KMPG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, or Deloitte. He plans to take his CPA exam after graduation, but said he was keeping his job options open.

— — Edited by Scott R. Toland