The September 3, 2009, issue of BusinessWeek includes an article by Lindsey Gerdes entitled “The Best Places to Launch a Career.” It provides interesting information regarding the job opportunities for accounting students.

Instructions Read the article and answer the following questions. (The article can be found at www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_37/b4146032027785.htm.)

(a) What position did each of the “Big Four” (the four largest international accounting firms) receive in the survey?

(b) To what did the article attribute the accounting firms’ success?

(c) What was the starting salary for a new employee at Deloitte and Touche?

(d) The accounting firms’ hiring was affected by the recession although not as much as many of the other employers in the survey. Which one of the Big Four firms had the smallest decline in hiring, and which had the largest?

INTERPRETING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS