While most other sectors are squeezing out people as companies are pressured to downsize, accounting firms are bucking the trend.

The firms are set on hiring the same number of people – or more – as they did last year.

The US National Association of Colleges and Employers' 2008 job forecast predicted that accounting is the number one degree in demand by employers.

The Big Four have also noted that the number of undergraduate and graduate majors have continued to rise, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ira Solomon, head of the department of accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said accounting hiring is often counter-cyclical to the strength of the economy.

'It's not the case that as the economy goes down, the demand for accountants goes down,' he said.

The number of undergraduate and graduate students who took accounting courses rose 27% in the past two years to 653 students.