20-Year Prospect
The U.S. tax code is...complicated. Byzantine. Complex enough to reduce even the most intelligent taxpayer to tears. In short, it's an omnishambles, and the accountants of this country reap the benefits of a screwed-up system.
Oh, sure, Intuit has nibbled away at the accountants' customer base with its TurboTax software, which allows you to do your taxes in the safety and comfort of your own home. But, no matter how great a piece of software is, it can't help you when you have a particularly knotty question about how much of a tax break you should get on the student loans you took out last year.
Also, to be honest, it's not the tax advice Joe Six-Pack needs that will keep accountants around until the end of time. It's the regulations surrounding business that are the accountant's bread and butter...and as nervous governments anxious to boost economies and avoid financial catastrophes put more and more rules in place, accountants will be needed to interpret those rules as they apply to companies of all shapes and sizes.
And while the White House may preach about reforming the tax code so it's, you know, fair and actually understandable to the majority of Americans, let's be honest: Pigs will fly before Congress enacts tax reform.
So, if accounting is your chosen career path, congratulations—you've picked a job that's kind of like a cockroach: It's practically impossible to kill.