Australian accountants to go from famine to feast?

Australia's shortage of accounting staff could yet turn into a glut, according to one academic.

Kevin McKenna, vice chancellor of Curtin University, told an audience at a Perth-based conference earlier this month that changes to Australia's skilled migration system are in danger of encouraging a deluge of accountants to enter the country from overseas.

McKenna predicted that recent changes to the immigration system, which have made it easier for foreign accountants to work in Australia, will lead to "plummeting" salaries and increased unemployment for graduate accountants, reports WA Business News.

"We will have another 10,000 international students who need to get an accounting job at any price," Professor McKenna reportedly told the Skilling Western Australia conference.