Migration Alliance reports that Accountants may be removed from the skills list early next year, stating that the CPA Australia and Chartered Accountant ANZ dropped their support for the Accountants because of the difficulty in finding jobs that the international graduates are having. The peak industry are preparing reports of that to the Department of Immigration.
Migration Alliance also stated that the occupation ceiling for Accountants have been reduced to approximately 5,000 for the 2014-2015. Still, major accounting bodies claimed that there was a shortage of accountants. But now, they have acknowledged that the international students are having a hard time in finding professional work in Australia, resulting in the loss of support to keep the occupation in the Skilled Occupations List (SOL).
"It is understood the change in stance will form part of a joint submission from the accounting bodies to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection next week" Migration Alliance states.
As of 30 October 2014, Accountants are in the lead in terms of positions filled. Below are the top 10 occupations that have the highest positions filled.
| Occupation ID | Description | Ceiling Value | Positions filled to date |
| 2211 | Accountants | 5478 | 1805 |
| 2613 | Software and Applications Programmers | 5004 | 1681 |
| 2544 | Registered Nurses | 15042 | 1144 |
| 2611 | ICT Business and Systems Analysts | 1620 | 639 |
| 2335 | Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers | 1680 | 498 |
| 2631 | Computer Network Professionals | 1788 | 469 |
| 2332 | Civil Engineering Professionals | 2850 | 430 |
| 2339 | Other Engineering Professionals | 1000 | 307 |
| 2212 | Auditors, Company Secretaries and Corporate Treasurers | 1188 | 247 |
| 2633 | Telecommunications Engineering Professionals | 1000 | 208 |
For more information, visit Accountants may be removed from skills list early next year.