Over the past two years, more than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have left their jobs— a 17% decline – and the dwindling number of college students coming into the field can’t fill the gap.

But according to Christine Smith, a senior professor of practice at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business, none of this should be a surprise. Many in academia and the profession have been working on this issue for several years.