Fifteen accounting firms, including the Big Four, will participate in the Wayne State University School of Business Administration’s “Meet the Accounting Firms” career fair on Thursday, Sept. 20, 4-6 p.m. The event, which will be held at WSU’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center, will give Wayne State students an opportunity to visit with recruiters from the participating firms and to learn firsthand about job opportunities.

Despite Michigan’s weak economy and an unemployment rate of more than 7 percent, job opportunities for accounting graduates remain strong in the Detroit area, according to Randolph Paschke, chair of the accounting department in the WSU business school.

“The metropolitan Detroit area has a very large accounting profession,” he points out. “Partners and recruiters have told us that, with so many large companies here, they need a lot of accountants and tax experts. They have a vested interest in recruiting students who want to work in Detroit.”

Firms participating in the fair also have posted jobs and internships on the business school’s Career Planning and Placement Office website. “They use this event as a screening opportunity. They see names and resumes online, and now they can put a face with that and make notes,” Paschke said.

The firms participating in what the organizers hope will become an annual event, include the following: BDO, Clayton & McKervey, PC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Godfrey, Hammel, Daniels & Company, Grant Thornton, Gordon Advisors PC, KPMG, MRPR Group, Plante Moran, Polk and Associates, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Rehmann Group, UHY Advisors and Virchow Krause & Company.

Several of the firms also plan to take part in the business school’s Career Day fair on Thursday, Oct. 4, according to Brenda Paine, director of the Career Planning and Placement Office. The October fair is “sold out,” she said, with recruiters coming from 48 organizations, including Chrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Fifth Third Bank, the Internal Revenue Service, Palace Sports and Entertainment Inc. and Target.