Three accounting firms top BusinessWeek's second annual ranking of the "Best Places to Launch a Career."

Deloitte & Touche moved from third in last year's list to first in this year's list, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. BusinessWeek said the accounting firms did well because the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other new accounting rules have greatly increased the demand for accountants.

Average starting pay at those three firms is $50,000 to $55,000, according to the magazine. Of the top 50 companies on the list, Microsoft had the highest average starting pay at $70,000 and above.

For the ranking, BusinessWeek surveyed three groups:

• Career services directors at U.S. colleges
• The employers the directors identify as the best for new graduates, asking about hiring, pay, benefits, and training programs
• College students.

Two service organizations appear on the list, including one in the top 10: Teach for America (10) and Peace Corps (23). Teach for America was the only organization in the top 10 where average pay was less than $50,000.

BusinessWeek's "Best Places to Launch a Career" ranking is in the September 24, 2007 issue, which is on newsstands now.

50 Best Places to Launch a Career

1. Deloitte & Touche
2. PricewaterhouseCoopers
3. Ernst & Young
4. IBM
5. Google
6. Microsoft
7. Walt Disney
8. Accenture
9. Lockheed Martin
10. Teach for America
11. KPMG
12. General Electric
13. Goldman Sachs
14. Boeing
15. Abbott Labs
16. Merrill Lynch
17. JPMorgan Chase
18. BP America
19. U.S. State Department.
20. General Mills
21. Hyatt
22. Capital One
23. Peace Corps
24. Johnson & Johnson
25. Macy's
26. Enterprise Rent-A-Car
27. Northrop Grumman
28. Raytheon
29. Exelon
30. Prudential
31. Lehman Brothers
32. Eli Lilly
33. Vanguard
34. UPS
35. L'Oreal USA
36. Harrah's Entertainment
37. Travelers
38. Verizon
39. Chubb
40. Intel
41. Wells Fargo
42. UBS
43. Philip Morris
44. St. Jude Medical
45. Marriott International
46. Sprint
47. New York Life Insurance
48. Kohl's
49. Merck
50. CIA