Accounting has been cut from the Department of Immigration’s list of skilled occupations for 2015, limiting access for offshore accountants to enter the local labour market, The Australian Financial Review reports.

The move is beneficial to local jobseekers but has come as a surprise to leading accounting bodies Chartered Accountants and CPA, which have been desperate to retain accounting on the list.

According to the AFR, the two industry bodies were slated to press their case to the Immigration Department on Friday.