<p>Hello guys. So I was doing a little bit of reading online and read there is a very high attrition rate for people who choose accounting as a major. And I've also heard it called a 'weed out major' on here quite a few times. Are these people the ones who couldn't hack it or just lazy? Has anyone seen this in the first person? I'm finishing up my two accounting classes at a CC and just want to know what ill be getting into.. I consider myself a pretty smart guy who is also driven I just don't want to get too deep under water.</p>
<p>Khumdawn, read over the thread that I started entitled, “Everything you wanted to know or should know about accounting” that is found in the featured threads at the top of this forum. Post number one by me addresses your question.</p>
<p>As for why folks get weeded out, there are many reasons. I can promise you that not all are lazy or stupid. Many don’t realize how hard accounting can be. Many don’t put in the study hours. Some are just plainly not cut out for the major. MOreover, there is usually NO grade inflation in accounting. The courses are designed to weed out kids. </p>
<p>IN fact, every step in the career of an accountant has a weed out process. The CPA iks a VERY tough exam and is very hard to study for while you are woking at a firm. IN addition, the firms generally weed out the bottom folks each year who they feel won’t make partner.</p>
<p>Accounting is the toughest business major from my experience however it is not respected as a difficult major for some reason</p>
<p>Accounting isnt as hard as biology, chem, engineering, of course but it doesn’t deserve to be grouped with marketing and management which some people make the mistake of doing</p>
<p>so yea its a weed out course in a way. People who cant do accounting pick another business route, people who cant do that pick comm I guess</p>
<p>I don’t agree with UKclassof13 that accounting majors are not well respected. I think it depends on the school. When I majored in accounting, I got a LOT of respect. I certainly get a lot of respect having a CPA. </p>
<p>Is it as hard as chem or engineering, probably not. However, I started majoring in Physics. Although I feel that Physics is intellecturally harder than accounting, I did work more in accounting than in Physics. I would say that accounting is among the harder majors around other than the hard sciences and engineering. It usually is the hardest major among those found in most businness schools that offer the major.</p>
<p>Accounting a weed out major? For god’s sake I still don’t understand what is so hard about it. Can someone explain this to me? Can people really not add and multiply numbers together? The whole damn system is based on very common sense logic. Maybe that’s the problem.</p>
<p>I respect CPAs. </p>
<p>As far as majors go it’s all relative. I respect accounting majors more than any other business major, but I don’t respect business majors as a whole.</p>
<p>Inmotion, what is your major/degree/profession?</p>
<p>I think you really underestimate the diversity of the accounting profession and the number of skills it takes, especially to become a CPA. When an outsider considers a CPA, they first think “accounting” in the sense of a book keeper and then they associate a CPA with “taxes”. However, a CPA is so much more than a book keeper and a tax guru. To pass only the CPA exam, it requires 4 areas of mastery: Financial Accounting (which is consisted of financial accounting, intermediate 1 and 2, government and not-for-profit accounting, and advanced accounting (consolidations and bankruptcies)), Regulation (Business Law, Individual taxation, Corporate Taxation, Partnership and LLC Taxation), Auditing (typically one audit class is enough to have the gist, but this is mainly memorization), and Business Environment Concepts (cost accounting, micro and macro economics, information system, finance, marketing, management, and an array of other general business concepts).</p>
<p>So, as you can see, the title “CPA” is a lot more than just adding and subtracting some numbers. It takes on a full approach of understanding business from the very essence of the field. From the ground up understanding how one decision in, lets say marketing, will impact demand, which will impact sales and COGS, how that will flow to impact the IS, BS, and CF, etc. Hence, this is why the CPA and accounting field is so well respected.</p>
<p>The most basic accounting is “common sense logic” but I think you would be hard pressed to call leases, income tax, pensions, annuities, consolidations, equity method, etc to be simple “common sense logic” accounting topics. I agree that the introductory material is not difficult and is very logical, but once you create that foundation of understanding, intermediate 1 and especially Intermediate 2 can put you through some serious twists and turns. (Which is why they are two of the biggest weed out classes at every single college).</p>
<p>I think arguing ‘difficulty’ is extremely relative. I was very good at science and could have stuck with my original major (chemistry), but I rather accounting and business. I respect science majors a lot, but I think a business major can be as difficult as almost any major if you design it to be. </p>
<p>A general business degree can be fluff in you put a bunch of basic management and marketing classes in it, but if you take high level accounting and finance classes throughout, then I think people who “look down” on the fields, would really reconsider.</p>
<p>I have always found science majors to be extremely pompous about their majors. I have never liked it, especially since most science majors are completely useless without graduate school. Biology for example is “hard” because of the specificity of the material, but it is also not “useful” unless someone attends graduate school. </p>
<p>Other disciplines (math, science, engineering) are often given the “hard” designation because everything in the field is so foreign to everyday speak. A lot of the sciences might as well be considered a “foreign language” because they are truly in a world of their own. However, business lingo is pretty general speak, so it does not have the level of ‘awe’ that comes from speaking the “foreign language” of other disciplines.</p>
<p>However, if I wanted to talk about the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) model with a discount rate of 4%, its impact on NPV (net present value) and IRR (internal rate of return) and how it will impact ROIC (return on invested capital) and future cash flows over the life of the project…</p>
<p>Well, that sounds a lot “cooler”, doesn’t it? (Hence why most of your top business grads like finance a lot).</p>
<p>accounting is perceived to not be difficult because most of the population do not understand what accountants do. </p>
<p>goose: it appears that you’ve been reading your FAR book one too many times and your head is about to explode :D</p>
<p>Moss, sort of haha. I am finishing up Intermediate 2 and Advanced Accounting this semester. Either FAR or REG will be the first up to bat come June. </p>
<p>I think I gave a way too long winded version of “most people don’t understand what accountants do” haha.</p>
<p>I have taken intro 1 and intro 2 and I have found it very easy. How much harder is intermediate and advanced?</p>
<p>Much, much harder. I don’t think anyone who has ever done accounting thought financial and cost accounting were very difficult. Intermediate 1 and 2 are what separate the pack. They are definitely challenging…may I say, as much as almost any class at a university. </p>
<p>If you talk to anyone in the field about “going into accounting”, they will probably ask/say something about Intermediate. Those two classes are what actually teach you real accounting…and it can suck sometimes haha.</p>
<p>thats the same way i feel Inmotion12 lol. I’m taking these intro accounting classes and people are like its so hard when its not. then i ask how much harder can the others be? challenging? yes expected. however we know it will pay off in the long run. i don’t think it will be that hard…</p>
<p>Accounting and CPA are not hard. Harder than most majors though. Not as hard as Math, Science, and Engineering though.</p>
<p>I’m going to ask my accounting professor tomorrow how much harder the advanced classes are. She’s already stated that if you have a really good understanding of intro I and II then the rest of the major shouldn’t be that difficult because everything else is built off of those courses. I’ll let her know Goose’s perspective and see what she says.</p>
<p>Yea Sasha, I don’t get it. It must have to do with the way people think. Some brains are built for accounting and others aren’t. My class average on the tests are usually between 70-78. I’ll get a score in the 90’s by just reading the book and because of the curve I always get over 100 on the tests. It’s pretty awesome seeing that number when you know almost everyone else was struggling.</p>
<p>Intro 1 and 2 are definitely foundations, but intermediate is what breaks those classes down into the “real world” of accounting. Rather than just general entries and a framework like intros, it looks at every aspect of accounting. </p>
<p>There are harder majors, but accounting is respected, so I wouldn’t get the idea that it is a breeze like the intros have been. </p>
<p>I made over a 100 on every intro accounting test; I know the feeling. Others just don’t get it. I have made As in all of the accounting classes, but I’ve actually had to work hard in them.</p>
<p>Accounting is not that hard. Most people are idiots. It is not about coming up with numbers once you get past a certain point. It is mostly qualitative. Much, much more like law than math. </p>
<p>I work in valuation which is a little more math oriented(and mostly finance majors although having a few accounting types like me helps form a better team), but still at least 50% qualitative.</p>
<p>We’re doing an intro to cost accounting right now and there is a lot of confusion in the class (including on my part) as to how to classify certain material costs as direct or indirect for a manufacturing business. </p>
<p>The chapter starts out by saying that guitar strings for a guitar would be factory overhead instead of direct materials because it is not a “significant” cost. But the book never gives any type of formula, measure, or rationale as to how to determine if something is an official cost. </p>
<p>We then did a problem related to lawnmower costs and a bunch of costs that seemed like they would be more insignificant than guitar strings on a guitar, costs such as plastic covering for the outside of the mower and oil for the engine prior to shipment were deemed to be direct materials cost. So of course the whole class was like what the hell? How can guitar strings be considered an indirect cost to a guitar, but the plastic covering on a mower be considered a direct cost? </p>
<p>My professor said something about if the costs are traced directly to the product being manufactured then it is direct, but our obvious rebuttal was that guitar strings can be traced directly to a guitar but they were classified as indirect by the book. Her response was that there’s less than a 2% chance we were going to be working for a manufacturing business so not to worry about it, and that she basically just guesses as to whether it’s a direct or indirect cost (and she has an MBA in accounting). So maybe you accounting graduates can shed some light here?</p>
<p>Some of these posts are incredibly rude. People who don’t get accounting aren’t dumb, lazy, unable to hack it or any other negative attribute people are assigning to them. It’s one of those things people either get or don’t. I excelled at statistics but bombed accounting - so no I am not stupid. I have 2 bachelors and 3 masters degree, but working on a doctorate. I have gone to 2 Ivy league schools - so I am neither stupid or lazy. I am a nurse anesthetist which is an extremely stressful career so obviously I can hack it. Instead of displaying rude comments, hoe about just accept that people have different abilities and some aren’t cut out for this or that. Do you know how to resuscitate a patient who has lost over 2 liters if blood and has no heart rate? Are you smart enough to know what to do? Or are you just not able to hack it. Grow up fools</p>
<p>Grow up? Your first post is you going nuts like a little child.</p>