I just found this forum and excited to see all the info available on here.
So I started community college at the beginning of the year and decided to go for an accounting transfer program. I figured that accounting was a solid career, good pay and a respected profession.
I have about 21 credits and have taken classes in taxation, computerized accounting, spreadsheets, and principles of accounting. My plan would be to complete another year at community college at most year and a half and then transfer to a four year.
So the issue is that I’ve come across the issue of not knowing if accounting is gonna be something I want as a career. I will not have a boring 9 to 5 cubicle job, I will not work for the Big Four, I don’t like taxes, or auditing, at all.
So the questions comes up…why then study accounting ? But perhaps I am missing something and there are more career options. Ultimately, I’d like to have my own business, something in the food business, such as an eatery or small restaurant. But I figure that studying something like Hospitality Management is not worth 4 years and the money if I can learn all that on the job.
So should I continue with Accounting, or go into something else ?
@mmccdd I’ve had a 30 year career as an accountant. It has its ups and downs. I hated my 2.5 years in public accounting (I was an auditor but I equally dislike taxes) but the value I got from my CPA in terms of my salary and job propects since then has more than paid back for the investment. Other than that, I’ve worked in corporate accounting for the rest of my career. I enjoy working on spreadsheets and doing analysis and the rest of what you probably consider boring (no offense taken). My advice is that if you are thinking of any business major at all, stick with the accounting. You’ll understand much better how finance works, how to keep or watch over the books at any business you might own, etc. I’ve known a lot if managment or marketing majors that struggle to find good paying, long lasting jobs. Do you want to be on your feet 12 hours a day days week running a retail store? Do you want to worry about losing your job to this years new crop of marketing majors? My career has lasted because I have building blocks of experience that no junior can match.
As an example of why accounting can be a good choice even if that’s not your end goal, I worked for three years at a family held company that was in the music business. The youngest son, a trained musician, had taken over the business from his father. When he took over, he went to night school at the community college for some accounting classes so he would understand the bookkeeping and financial statements. He never worked in accounting but he needed to understand how it worked. What is one thing every company has in common? Money. Big city, small town, east coast, west coast, fly over states, now, 50, 100, 200 years ago, for profit, non profit, someone has to mind the money. You’ll always have a fallback career.