<p>I've recently been interested in the accounting career. What steps are necessary during the undergraduate years. Also, what skills are needed to excel in this field?</p>
<p>Major in accounting if your college has it. In general, you need communication skills and have to be detail-oriented, especially for tax. You also have to be good with your numbers and be able to use advanced software.</p>
<p>I know of some schools that have undergraduate accounting programs such as UIUC and UT-Austin. Which schools are the best if I am sure that I want to follow this career?</p>
<p>If you are definitely sure, UIUC and UT-Austin are the best in the nation. They aren't too terribly hard to get into considering how good their accounting programs are. USC is considered a top program also. You'll definitely get into a Big Four from those schools. If you're not really sure about the profession, check out any top business school like Michigan or Stern, which will give you many options. </p>
<p>Michigan, UIUC, and UTA doesn't exactly qualify you to take the CPA exam right after undergrad because you need 150 credits. You're going to have to go to grad school (not a bad idea to attend the same school since these schools also have good masters programs). I know UIUC has a joint degree program that gives you a masters with a bachelors in five years. I recommend you do that. Stern actually has a CPA track accounting major that packs all the credits in 4 years, so you don't need the extra masters degree. I think you should go with the UIUC. Go to the site for more info. You can also specialize in your masters degree, like if you're going into tax, you can get an MST degree.</p>
<p>I just graduated from UIUC this spring, so I can give you some information about the program here. Nearly everyone majoring in accounting does the five year accounting program where you eventually finish with a Masters. Many students here, myself included, get the masters in 4 years (very doable, especially if you're coming in with credits).</p>
<p>I don't know what other schools are like, but UIUC's program is very conceptual in nature. Unlike other universities, we focused a lot more on accounting theory, rather than technical accounting. Many of my peers didn't even know how to perform simple journal entries by the time they were in the masters program. The school figures that if you understand the fundamentals behind accounting theory, the technical aspects are easy. Also technical aspects of accounting are likely to change in the future, while fundamentals will always be there. Of course this introduced some problems as well. While I interned for a big four last summer, I basically had no idea what I was doing in terms of actual auditing. I barely understood what my senior was telling me when they were explaining debits, credits, and journal entries to me. It was pretty sad.</p>
<p>All in all, the program is good though. I feel like I can get pretty much any accounting job I apply for. The big four, and many other firms, hire hoards of accounting graduates here.</p>
<p>Thanks red and jj. That info helps a lot and I was already leaning towards UIUC. This new info supports my decision.</p>
<p>UT Austin has the #1 accounting program rated in the country I think...</p>
<p>Also one awesome thing is that if you want, at UT you can apply for the PPA program:</p>
<p>The Professional Program in Accounting (PPA) is an integrated three-year program beyond the sophomore year in which qualified students earn the Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) and the Master in Professional Accounting (MPA) degrees concurrently. Four "tracks" within the program allow students the opportunity to develop specialized expertise in one of these areas of accounting:
1) auditing and financial reporting, 2) taxation, 3) management accounting and control, and 4) generalist.</p>
<p>It's pretty prestigious here.</p>