<p>at the schools in my state, and i assume at all schools with 150 credit hours requirement. Juniors are not qualified for internship recruiting at public accounting firms.</p>
<p>In their junior year, they interview for the summer leadership programs. In their senior year, they interview for internships. In their 5th year/Macc year, they interview for full-time. </p>
<p>True, when they are interviewing for their internships they havent always completed intermediates, auditions…etc, but they have completed them by their internship start date. Similarily, students interviewing for full-time, often arent CPA exam eligible yet, but they will be by the time of their start dates.</p>
<p>Whatdidyou, my understanding is that - As most of states are adopted 150 units, big-4 aware of the fact that there are both 5-years AND 4-year program out there to meet the 150 units. So the externship/internship timing is scheduled backward from when a student meets the credit requirement. See how the wording is in this leadership program “Preferably sophomore status in a four-year program or junior status in a five-year program.”
[National</a> Leadership Adventure: Apply](<a href=“http://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/leadership-adventure/apply.jhtml]National”>http://www.pwc.com/us/en/careers/leadership-adventure/apply.jhtml)</p>
<p>I also saw similar wording from other firms regarding internship recruitment, don’t remember exactly but something as, the student should be no more than two years away from graduation when apply, which translates into - fall of junior year interview for the summer internship before the senior year in the 4-year program, whereas fall of senior year interview for the summer internship before the 5th year in the 5-year program.</p>
<p>My take is - whether a state require a 150 units or not, the key is the student in a 4-year or a 5-year track.</p>
<p>Would it be advisable to finish undergrad then get a MBA in accounting (not the Masters in accounting which is one year). I figure a MBA would open more doors if I decide to which to banking or something later. </p>
<p>But can you get into a good MBA program just out of undergrad and with no work experience? But to get work experience at the Big4 you need 150credits which comes from the MBA.</p>
<p>@goose7856
Why is the MBA-accounting weak? Would a ‘strong’ field be finance? (If I do get into a good MBA school, I want to do banking)</p>
<p>If students can choose to take easy, filler classes to get the 150credits, why do some choose the MACC? Is there a required number of accounting courses I have to take that counts in the extra 30 credits or can they be like ‘drawing’ courses?</p>
<p>@ goose - What if your school offers an MBA in Professional Accounting that only requires an additional 30 credits to the BS in Public Accounting? Fordham, for instance, allows this option for accounting students with superior GPA and GMAT. Otherwise, they can get the MS in Accounting or Taxation in the same amount of time. </p>
<p>Basically, if you have to get 30 more credits to be CPA eligible, shouldn’t you get the MBA if you are accepted rather than the MS? </p>
<p>The MAcc/MTax curriculum mainly focus on accounting or taxation accordingly; while MBA, as the name suggest, has to cover other discipline of the business area. Therefore, if your career goal is in public accounting. MAcc/MTax values more than MBA. But if your goal is management or banking, that’s another story.</p>
<p>CPA license requires both total units and certain amount of acct/business coursework. Typically, an acct major already fulfull the acct/business requirement in the undergrad program, the extra 30-units can be technically anything for them. There’s other students who don’t come from an acct background or don’t have enough upper acct credits under their belt, they need to fulfill the requirement thru a program that offer such courses, like a master program or a certificate program. Or some want another round of recruitment.</p>
<p>a_mom hit the nail on the head. A MACC is better than an MBA because it is more focused, while an MBA is for management prep so focuses in Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations are much more appropriate/stronger degrees.</p>
<p>ggfang, the purpose of a MACC over just doing random hours online or some other way is that it gives you access to another recruiting round at the school. If you do not have access to recruiters on campus then breaking into accounting (especially the B4) is nearly impossible at the associate level. You have to be an on-campus hire in essence to have a chance at those jobs. Otherwise, the best you can expect is probably a local accounting firm or maybe a regional firm if you can network very well.</p>
<p>An MBA is useful because it allows you to change fields after you have started working and it gives you a great network of individuals. If you go get an MBA directly out of undergrad, then you are destroying the former of those two. You haven’t even started your career yet so you won’t ever have such an easy transition as what the MBA offers.</p>
<p>If you are interested in banking, check out a Masters in Finance. These are very analytical programs that cover advanced finance topics. I do not have enough background with this degree to say much more but I know they are very well respected and could be a good platform to use to jump into banking. a MS. Finance is also only a year long program typically so you could do that program rather than a MACC to get your 150 if you already have your accounting hours. This is just another option to throw out there. I don’t know enough about you to give any real advice outside of the possibilities that may exist.</p>
<p>Id imagine getting an mba to be better than just taking random classes online. Quite a bit more impressive. </p>
<p>Maybe your MBA in Professional Accounting is a much better program than the MAcc. I dont know. If you advisor said that, I’d talk to him/her more to find out the reasons. Maybe the MBA has more recruiting/real-work experience built into the learning,…etc. MBAs tend to have more classes where you have the opportunity to actually work with real companies.</p>
<p>I doubt that public accounting recruiters would prefer one over the other, unless there is a huge difference in quality…</p>
<p>Having MBA after your name does hold a certain amount of value and is definety more recognizable than having “MAcc grad”. lol. </p>
<p>Who really wants to get an MBA later anyways? I wouldnt worry to much about that when making your decision.</p>
<p>Posted by ggfang123, “But can you get into a good MBA program just out of undergrad and with no work experience? But to get work experience at the Big4 you need 150credits which comes from the MBA.”</p>
<p>You will not be able to get into a good MBA program right after undergraduate, but what you can do is:
Get a job and work for 2 or 3 years (full time)
Get into a good MBA (MBA in finance is the best for banking and consulting)
Finish your MBA, and then pass the CPA exam.
And now you are a ggfang123, MBA, CPA. </p>
<p>^This combo will have more weight than any other MAcc or masters program in corporate world. (you do not even need a big4 for that)</p>
<p>1) By the way, regarding this statement, “But to get work experience at the Big 4 you need 150credits which comes from the MBA.”</p>
<p>Although having 150 hours completed is a plus, but it is not a requirement to get a job at a big 4. There are plenty of people who work at a big 4 and doing their masters or extra classes part time. Yet, the big 4 expect their employees to get licensed within 2-3 years; otherwise, you will not get any promotions, or they might even let you go.</p>
<p>2) By ggfang123, “If students can choose to take easy, filler classes to get the 150credits, why do some choose the MACC? Is there a required number of accounting courses I have to take that counts in the extra 30 credits or can they be like ‘drawing’ courses?”</p>
<p>As a_mom has mentioned already, if you have your undergraduate degree in accounting, then you can take 30 elective credits. (I would do something like double major/minor instead of just taking extra classes) However, for people with any other degree, the MAcc is necessary. (or taking 30 credits in accounting, if you do not have any yet)</p>
<p>@Toshtemirov As for “Get a job and work for 2 or 3 years (full time)”, I understand you need a good job to get into a good MBA program, so my best bet would be a Big4 (most likely can’t go directly to banking since school isn’t high enough). But I need to be CPA-eligible or they kick me out. </p>
<p>Should I just get the 150credit hours from random classes (not getting a masters or MAcc) so I’ll be CPA-eligible. Then work for a Big4 for a few years, then if I want to get a MBA in finance, I can quit Big4 and go to school. But if I want to stay at the Big4, I’ll just take the CPA exam. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be better? How long can I work full-time at the Big4 without a CPA before getting kicked out? :O</p>
<p>“Although having 150 hours completed is a plus, but it is not a requirement to get a job at a big 4. There are plenty of people who work at a big 4 and doing their masters or extra classes part time. Yet, the big 4 expect their employees to get licensed within 2-3 years; otherwise, you will not get any promotions, or they might even let you go.”</p>
<p>This is not true. </p>
<p>In my region, anyways. You have to be CPA exam eligible by your start date to get a job in big 4 Audit. It is expected of you. People probably often take 2-3 years to actually pass their CPA exams. However 150 credit hours are required to get the job.</p>
<p>^I do not know about your region, but here in NY you are allowed to sit for the exam just with 120 hours–assuming you are an accounting major. Perhaps, that might be a factor why people get hired. Yet, to become licensed, you will still have to get 150 hours and necessary working experience.</p>
<p>Why the hell are CPA requirments so different from state to state? Doesnt make any sense!The test is standardised, why cant the requirements be? </p>
<p>Talking about requirments being different for the exact same test, jesus. I mean in CA you only need 4 years. in WA you can sit for the exam 6 months before you earn 150 credits, as long as you earn the necessary credits within that time frame. in OR, you need 150 credits b4 you can sit for the exam. and now, In NY you can sit for the exam after 120 credit hours, but need 150 untill you can get lisenced. Talk about convoluted.</p>
<p>I am going to be a junior this coming fall. At the rate I’m going, I should be able to graduate a semester early, so instead of graduating in the Spring of 2013, I will be able to do it by Fall 2012. This means I will have 130 credits by then (and I would only be taking 12 credits in that last fall semester). How do I go about finishing the rest of my hours? Could I continue into the Spring of 2013 and graduate finishing the 150 credits with my undergrad degree? Or would I go to get my masters in accounting?</p>