<p>I started out thinking about majoring in engineering and changed to business school when I did well in my 1st accounting class. The engineering courses were starting to get more difficult and I did not want to stay up into the late hours studying. Therefore, I went into accounting. The accountng math is not complicated even though I was required to take a year of calculus (to get into UC Berkeley’s Haas) which I never had to use. As stated, I went to UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School and then got my Masters in Accounting with an emphasis in tax from USC’s Leventhal School of Accounting. I worked for one of the Big 8 firms (now Big 4 due to mergers). I now work in taxes for a well know fortune 200 firm. I get paid very well and I like my work. The work is very challenging and there are contant deadlines and pressures.</p>
<p>To do well in accountng, you should like working with numbers and be able to analyze large volume of details and still be able to see the big picture. There are other intangible factors too like interpersonal skills, presentation skills, work well with people (all soft skills), etc. If you start out working for a Big 4 firm, it is a spring board to many opportunities. You’ll see a lot of different things and there are a broard range of opportunities. Many of my colleagues from the Big 8 firm went on to do a broad range of things. Some stayed with the firm and became partners, but it was very hard work. Others went on to get Ivy League type MBA’s from schools like Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Univ. of Chicago, Northwestern, etc. and became investment bankers and now making huge amounts of money. Some went on to prestigious law schools, again Harvard, Stanford, etc. The Big 8 firm I worked for had many of the “cream of the crop”. Of course, getting the CPA license was the main goal. Some of my colleague started their own firm, worked for other smaller accounting firms, etc. Other went into industry and worked in internal audit, corporate accounting, tax, finance, treasury, etc. Others became financial planners (CFP license), etc. The opportunities are board and unlimited. In my company, the VP of Finance, the VP Controller, Accounting Directors all have CPA licenses and Big 8 or Big 4 experiences. Our CFO, VP Treasurer, VP Investor Relations all have Ivy League or top 15 MBA’s from schools like Stanford, Dartmouth, UCLA, etc. The money at these VP levels are very high.</p>
<p>At times I do wish I did get a technical degree like engineering and then the Masters in Accounting and CPA. Mainly because my brother got the engineering degree from UCB and then the Masters in Engineering from UW (Seattle). He seems to like the challenge of his work. Transitioning to business is inevitable because most engineers do not spend their entire career doing engineering work (due to outsourcing, out of date technical skills, etc.). </p>
<p>If you are in CA and I am sure the same in other states too, getting into a top notch business school like UC Berkeley’s Haas and USC’s Marshall is very competitive. First, these business schools will require calculus to get into: UCB (1 yr.), USC (1/2 yr.), UCLA’s business economic (2 quarters, UCLA has no undergrad bus. achool). As you get deeper into the accounting curriculum, there are “weed out” courses to determine who gets into the Big 4 (or elite graduate schools) or who should not be in accounting. Not getting the top grades to get into the Big 4 is not the end of the world. You can still overcome it and get into smaller firms to get your CPA license or get into corporate jobs in industry.</p>
<p>Also, refer to my discussion in the thread titled “CPA as a Finance Major” under this section, College Majors.</p>