Does Accounting Ever Get Interesting?

College Majors Business Major
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<p>Inmotion, I appreciate your help over on the engineering forums, but here I have to disagree with your statement.</p>

<p>The salary numbers for accountants are inaccurate because they are every commonly grouped with bookkeepers. A CPA with about 10 years experience under their belt is not making 59k. Many pass 100k. </p>

<p>As far as doctors, stroll over to the student doctor network forums. They are constantly obsessing about the crushing debt that is due to ridiculous tuition costs that are continuing to rise as salaries stay constant. There are many, many doctors and residents on there saying how they would not do it again with today’s tuition costs, despite their love for medicine. One quote I came across that I really loved for all the “you shouldn’t do it for the money” people is when one current resident, when explaining why he wouldn’t do it again, said (paraphrasing here) “This has got nothing to do with love of medicine or helping people. At some point it just doesn’t make sense to cripple yourself for so long, and I believe we’ve reached that point. If you wanna help so much go volunteer at a shelter.”</p>

<p>$250k debt with 6.8% interest (only a small amount per year is subsidized) that is accumulating while you’re in med school and residency making only $45k winds up being close to half a million very easily. A lot of these guys are paying off the debt well into their 50s. That’s not something I’d want over my head. Sure the anesthesiologists, cardiologists, and dermatologists can make $400k a year, but that requires more schooling, debt, and lost salary years. Not to mention the fact that you can’t just say “I’m doing dermatology.” You have to match into it, and obviously the well-paying specialties are much more competitive. General physicians have a hard time paying off the debt, and that was in the past. Now? Its damn near impossible. The residents on there have to have to mindset of “I’m not paying off the debt, I’m living with it and paying till it goes away.”</p>

<p>Sorry to go off on a tangent, but this is a career I’ve explored extensively due to my love of science before coming to the conclusion that the many doctors who had ideas similar to the quote above are right. It just doesn’t make sense. “Doing what you love” goes out the window when you basically have a second mortgage to pay off while working much more than 40 hrs a week on your feet all day. I actually had an individual PM me saying how much he recommended me avoiding the field. Believe me, if there were something that were as secure as medicine in the sciences field, I’d jump on it. </p>

<p>Long story short, medicine had its hay-day of “guaranteed wealth” in the 80s and 90s when tuition wasn’t more than a home. Those days are gone. </p>

<p>And before someone jumps on me for saying doctors are poor, I’m not saying that. Doctors live fine obviously. But don’t automatically think they’re wealthy and don’t think it doesn’t come with the high stress of a crushing debt.</p>

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<p>Bookkeepers are not grouped with accountants in the occupational handbook. They have their own section located here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://bls.gov/oco/ocos144.htm[/url]”>http://bls.gov/oco/ocos144.htm&lt;/a&gt;
It is common knowledge how much the opportunity cost is for doctors. Somebody who chooses being a doctor over being an accountant has a monetary opportunity cost of about 200-400K. However, at an advantage of 127K-280K a year, doctors erase that deficit within 2-3 years.</p>

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<p>So back t the OP’s question, does acct get interesting once you’ve trudge thru the course work and are applying it in practice? Does one only do it for security/paycheck or because they actually enjoy it? If his long term goal is to be a lawyer and accounting is dragging him down would it not perhaps be better to find something he finds more interesting and therefore be more motivating to work harder at and perhaps get better grades? 40+++ hrs a week x a lifetime is a longtime to bored.</p>

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<p>meeh anyone wanna cam n swap pics :D</p>

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<p>InMotion, if you look up the job description of a Financial Analyst or Investment Banker on BLS, you’ll see the median salary is around 68K. Wouldn’t you agree that’s B.S? Why do most investment bankers I know are making over 100K comfortably? Likewise, the figure for accountants is misleading. And most entry level hires that start off as accountants (especially in public accounting) don’t stay in accounting only roles.</p>

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<p>The biggest flaw I see in measuring salaries is something Nick just pointed out. Rarely does someone stay in purely an accounting role for his or her entire career. And, if you do, you are moving up into management. </p>

<p>Accounting is very boring. Very, very few people love calculating Pensions or booking a lease. It isn’t enjoyable. However, it is a fantastic skill that allows you to understand how pension and leases, for example, will impact the business model you are integrating. Understanding the impact that decisions have on financial is where accounting becomes the bread and butter of the business world. While not directly “accounting,” it creates the framework of understanding.</p>

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<p>^ which is why when people ask me my major and they respond, “You’re gonna be an accountant?! How boring!!”, my usual response is that I’m studying accounting lol.</p>

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<p>^Well what exactly is a CPA then? I’ve heard you kind of are expected to get that, and that will help you move up…in accountancy?
I’m guessing it will help you move on to greener pastures and better positions that you mention goose?</p>

<p>Oh and it is good to hear that most (or at least it seems like most) people think accounting is boring. I’d hate to be competing with people who truly love crunching and running numbers all day.</p>

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<p>CPA is a distinction now required by Big 4. Basically, having a CPA springboards you into better entry-level accounting positions.</p>

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<p>The CPA is really a LICENSE required to perform attest services. The Big Four are CPA firms so have always expected people to get their CPA’s sooner or later(it’s sooner now). You need to have experience to get your CPA license in addition to passing the exam. </p>

<p>Step 1: Get Job
Step 2: Pass CPA exam
Step 3: Get the work experience to get your CPA license from your state board.
Step 4: Use your CPA license and experience to get job with better pay and work life balance than public accounting firm, or stay there and hope to get to partner and make big money(about 1% will actually do this).</p>

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<p>So everyone pretty much agrees that accounting on the boring scale from 1-10 is at negative 5. /thread</p>

<p>:)</p>

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<p>Pretty much :slight_smile: I like the subject though. If you master it, you can run financial circles around your classmates in understanding how decisions impact company financials. </p>

<p>* Responds to post as I am finishing Intermediate II homework on treasury stock…*</p>

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<p>I honestly don’t find the subject boring. I like it and find it extremely relevant and important to learn (unlike my English: Major Authors-Ovid course). </p>

<p>::Responds to post as I am finishing Intermediate II studying for Chapter including treasury stock::</p>

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<p>Some of the topics are actually very interesting. Its just that accounting professors always cram waay too much information down our throats for the amount of time in a semester. I think this is due to either a) the school wanting to prepare you for all CPA exam topics or b) in order for the accounting program to retain accreditation i think they have to cover x number of topics. </p>

<p>It is frustrating because classes become brutal and afterwards it is hard to retain alot of the information you were taught. AND it makes the classes pretty unenjoyable at times even when the subject matter is interesting, which trust me, is not always the case. </p>

<p>However on the plus side, at least we accounting majors learn some time managament skills : ).</p>

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<p>Accounting is easy.</p>

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<p>Frankly, I LOVED accounting in college. I found it both interesting and intellectually rewarding. What I didn’t like was practicing accounting except for doing tax research and tax planning.</p>

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<p>Stop complaining about the difficulty and the amount of material covered in the classes. Suck it up, study hard, put in the work outside of class, and master the material.</p>

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<p>I think we look at accounting from very different viewpoints. haha.</p>

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<p>goose, don’t assume I didn’t work my butt off or suck it up and get good grades. I did both. </p>

<p>I was just giving an explanation for why people find accounting boring and/or unenjoyable. Truth be told, like I said in my previous post, alot of the subject matter is quite interesting, it is just that there is so much information the courses become unenjobable. For example, upper level courses Ive taken at my business school other than accounting, are often, although not always, much more enjoyable. </p>

<p>For example, my intermediate finance course is so much more entertaining and actually fun than my intermediate accounting courses were. Its not that the accounting info isnt interesting, its just that when each test tests you on 10-15 complex topics instead of just 1-3, like in my Finance course where we cover less actaul material but learn it more in depth, the course becomes less enjoyable. And I argue it also lessens the long term retention and in-depth understanding of the topics.</p>

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<p>Whatdidyou, what kind of stuff are you going over in intermediate finance?</p>