<p>Start studying for the CPA if you want.</p>
<p>Is that to me? :D</p>
<p>Yes, enjoy it!</p>
<p>Hello, I’m a 34 year old former computer network administrator. I went back to school recently and at the end of this year will be graduating with a BA in economics from OSU (3.8 gpa). Although I opted for the BA instead of the BS, I did get straight A’s through calculus III … mentioned as some evidence of quantitative ability.</p>
<p>Anyway, there’s a certificate program at a community college here designed to match requirements for CPA candidacy. Is it worth becoming an accountant this late in life? My alternative would be to get back into I.T., though something about accounting interests me for whatever reason. </p>
<p>Any help is appreciated!
-Allan</p>
<p>note: I do know that the Big 4 wouldn’t be interested.</p>
<p>Also, it might be worthwhile to mention that I have good people skills but would rather not do a lot of traveling. However, I am without wife/kids so making an initial move would be OK.</p>
<p>Also, thanks so much to taxguy for starting this great thread.</p>
<p>hey everyone I posted an accounting career related thread on the boards but I guess it makes sense to post it on here:</p>
<p>I am about to enter my third year as an Accounting Major in the traditional BBA Accounting Program at the University of Texas at Austin. I unfortunately didn’t get admitted into their 4 year Accelerated Masters Program.</p>
<p>My ultimate goal is to intern for a Big 4 firm and then hopefully receive a full time offer with one of the Big 4 and work there for a few years and transition to corporate finance. The problem is that everyone here says that there is not point going traditional BBA Accounting route because the 5 year Masters of Professional Accounting program kids always gets the Big 4 jobs.</p>
<p>With this I was wondering if a bachelors of accounting is enough to land a Big 4 Internship or full time offer without having the proper credits to sit for the CPA now (by the time I will graduate I will have about 140 credits - 10 credits shy of sitting for the CPA exam) or is the Big 4 out of my reach now?</p>
<p>any feedback is greatly appreciated</p>
<p>alucheni: No, you will be starting entry level making junk money and getting tedious brainless work. By the time you become a big decision maker you will be retired.</p>
<p>spt.leonidas, you are selling yourself short by looking at the audit and tax side that requires CPA. Go look into transaction services or their valuation practice.</p>
<p>I don’t see what’s wrong with becoming an accountant depending on where you are looking to work and your previous experience in a finance related position. Depends on what you are looking to do ultimately.</p>
<p>In his situation, everything is wrong with it. It’s not the ideal position for transitioning into corporate finance. It’s easier if you are in the due diligence or valuation department. Also not the mention the pay is superior in those positions. However note that it is definitely not impossible from Audit to get into a corporate finance role.</p>
<p>
He’s 34… that would mean he ought to be done by 35 and possibly a CPA by 36. He has another 35 years in the work force. He’s about ten years behind the typical accountant, but that’s maybe 1/4 of the span of a typical career.</p>
<p>^ If I’m working till 70 I’m gonna be annoyed.</p>
<p>Vulgar: Nice joke, only 10 years behind.</p>
<p>Hello All,</p>
<p>I am usually on the Engineering & Science threads but I saw a post from TaxGuy that caught my eye because I have a couple of relatives in the middle of the undergrad schooling and both are doing accounting.</p>
<p>My question is how much is the CPA certification an “equalizer”? I ask because I know (from both the CC boards and friends in the business-but-not-accounting areas) the business industry is more “brand name” influenced than the engineering and computer science world.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Actually, the quote was from Jotucker83:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is being bilingual provide any benefits for accounting?</p>
<p>Hardly any, unless you want to go abroad.</p>
<p>Not planning on leaving this great country anytime soon, I was just hoping it would help, after taking the basic accounting class during the summer I realized being fluent in Spanish probably wouldn’t give me an benefit, oh well. Would it at least make me more marketable???</p>
<p>@Kelley55,</p>
<p>Yes, it will make you more marketable. The questions, though, are (1) how much more marketable and (2) if the positions that bilingualism would help you are what you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Being someone who majored in Accounting and Spanish myself, I haven’t noticed it to be a special boon for my job prospects. Working in governmental auditing right now, I don’t have any reason to use it. I can’t imagine it would be any more useful in public accounting or tax, really. But it certainly wouldn’t ever hurt, and that’s why I suggest it would make you more marketable; I just don’t think the answer to that question is ‘very.’</p>
<p>It can be a consideration in industry though, especially smaller companies who may do business with Spanish-speaking individuals. I actually interviewed for a job like that while still in school, and those types of jobs are what I might think would be most suitable to utilizing a second language along with Accounting.</p>
<p>Unless you just have a passion for learning another language (which was my case), I wouldn’t think the benefit would outweigh the costs.</p>
<p>I graduate in December and I accepted an offer from a mid-tier firm several months ago. However, I’m still interested in the Big 4. Should I attend meet the firms again in the fall? Several of the people I met at recruiting (including the person who interviewed me) are no longer at the firm, BTW. Is it too risky?</p>