<p>gaijingirl, It was nice reading about your background. </p>
<p>Sadly, the economy in the US isn't good. Many jobs have been lost,which will make it hard for even American students to get good jobs. It has to be harder for you by attending an out-of- country school that no one has any knowledge of.</p>
<p>As for an accounting job, again, I can't say. I would emphasize that you need a very strong GPA, as to Americans, to get the better jobs in accounting. Even with that, I don't know what affect attending a university outside the US would have. You might be better off interviewing with a large accounting firm in Japan.</p>
<p>I am currently a senior in high school and picking out a college. I've been accepted to Uillinois, indiana U, U of Wisc. I was wondering if say I went to my local community college for free for a year or maybe 2 and tried to transfer to one of these schools or another accounting accredited school would my year or 2 at the community college hurt my interview prospects because it was not accredited, or would only my accounting classes I would take at the accredited school matter? In other words are only certain courses considered accredited or the major as a whole? Would I be able to take all my GenEd classes at the community college and then transfer and take the accredited courses at a good, accredited school and still have the same interview chance as a person who went to the accredited school for all 4/5 years? Thanks for any responses.</p>
<p>Gary3411, who said that your local community college isn't accredited? I would bet it is!</p>
<p>If it weren't accredited, I wouldn't go there....period! The main reason is that your credits won't transfer to Wisconsin. However, as I said, I would bet the local college would be accredited.</p>
<p>Moreover, it shouldn't hurt your recruiting chances if youi did your first two years at a local community college and transferred to a school like Wisconsin or Indiana. Again, get a strong GPA and you should have plenty of interviews.</p>
<p>Gary,
I have been teaching the financial/managerial accounting sequence at a community college for 20 years. I would be very surprised if your cc isn't accredited. As taxguy already said, if it isn't, none of your classes will transfer. Most community colleges are accredited by a regional association and you will find that information disclosed on websites, in catalogs, etc. Almost any faculty or staff member at the college will be able to tell you what their accreditation is.</p>
<p>As for the ability to succeed after two years at a cc, I'm going to be very honest. If you are an excellent student, it shouldn't be a significant impediment. Nationwide the business core for a sophomore planning to gain entry to upperclass business programs, whether as a "native" student or a transfer, is pretty much the same. You should pay attention to requirements for minimum grades in the core classes, but you will likely need microeconomics, macroeconomics, financial accounting, managerial accounting, statistics, elementary calculus (sometimes called business calculus), and possibly a business writing class. Our closest regional college will take business law from us, but our state university won't, so check into that. It won't make any difference where you take your gen ed classes. So, on paper there will be no difference.</p>
<p>However, community colleges often have the reputation of being easier than four year schools. That is true in some cases and not in others. I have lots of students who can't understand why my classes aren't as easy as some others they take on our campus. I tell them that while many of them will never go beyond those two classes, they are expected to learn the same things as those who will. However, the reality is that I can't move through the material as fast and there are some minor topics that I don't have class time to cover since I'm trying to "carry" the lower part of the class across the finish line. If you want to do well in the intermediate accounting sequence (the make or break classes), you will need to take some initiative and read all the material and work towards doing a little more. I'm not talking about major differences, just a small amount of material (recording transactions involving notes, treasury stock transactions, some of the less common ratios, etc.). Think of it as an investment in making your junior year easier. If you are an excellent accounting student at a cc, you are likely to garner the attention of your instructors and, possibly, some recognition. One of my former students who won the "outstanding accounting transfer" award is now in the top accounting position for a local company that makes a unique product that you might be familiar with, so a community college education can provide you with the foundation you need to meet your career goals.</p>
<p>Maybe I am missing something, but i don't believe there are any community colleges on the AACSB accreditation list that I saw, which is what I was referring to, or does AACSB only matter for where you end up graduating with your bachelors from? Sorry I'm still a little confused.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities are generally accredited by regional accrediting agencies to ensure minimum educational standards. For example, because I live in the South, my college is accredited by SACS, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. You are correct that two year schools are not eligible for AACSB. There is another accrediting agency, I believe it is ACBSP, that will accredit two year business programs, yet it is not the expected standard for graduates of four year programs - AACSB is. It is preferable that your BS/BA come from an AACSB school. BTW, unless things have changed, AACSB not only accredits business colleges (as in the college within the university), but accredits specific departments as well; for example, the accounting department. At the time I graduated from my state university and sat for the CPA, all of our state and regional colleges were accredited by AACSB for their colleges of business, but only three accounting programs were accredited in and of themselves.</p>
<p>What are the pros and cons of Tax vs. Audit in the accounting profession? What factors should I consider when making my decision between tax or audit? (I am hoping to work at a Big 4 firm)</p>
<p>hey taxguy, do you know any forums that are popular and more geared towards accounting; kind of like a wallstreet oasis thats meant for people pursuing accounting rather than investment banking? A google search only found some rather unpopular boards that didn't seem to have a lot of information, so do you know of any that have a good amount of members, because all I find on CC is mostly people asking about investment banking, target schools, M/B/B?</p>
<p>creamgetthamoney, I was actually trying to find other forums too. I think that cpanet and accounting.com are both good forums that provide excellent information about the accounting career. Although I find that many people on accounting.com seem to complain about how the accounting field is horrible and all the negative aspects of it. Some of the posts are making me reconsider my decision towards this path but at the same time I feel like I would still like it. So I have a question...lets say you have a degree in accounting, if you work at a public accounting firm for 2-3 years and decide that you dont like accounting that much, can you get other jobs in the business world (such as financial analysis, consulting, ibanking, marketing, wealth management, etc) or will it be tough?</p>
<p>I really don't have the time to get into a discussion of tax vs. audit. They are very different disciplines. Tax is more of a combination between accounting and law. It is research oriented with a lot of compliance. It is more specialized in some ways..</p>
<p>However, audit has many more jobs than tax. EVERY single government agency has auditors.In addition, people can specialize in audit too such as forensics, banks, tax exempts etc. You really need to know your SAS's and accounting pronouncements. Tax folks need to know Code , IRS Regs , rulings and case law. It really is very different from auditing. I would interview with both tax and audit folks to get a clearer understanding.</p>
<p>When I was in an accounting firm, tax folks , at least at the lower and mid teir levels, usually get a slightly better pay than the auditors. I don't know if that is still true.</p>
<p>I also don't know of any accounting forums other than what is here. sorry.</p>
<p>After A lot of thought I have finally decided to choose accounting as my major. I was just wondering how to find out if a school was accredited or not. I'm planning to attend slippery rock university in PA like I stated for accounting</p>
<p>Ok after looking at this, I don't see the big deal. I barely see any schools listed here. Isn't important to just have a degree. Slippery Rock is on of the best schools in my area and they are not accredited. I don't buy the merit of it</p>
<p>I remeber taxguy addressed this in some of his previous posts in this thread. My understanding is as long as the business program is accredited you're fine. The accounting acceditation is optional. I find most of our state schools have their business program accredited.</p>
<p>Maybe taxguy can clarify this again.</p>
<p>Edit - I assume you mean not many school are accounting accredited</p>
<p>A_Mom is essentially correct. I addressed this issue of AACSB Accreditation in post 297,which I wish folks would read before posting the same questions. Just for the record, here is what I said in that post:</p>
<hr>
<p>There are three types of accreditation,which makes things confusing.</p>
<p>The first, and most important, is the normal accreditation such as "Mid Atlantic accreditation" or "southern accrediation" of colleges. These and other bodies are the main accrediting organ. Most schools are accredited by these since they are crucial.</p>
<p>The second accreditation,which isn't as required but is becomming more essential today is AACSB. They accredit business programs in general. More of the better university and business programs are becomming AACSB accredited as well. Is this accreditation essential? NO,but is very nice to have.</p>
<p>The final type of accreditation,which is the newest accreditation, is by the AACSB as well, however,it is also specifically for accounting. This isn't as well known, and you certainly could get a job without a school having this last accreditation. However, it will become the gold standard for accounting firms in the future, in my opinion. Thus, going to a school that has this accreditation in place will be nice but NOT essential at this time.</p>
<p>As for the time frame for accreditation, it could take years. A lot depends on the time frame of the accreditation process by the school. It can be weeks to several years. No one really knows.</p>
<p>Taxguy, I suggest you put this clarificaton #436 as well as some other posts into a new thread like: Must Read before goto "Everything .... about accounting". And no Q&A for that new thread. :)</p>
<p>You said it doesn't matter what college I go to. As long as the college is accredited, I will get a decent job. Currently, I am in NJCU and it is considered in the 4th tier of the north region. I was wondering if this will affect my job outlook since my college is not well-known?</p>
<p>If you don't mind i have a question speaking of your experience as one of the big 4 recruiters. Does ethnicity take a role in terms of recruitment? </p>
<p>For instance, let's say there was a Korean-American who commited his studies in the accountancy fields and obtained a great GPA similary as of Caucasian person who is also seeking for the same position as the Korean is. They both have similar grades, job experiences, and resume. How would you take part in this?</p>