<p>I am a CMA. I’m not sure where you would get the idea of a small or medium-sized manufacturer being the only places CMAs work. I work for a Fortune 20 company, with revenues in excess of 90 billion per year, so I would hardly call that “small.” CMAs are generally found in more internally-focused roles (cost accountants, financial analysts) but are also found in hybrid roles that combine a great deal of internal analysis (variance analysis, product profitability analysis, pricing) with that of external reporting and what you’d think of as financial accounting (financial statements, reconciliations, consolidations). Personally, my role is a hybrid position. </p>
<p>Management accountants are definitely in demand, however I would still recommend that anyone considering getting a CMA also get a CPA if they are able to. There are many jobs that only require a CMA, but having a CPA will always be helpful to someone in an accounting role.</p>
<p>If you plan to take both, getting the CPA done first is a good idea because it will eliminate one of the tests you have to take for the CMA, as they waive it for CPAs. By itself, each designation test is a broken into four parts equallying 14 hours of testing for the CPA and 13 hours for the CMA. The CMA is dropped down to 9 or 10 hours if you are a CPA. The CPA requires specific coursework and number of college class hours that vary by state, the CMA only requires a bachelor’s degree. I would judge the overall tests to be similar in difficulty, but that will vary by a person’s background (and which one he or she takes first). </p>
<p>How long all this takes depends on how much time you invest and how familiar you are with the subject matter. For me, it took around a year for my CMA and will be around 10 months for my CPA. This can be done much more quickly; I was testing while working more than full-time and working on an mba/acc the entire time (finishing out 150 credits for the CPA). I also did the CMA first so I had to take all four parts. I think that I spend an average of 80-100 hours of prep per part for both exams, with the exception of part four of the CMA and the FAR section of the CPA. The time invested there (particularly for FAR) was more than the the other sections for me.</p>
<p>What is life like at a Big 4? How many clients does one auditor work with at any given time? And if you only do one client at a time, is there a general length of time before you move on to the next? Change new client once a week or something or do you generally work with someone new everyday?</p>
<p>so basically, the experts here are saying that it’s not absolutely necessary to work at the Big 4, but how much worse off are you in terms of career prospects if you don’t start out there? I’m looking at eventually becoming a financial controller, or getting into financial planning for a company, but some people I’ve talked to say that unless you work at a Big 4, head hunters won’t call you since the Big 4 generally work with all the prestigious companies. Has this been true in your guys’ opinions? Is it really that hopeless without Big 4 experience to move up the ladder in a corporation?</p>
<p>creamgethamoney, working at the big 4 definitely helps when finding another job later on but its not everything. In the end, networking and knowing lots of people will get you the job you want.</p>
<p>I am just a student, too, but remember that if everyone is convinced that the best people ought to go to the Big Four that is what will happen generally. So that such people go on to get the best jobs later isn’t that surprising. I recall around 2000 reading about a study which tracked people who had been offered admission to the Ivy League or other top schools(MIT, etc). Those that couldn’t go because they didn’t have money or who just wanted to go to a 2nd tier school for whatever reason still did just as well. </p>
<p>I think the idea people in this thread are trying to convey is that if you don’t get a Big Four job because you don’t want to work at a huge company or you got some bad Freshman grades or whatever, but you are as good at accounting, networking, communicating, etc as your peers that go to the Big Four then you’ll do fine in the long run. If you didn’t get a Big Four job because you really suck at accounting, are lazy, and come off like a moron in interviews…then you aren’t going to have a great career anyway. Not being Big Four isn’t the cause nor would the solution be begging your Uncle who happens to be a partner to pull strings for you.</p>
<p>Can you choose an industry (e.g., real estate or higher education) to specialize in early on in your Big 4 career? If so, how soon? Is this something you can talk about during the job interview, or will expressing a particular interest in a specific industry hurt your chances?</p>
<p>Hampster asks,"Can you choose an industry (e.g., real estate or higher education) to specialize in early on in your Big 4 career? "</p>
<p>Response: When I was at the Big 8 many years ago, you couldn’t initially choose the your preferred industry but transfers to other industries were allowed after a year or two. I don’t know what happens now though. My experience dates back 30 years.</p>
<p>hampster: I know that for PwC tax, they want you to stay in BCS (business compliance services) for 1-2 years to get your feet wet before you request to go into a specific service line/industry (like M&A/film)</p>
<p>How man clients does an each stage of advancement starting at entry level work with/for at anytime? Do you focus on 1 client until it complete and then move on? And if so, how long do you typically work for said client?</p>
<p>If you are mad good, the managers will want you on specific clients for the whole year. The better you are the more leverage you have to pick the clients/industry you want.</p>
<p>I was just assuming that you just get assigned clients on a regular basis and just keep moving around. What about travel? How often do you travel somewhere that requires a hotel room and how long, on average, are you at that location?</p>
<p>I will be be a college freshman (accounting major) this fall and I’ll be attending a school that is unaccredited, I have skimmed through this thread and did some research and I know that others have said that going to an unaccredited is not the way to go but, this school is one of the best in the state and by going to this school I will have many opportunities for great internships and such (big 4 etc…). What I want to know is that If I go to this unaccredited school will I be able to get an MBA from an out of state school that is accredited? or will I have to stay at the unaccredited school and get my MBA there? I also want to know if I will be able to get my CPA if I leave from the unaccredited school and to go an accredited school?</p>
<p>d.o.c: when you say “unaccredited,” what do you mean? Again, there are various levels of accreditation. The first,and most important, is the accreditation that applies to most colleges. I would bet that your college is accredited by one of these agencies. If not, you should RUN away from that school. However, as I said, I would bet that it is accredited by one of the regional accreditating associations.</p>
<p>The other is AACSB for business. This is an OPTIONAL accreditation. If your school doesn’t have it, I wouldn’t transfer out because , while it is good to have, it is OPTIONAL.</p>
<p>The final type of accreditation is AACSB for accounting. This is still in its infancy and isn’t requried in any way yet.</p>
<p>Hi,
I’m an accounting major at a small liberal arts school (don’t worry it’s AACSB accredited) finishing up my second year. I’m planning on finishing my bachelor’s here since I really love this school and then moving on somewhere more well know for my MAcc. I have some questions though.</p>
<p>How much does the MAcc actually matter and how much is it respected? I am under the impression that it isn’t really highly respected since it is mostly done in order to become a cpa and not really for the education. In other words, do I really need to worry on where I go to get my MAcc?</p>
<p>The big 4 do not currently recruit students from my school. What chances do I then have of interning for them (before getting my bachelors)? I guess I would have to contact them directly. One of the reasons I want to go to a bigger school for my MAcc is so I can get recruited after that. Do they usually recruit MAcc graduates or is it mostly a junior-senior type internship.</p>
<p>Also as a side question, when do students usually take\prepare for their gmat?</p>
<p>Thanks. This thread has helped me a lot so far.</p>
<p>Would the Big 4 recruit from University of Arizona? Also, what would be a major (I’m not 100% sure on Accounting at the moment…) : Business or Entrepreneurship?</p>