Everything you wanted to know or should know about accounting

<p>um2011 - my suggestion would be to try to do an internship during your undergrad. If this is not a possibility, I would look for one in between undergrad and masters. However, the only problem I see is that you would be looking for an internship in the summer as you stated, and though you can find summer internships, there are generally a lot more accounting internships available in the winter/spring (busy season). Generally, having an internship experience will help you tremendously when looking for jobs.</p>

<p>Hey I had a question am assuming your from MD, Me am from Frederick, MD .I plan to attend Mount Saint Mary’s University or Salisbury (Haven’t made up my mind yet), to study accounting. I was just wondering which would be better (in your opinion) since you seem to know a lot about this I would like in the future to move out of state probably some big city such as NYC, or LA, or maybe even abroad to somewhere such as South Africa/ India/ England. So my question is which school above if any would be best to attend if I plan to major in Accounting and eventually get my CPA. I am currently a sophomore in Junior college finishing up my associates in General Studies. THanks your help is greatly appreciated</p>

<p>I’ve been looking into MAcc programs for a while, specifically for those with undergraduate degrees in other fields. I held off from applying to programs since I was already 35k in debt and didn’t think anything more than that would be a good idea. Anyway, I’m wondering if it is becoming more important about the school you attend. I know taxguy has said it doesn’t matter where you go, but with more and more accounting grads I can only imagine how tough things are getting. I can choose to go to FDU or Seton Hall, but I’m afraid neither of these will be good enough programs to get into the Big 4. The advantages of both these programs: 1) FDU is local and one of the cheapest options for me 2) Seton Hall is a night program so I could probably work alongside it.</p>

<p>I don’t want to spend 30k more on school though and be in the same spot I’m in. I would be shooting for the Big 4.</p>

<p>Pokey, plenty of folks got accounting jobs out of FDU. Again, let me reiterate, the school that you attend is irrelevant. What is important is your GPA and interview. I would simply pick a school in the state that you want to practice in since they will know their state’s requirements for the CPA and probably have a program that will meet it.</p>

<p>Thanks as always for the help taxguy. But I’m trying to set myself up with the best possible chances to land an interview with the Big 4. What do you recommend for that? I’d hate to go further in debt and end up with just another “job.” I’d like to get myself in to a good company where I can make big steps to a meaningful career.</p>

<p>Pokey07 notes,But I’m trying to set myself up with the best possible chances to land an interview with the Big 4. What do you recommend for that? "</p>

<p>Answer: Go to FDU or any other accredited school and get at least a 3.5+ GPA…Your interviews will follow.</p>

<p>Can you get into an accounting job with a business administration degree? thats all that cal poly offers.</p>

<p>Hi everyone,
Guys how do you think is that a good idea to get a double major or a MS instead of just taking extra classes to satisfy the CPA requirement? And I’m also wonering do people lose the CPA license if they did a mistake somewhere because all people do mistakes and i just want to know how can it reflect a person?</p>

<p>Go to the highest ranked school.</p>

<p>Thanks taxguy. </p>

<p>Dawgie, what makes you say that?</p>

<p>I have to agree, I don’t think the school is as important. You might get more campus recruiters at a larger and more well known school, but it isn’t realy the school that most firms are after. I am from a small liberal arts college, and know of many classmates that ended up at Big 4 or other larger firms. The opportunities are out there, it really comes down to how well you can network, and how well you do in your interviews (also obviously your grades).</p>

<p>i’m going back school for my second bachelor in accounting which I will have way over 150 credit hours by the time I finish with acc. degree. will that effect my chance of taking cpa exam if i have way over the 150 limit?</p>

<p>No, it will not.</p>

<p>infviet: why do you want to get a second bachelor’s degree? Back when I was deciding between an MBA and second bachelor’s degree, the advisors at my college said to go for the master’s degree. I have a bachelor’s degree in music. I never finished the master’s degree, but I passed the CPA exam years ago (I have 150+ hours).</p>

<p>what kind of requirements to most MAcc programs generally require? I am going to a school that does not offer an accounting major, but does offer accounting courses which hopefully I will be able to take. </p>

<p>I know some MAcc programs actually want an undergrad accounting major, others just want certain courses…what do most MAcc programs want? Or is this question irrevelant if MAcc programs are all varied.</p>

<p>thank you</p>

<p>collegebound_guy,
MAcc programs do not require bachelors in accounting. You can have any degree that you want, but they may require introduction to accounting courses before you apply. One more reason, if you don’t have an accounting bachelors or other business degree, it may put you in disatvantage because you will not have any waivers,thus MAcc program will take you 2 years or more to complete. However, you will be able to sit for the CPA. In addition to that, my advice to you is that if you don’t have a bachelors in business and don’t want to sit for the CPA, then you better consider MBA in accounting.</p>

<p>By the way, if your college doesn’t offer an accounting degree then you may pursue major in economics or finance and then go for MAcc.</p>

<p>do most economics programs have accounting courses in them? I for sure want to take at least most of the introductory accounting courses if I decide to get a MAcc because I don’t want to go to MAcc for 2 years</p>

<p>Also, what is a “waiver”? </p>

<p>thank you for the responses</p>

<p>I don’t think many economics programs require accounting classes. As a former economics and now accounting major, I can’t really imagine it. Excluding those that have some kind of Business Econ major…</p>

<p>A waiver for anything means you don’t need to have a certain requirement. So if you and I went to the same school for a MAcc, I would have lots of requirements waived because I have already taken Intermediate Accounting I and II, etc. I wouldn’t get “credit” quite like I would if I transferred some place else at the undergrad level(so if all MAcc students had to have 45 hours of coursework for example, you might have to complete 45 hours of certain courses like Intermediate I and II while I’d have to complete maybe 30 plus an extra 15 of graduate electives).</p>

<p>Anyone have any experience or knowledge about some government jobs? I am a rarity, an accounting student who wants to work for the government or IRS. I have my eyes on a State Auditor job in CA, but we all know how bad this state is doing so there might not be money left to audit.</p>

<p>I gave a look at the IRS jobs list and there are many listed under accounting/finance, but other than the entry level job i’m not sure where people go job wise. What is the difference between an internal revenue agent and an internal revenue officer? the agent job seems to pay more, but why?</p>