<p>^I very much want to know the things. Unfortunately, the things that interest don’t make any money -which is probably the case with most interesting things - so I’m considering accounting. I grew up without a lot of money, and I’m not really planning on having that be the case for me later.</p>
<p>I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoy my job. I work in public accounting (in tax) and enjoy acting as a consultant to business owners on their tax and accounting related matters. The work is challenging. While you may be doing repetative tasks at time, like filing tax returns, it doesn’t feel repetative since you are constantly dealing with different clients that each bring unique situations to the table. Working with clients and establishing relationships with them is the most satisfying part of the job. </p>
<p>There is always going to be people out there that hate their jobs. Being a CPA in public accounting is not for everyone, and there are different experiences, even in public accounting (small versus large firm) that make up people’s like/dislike of their position.</p>
<p>I can honestly say that I too enjoy my job;however, I am not a practicing accountant. I write book and do seminars on tax related topics and financial topics. The point is that accounting opens many doors besides just practicing accounting. You can do consulting ( on many topics from real estate, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions et. al.), computer work, investment banking, tax work, financial planning, assurance work, forensic work and much more. In fact, I really can’t think of any major that provides as many diversified opportunities as accounting.</p>
<p>taxguy, when is your next seminar?</p>
<p>Whistleblower, you are a clever dude. :}</p>
<p>And alright, you guys are kind of assuaging my fears.</p>
<p>eastikop, thank you for the sarcasm-drenched compliment. As a reward, I’ll offer you some advice. With the incredibly strong GPA you’ll need to succeed in accounting (i.e. taxguy had a 3.6 and a minor in math/physics, his sons graduated cum laude, all of them are awesome and good-looking, but none of them got into the big 8/5/4, you do the math), you could do something awesome like go to med school, where you have the opportunity to become a surgeon, and make BANK operating on people. It might be easier to get a good GPA in accounting since your entire undergrad only has like 5 hard classes and the rest is BS, but it’s still such a pain in the ass, and being a business major who literally studies is intellectual drudgery at its worst, it’s right down there with studying latin. You will be cheated so many times by the subpar multiple-choice-test-making-abilities of your teachers, far more than dare-I-say any other major.</p>
<p>Do any of you guys know which schools in southern california (LA and San diego) are targets schools for the Big 4 firms?</p>
<p>I am looking to transfer to the University of San diego for their accountancy program, and I have heard that they have a good business program. However, their overall reputation doesn’t seem to be on par with other higher ranking UCs. How well does USD place their accounting grads to the Big 4 or similar firms in Los angeles and san diego?</p>
<p>Thank you all…</p>
<p>So I’ve read the first 11 pages or so and have some knowledge of CPA and everything. I just have a few questions about how I can get about getting the CPA.</p>
<p>I’ve always though about majoring in Finance until I kept hearing Accounting this, Accounting that. Accounting has a guaranteed job whereas Finance might be iffy. If I had to choose between a Finance job or Accounting job with the same pay, I would probably choose Finance over Accounting. The only reason I’m doing Accounting w/ Finance is because I don’t hate it (thought Managerial Accounting was pretty interesting) and because it’s a back up. Guaranteed job… more job opportunities… Agreed? I’m doing double major Finance/Accounting with a minor in Math. End of soph. year GPA is 3.81.</p>
<p>With ^, should I even GO the CPA route? Is it even good if I end up with a Finance career/job? I’ve heard of things like CFO… it could be equivalent to the CPA of Accounting, but I haven’t done much research.</p>
<p>Also, I could possibly get 150 credits before the end of my senior year at college. I want to double major in Finance/Accouting (minor in Math) so I could possibly do it. But I’ve seen lots of people go other paths.</p>
<p>I could do a 3-2 program (IUB Kelley School of Business) or other paths. The 3-2 program is 3 years undegrad and 2 years grad. However, I would only be able to major in Accounting. Not worrying about money/loans, which path seems the best? The 3-2 path seems promising… they give you books/study material for the CPA… They look into the IFRS because of the likelihood of GAAP/IFRS fusion thing… Probably other stuff.</p>
<p>The other options are working after and then taking the CPA exam or taking the CPA after the double major. The 3-2 program would probably cost more… but I’m not entirely sure if it actually would.</p>
<p>Suggestions?</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what you are talking about with the CFO and CPA thing…maybe you are thinking CFA? CFO=Chief Financial Officer…one of the top officers in a corporation. The CFO reports to the CEO. A CPA is a Certified Public Accountant, a CFA is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Both are designations you can get after taking a test among other things(experience and education requirements). Keep in mind that many if not most CFO’s started out as accountants and are CPA’s. The CFO after all is responsible for making sure financial STATEMENTS are issued properly according to generally accepted accounting principles, which means an accounting background is often key. That said, there are also elements of the job that are more finance than accounting.</p>
<p>My guess is that if the new regulations don’t deal much with accounting but involve a lot of rewriting of the credit and capital markets…and fear of credit crunches and whatnot remains first and foremost in the minds of corporate boards, that we’ll see more finance background types and less Big Four accountant types sitting in CFO chairs than we do now(when up until recently the big thing on everyone’s mind was Sarbanes-Oxley, Enron, Worldcom, etc). Still, if you can get your CPA license early on and then go and do corporate finance type jobs, maybe you’ll have a leg up on your pure finance buddies(I doubt it’ll matter if you are trying to be the next Gordon Gecko though).</p>
<p>bullet - You should attend some of the finance and accounting events at your school, and look into different career paths that you can take. It sounds like you are choosing accounting because you hear there are more jobs available, and not necessarily because it is something you like. </p>
<p>You should also check with your state board of accountancy and see what the requirements are to become a CPA. This might limit you to what type of career you initially go into as you will more than likely need to work directly under a CPA for a certain amount of time (maybe this is standard across the board, I don’t know). Either way, obtaining the CPA would not be a bad choice even if you desire to eventually find yourself in a corporate finance position. </p>
<p>At the core meaning of the designation, a CPA, is an accountant that is certified for public practice, ie. engagements with clients, whether this be attestation such as audits, review or compilations, or other engagements such as tax and various other reporting. The designation, however, because of its notoriety, is upheld as a valued designation in the coporate world as well as you have mentioned. Having CPA’s on board help an organization ensure that they are meeting compliance issues, whether it be tax, audit, regulatory, or reporting issues. There are a variety of career paths that the CPA can take you down, you should start to look around and see if any of them interest you, and I think that may help you make your decision. As for the school thing, if you decide to do the CPA, I would just do the double major and get the 150 credits through undergrad. I’m not really sure the math minor would set you apart and thus not sure that it is necessary unless you desire to pursue a mathmatical career down the road.</p>
<p>jonah - I totally meant CFA, not CFO. I know CFO is the big guy in charge of accounting/financial stuff. I meant to ask if a CFA in Finance is equivalent to the CPA in Accounting, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>thetaxdad - I’ll make sure to go to events and such. I’ll be looking at some events and career fairs and stuff like that. I need to obtain an internship for next year so I’ll see what I can do with the Finance/Accounting stuff.</p>
<p>Accounting does interest me. It seems as if its the core of business. Financial Accounting to me was blah, it was sort of boring. Managerial Accounting was interesting because it dealt with business problems. If the rest of Accounting classes are primarily managerial accounting based, I think I’ll love Accounting.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys! I’ll probably be back soon.</p>
<p>Oh, and my uncle owns a small trucking business. I asked him if he had a CPA working for him and he said he did. I asked how much that person made, and he said over $100,000. Just for some of you looking at salaries.</p>
<p>Whistleblower, I often find your posts ambiguous to the point where I cannot tell if they are to be taken seriously or not - and this is a good thing. </p>
<p>That being said, I believe your take on accounting to be an insightful one. 5 years in accounting can land a solid job, whereas 8 years in law or med can, and I think that’s part of the appeal. However, I cannot fathom the unbearable monotony that is accounting. </p>
<p>I have a friend who is planning on law school, and he can attest to a situation similar to the one that you described. I’ve heard him say, on multiple occasions, that he has given incorrect multiple-choice answers due to the question’s phrasing, rather than his actual knowledge.</p>
<p>Were you a business major yourself? If so, how did one of an intellect such as yours manage the drudgery?</p>
<p>“eastikop, thank you for the sarcasm-drenched compliment. As a reward, I’ll offer you some advice.” </p>
<p>That was funny. I did not know that Whistle rewards everyone with his answers :)</p>
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<p>The solid accounting job pays $58k on a good day. The solid law job pays 3x this, and the solid medical job pays $500k. There’s really no comparison, and yet if you are one who has the skills to guarantee a good accounting job (i.e., the possibility of failure is minimized to a degree that luck is not a factor because you’re just that good), then you would definitely have quite a decent shot at one of the other two, or definitely pharmacy.</p>
<p>accounting is pretty boring, but it’s only about 30 credits worth of boredom, of which only about half are overtly difficult. An engineer has over 90 credits worth of boredom, and more than half of them are overtly difficult. So, while you’ll be bored, you won’t be the most bored, and you can take solace in that.</p>
<p>Another thing is the demand for accountants. There is a strong demand for accountants. But the quantity demanded is not proportionate to the number of people majoring in the field. IOW, there is a strong demand for a limited number of accountants. If you are among them, you got a pretty good deal, but a majority of accounting grads (i.e. at least 50%, but in the short term it seems to be around 85-90%) will be mediocre, and no better off than someone who picked a random easy major.</p>
<p>Whistle, “The solid accounting job pays $58k on a good day. The solid law job pays 3x this, and the solid medical job pays $500k. There’s really no comparison…” </p>
<p>Please do not compare apples to oranges: 10 or 8 years of education vs 4. During that time, a person in accounting could compleate Bachelors, Masters, MBA and CPA; now who do you think will earn more money? Those lawyers and doctors may work for that accountant, who might eventually open his own firm. :)</p>
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<p>The doctor is still making more. I would hardly expect an a CPA with “an MBA” (read: one not from the utter pinnacle of schools) to be making anywhere near what the average surgeon makes. You can’t project the prospects of the top <10% of CPAs onto the entire profession when there’s simply no comparison. As taxguy says, you need a strong GPA.</p>
<p>Average surgeon is smarter and works harder in his first decade after undergrad than 90% of CPA’s, so I don’t think that’s a valid critique. If you are an accountant capable of being a surgeon and put as much work into your career as someone who goes through an undergrad program worthy of med school, followed by med school, a residency, etc…and you aren’t at the top 10% of the accounting profession…something has gone seriously wrong. Business school is a joke compared to med school, and the high pressure hours a young resident puts in make busy season look like a spa. </p>
<p>Also, if you aren’t good enough to be a surgeon and find out after accruing six figures worth of debt, you are pretty much f’d.</p>
<p>It is not hard to get into the accounting profession…you can’t compare it to more prestigious careers. If you have the ability to do ibanking, neurosurgery, nuclear engineering, etc etc…you should expect to be way better than the average accountant.</p>
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<p>While those of intellects such as our own likely fall under the category “that good,” I will not be so arrogant as to claim that any position that I would seek to obtain would be a secure one. </p>
<p>That being said, if I could bring the topic back to the boredom factor for a moment: if you could study again, would you still study business? Or would you study something more interesting? I say this because my interests are essentially in two fields–psychology and writing–and neither is exactly profitable. Which, of course, leads me to my initial dilemma: intellectual stimulation and fulfillment versus job security and a nice paycheck.</p>
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<p>I guess you’d have to experience both to know for sure how much one works harder than the other, since both have been utterly mythisized by exaggerated stories/internet lies.</p>
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<p>It’s the top 10% of the accounting profession who are making the $58k while the surgeon is in med school. The $58k is a great scenario for a young CPA these days.</p>
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<p>Averages are irrelevant. The average newbie CPA these days can’t even get a job in accounting. The mean is lower in accounting, yes, but the upper echelon is completely distinct from the lower reaches in terms of opportunities, culture, everything. You should be comparing all nuclear engineers to only big 4 accountants. Big 4 accountants are better as a group than anyone on this forum. Taxguy’s family hasn’t gotten into their ranks after generations of trying.</p>
<p>If I may ask, from where (or what) do you draw that conclusion? I am constantly told that accounting is one of the most secure jobs out there, so I’m simply curious.</p>