Questions about my future in accounting

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Hello, I will be a high school senior in Fishers, Indiana. My goal is to become a CPA, and hopefully find a job in a mid-size CPA firm in the Indianapolis area. I plan to attend the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington and major in accounting for my undergraduate degree. </p>

<p>In Indiana, you must take 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. Most people need 5 years of college to do this, but I am in a unique situation. If all goes well on my AP tests, I will come into Indiana University with 34 credit hours already completed. That means I could easily get to 150 credit hours after 4 years. </p>

<p>I have 2 main questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do non-academic classes like Basketball or Tennis count towards the 150 hours to become a CPA, or do they all have to be academic classes? I know there are regulations on how many classes must be in accounting, but does any class count for the rest of the credits?</p></li>
<li><p>Should I pursue an MBA with focus in accounting, pursue a Masters in Accounting, or just head into the workforce after 4 years assuming I can pass the CPA exam? Would I get paid more if I had the Masters, and would it benefit me when being considered for promotions? Would having the knowledge gained from a graduate degree help me significantly in the everyday tasks of a CPA?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I understand that I can do more planning for my second question in the future when I get to college, but I would really like to know the answer to question 1 immediately. I have most of the general education requirements fulfilled, and I will have room for a significant amount of classes in addition to the courses required for my major. I really don't want to be in the position where I took non-academic classes and they don't count towards the 150, but I didn't want to do graduate school. I would greatly appreciate someone with the appropriate knowledge to answer these questions. Thank you for your time.</p>

2

<p>1a. As long as you go to an accredited university, all their classes will be applicable to the 150 hours requirement.</p>

<p>1b. You should focus on classes that provide usable skills in the workforce or get you closer to an additional degree. For example, the different business degrees (accounting, finance, management, marketing, etc) share the early and mid-level curriculum, with usually only being different at the more advance classes. So if you have to take 30 more credit hours added on to the 120 (typical amount for single degree) you could possibly get a second bachelor’s.</p>

<p>2a. The thing is, experience is so important. So it’s kinda complicated, without work experience, you probably will start entry level whether you have just an undergrad or a masters. You could argue for a slightly larger salary but it really won’t be a huge difference. Once you get work experience, your master’s degree becomes more important, and will have a larger impact on your salary.</p>

<p>2b. Whether you should get a MBA w/ focus in accounting or M. of Acc., it just depends what you want to do. If your goal is to just work as an accountant, then definitely get the M. of Acc., if you want to expand from that, then probably a MBA w/ focus in accounting.</p>