I am currently a sophomore student and I do not think accounting is for me. I have received good grades overall (3.75 GPA), however I just do not enjoy my accounting classes at all. I am currently in the first intermediate accounting class and I find it very dull, which makes it hard for me to retain the information. I really can’t picture myself being an accountant for the rest of my life. Does accounting ever get interesting?
I don’t know whether I should stick with accounting or find something else. I only majored in accounting because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do coming out of high school. I thought a degree in accounting was pretty versatile and would open up a lot of opportunities.
I am thinking about switching my major, but I don’t really have a clue what to change it to. Does anyone have any advice on transitioning to another major from accounting?
Well, since no one else has offered any advice, I’ll give it a try…
To many people, accounting isn’t as “interesting” as finance, marketing or other majors. The conflict that comes into play is that accounting is often the major that offers the highest chance of securing a good job at graduation - because the large accounting firms require an army of young recruits each year. Let’s face it, with the cost of college these days, everyone has to look at potential salaries and likelihood of career options when considering majors.
However, your questions about accounting are valid. My son will graduate with a masters in accounting next month from an elite university and has already passed half the CPA. He was torn between accounting and finance as an undergrad. He eventually decided on majoring in accounting because he knew he wanted a good professional job - he did not want to run the risk of having to make cold calls for some brokerage house. (The Great Recession was still in full vigor when he was your age.)
In order to meet the 150 hour and several other state specific requirements, he got into one of the top masters programs in the country. However, after having an internship with a Big 4 firm last summer and receiving an offer, he decided he couldn’t see himself doing public accounting work and found himself drawn more to the finance side. Fortunately for him, his masters program was very flexible and he could take half his credits in finance courses. As a result, he was able to secure an investment banking position before he had to accept the Big 4 offer - not having a good job was not an option given how much his mother and I were spending on his education! Obviously he did not take the usual route to his future job, and it is well known that IB firms only recruit at defined target schools, but the point is knowing how the numbers work never hurts for any business-related position. (Several partners and directors at his soon-to-be IB firm are CPA’s.)
Just remember, if you major in accounting, that doesn’t mean you are consigned to work forever in public accounting. I’m a CPA, but I’ve never worked in public. I have spent my career in internal audit and regulatory compliance positions at Fortune 500 companies and banks. It has been professionally and financially rewarding. And remember, the reason the big firms hire so many graduates each year is because so many of their staff resign after putting in several years and getting that big name on their resume. They move on to accounting or finance positions in many industries.
As a parent, all I can say is you need to try and enjoy your work - because you will spend a good portion of your life working!
I’ve heard of people getting their degree, landing a job in one of the BIG 4,and hating every minute of it. A few of them wished they dropped out in college when they knew they hated it.
Here’s the thing, most people don’t “love” their job. But you shouldn’t dread doing it, either. So I guess I am asking do you just find it merely boring but doable, or do you truly have to force yourself to do the work? It does lead to job offers out of school, but it sounds like you don’t like it,and there is a good chance you never will. So lets look at other options.
How about finance? Or Economics? Since you already most likely took some Business classes. If not those, perhaps a science? English? History? Law?
My advice is if you do not like accounting, don’t put anymore time or money into learning it, there are plenty more options.
I have to agree with the above.
Accounting school is not like working in accounting, but if you already know that you can’t stand it now it isn’t wise to stay and fritter away your valuable time. Is there anything that you are interested in? Set aside job prospects for a moment and just try to think of what you would want to study. If you can identify that, you can begin networking, talking to your college’s career center, asking questions on CC, and trying to find out about the job prospects of those areas of genuine interest.
Not everyone has to be an accountant to get a good job, and I would argue that forcing yourself through an accounting program and doing badly in it because you hate it is worse than most anything else you could do in terms of job prospects. Intermediate accounting isn’t easy and honestly I wouldn’t take it unless I was confident that I would finish the program.