I currently plan to double major in finance and accounting at Virginia Tech. I know for a fact that this is what I want to do with my career. The only problem I’m having is that I don’t know whether I should double major or only major in accounting. This is because I want to get my MBA in finance at some point after my undergraduate degree (preferably at a different school). I want to work in finance (try and climb up from a financial analyst to financial manager to a CFO position down the road), but from what I hear most companies want people for upper management in that area of business with a CPA. There is a 5 year accounting program at VT that gets you a 1-year masters in accounting along with your undergrad degree (fulfilling the 150 credits in order to sit for the CPA exam). I’m trying to decide whether it’s worth it and how much work it is (because I know the majors have many overlapping courses). I don’t want my GPA to drastically suffer from double majoring and since I’m getting my MBA in finance, I don’t even know that it’s worth it to get an undergrad degree in finance.
It doesn’t sound like you started college yet. I wouldn’t worry about what major to do/if you should do a double major quite yet. First of all, at some colleges it is quite easy to double major and at other colleges it isn’t (ex. my S’s college had a huge core curriculum which made double majoring difficult, my D’s college has a much more flexible core and many students double major). Second, you will need to take intro. classes in both accounting and finances as part of your b-school core so take some classes and see where your interests and aptitudes lie.
I will say that if your plan is to become a CPA then the five year program is certainly worth doing.
Thanks for the input. I’m going to be starting my fall semester of freshman year in 2 weeks. I’m wrapping up my summer classes (one of which was Intro to Business IS and Analytics). The course load is not bad at VT and I’m coming into college with 21 credits. I’m just trying to determine whether it’s worth my time
An MBA isn’t necessary or even that helpful for a career in finance unless you are coming from a background in a different industry. If you are pursuing a bachelor degree in finance and plan on staying within the industry then you will likely want to prepare for the CFA which will help you in your junior and mid level management progression. You could then choose to pursue an MBA or EMBA but its impact on your candidacy for a c-suite level position would depend on the firm.
Accounting and finance are pretty different fields but it definitely helps pursuing a career in finance if you have a strong understanding of accounting fundamentals. A lot of your internship interviews and super days will involve accounting questions. I would definitely recommend if not double majoring, then at least taking a number of accounting courses to supplement your finance education.
What about doing a 5 year CPA track and double minoring in Finance and Statistics or finance and math?
I recommend looking at the job ads for the job you want and then go out and get what they ask for. Right now, everyone wants a CPA, even for Finance, actuary, business analyst etc… jobs that aren’t straight accounting jobs.