<p>Okay, so I'm a sophomore at the University of Houston and I've been both a theatre and communications major. I've recently become interested in an accounting degree but I've been second guessing. </p>
<p>My thing is I want a degree I can get a job with, and eventually make money so to support a family, however, I also want to be there for my family. And i know accounting hours are bad, and I was just wondering if the hours in accounting ever get better? After you become a CPA?</p>
<p>Also, MIS and Management sparked my interest but I hear that jobs are really hard to come by for graduates, and I definitely want to have a job when I graduate. </p>
<p>I can't decide whether or not I should go into Business, Computer Science, or Hotel and Restaurant Management. I just want a day job that doesn't go over 60 hours a week, makes over 70k after a couple years, and I can't seem to find something that peaks my interest enough aside from these. I've already considered Sports Management and Kinesiology degrees but you can't really do anything with the degrees.</p>
<p>I'm kind of stuck, and I don't know if I'll like the majors or not, but I can't afford to waste more credits. I already have 52 credits, and I've been in school for 2 years.</p>
<p>Are there any other business degrees with a good job market (aside from finance)?</p>
<p>Wow that sounds excellent, didn’t know there were jobs under 50 hours a week for accounting/finance grads.</p>
<p>I guess I should have gone into detail more, I’m looking for a job where I can be at around 70k in 5 years, 50-55k isn’t a bad starting salary at all.</p>
<p>Is there more room for advancement at financial analyst like there is for accounting? I mean you do all the things right at a big 4 and in like 12 years you can be a partner making bank. Does financial analyst salary ever get that high? If not it’s cool, I’m just trying to figure things out.</p>
<p>Also I heard that being a forensic accountant isn’t too bad of a gig either, but I can’t seem to find out how much it pays, only that after you’ve been at it for a while you can get up to 100k.</p>
<p>You will probably have to go get an MBA to move up the financial analyst ladder. You can only go so high without the extra degree. </p>
<p>Friend of mine is a financial analyst doing M&A work. He got his MBA right after undergraduate (not advisable, but it made sense in his situation) and he made $58k starting and just got a raise after being with the company for about 9 months. He is about to become an FA2 and will get another raise putting him to about $63k a year. He typically works about 40 hours a week and they have given him some great opportunities. I don’t know how far up the ladder he will be able to climb within the same firm though.</p>
<p>CFO is the equivalent of a partner and they make more than a partner if it is a company of decent size.</p>
<p>Forensic accounting is a tough profession to break into and it takes a very special type of person that thinks outside of the box. It can be a great gig though if you can land it. Forensic accounting is a newer specialty in the field.</p>
<p>Goose what do you think of someone pursuiing an accounting degree breaking into a financial analyst position, through campus recruiting and career services of course? Does it happen often? I’d rather get the accounting degree, but I like the option of going into Finance if I don’t want to do audit work.</p>
<p>@Volminator: Just an FYI go to the Alumni Affairs & Careers tab to see how the past year’s graduates at University of Houston’s undergrad business school fared in terms of placement, industry, and salary. [University</a> Of Houston: Undergraduate Profile - BusinessWeek](<a href=“Businessweek - Bloomberg”>Businessweek - Bloomberg)</p>
<p>domrom, I am focusing on accounting and I did a financial analyst position, so while I am only a sample size of 1, I definitely think it can happen. A financial analyst 1 is more about being able to understand the general makeup of financial documents and having the ability to draw on data from databases and covert it into useful documents for management. I felt that it is a lot more about being able to think critically and understand the flow of the numbers than a pure accounting or finance prerequisite. </p>
<p>I do think having some general finance knowledge is a help. Probably some of the best information is understanding NPV and cost-benefit analyses for projects. I think those jobs are definitely available for someone with an accounting background as long as you can prove you are not solely and debits and credits person, rather you can think outside the box a bit.</p>
<p>Thanks goose. As with most schools, there are many overlaps with the Accounting and Finance degrees at my school, so I’ve considered taking the few extra classes and getting both degrees for the finance positions. I do not, however, want to get solely the Finance degree because my school is certainly not a target school, so I still want to have the more “technical” degree. I may consider doing both, thanks.</p>