<p>I'm a Accounting/finance double major junior at a top 50 school. We have a really competitive accounting program - we have info sessions, presentations, recruiters, partners come in all the time and for a year and a half I feel like I was given a belief that accounting is a prestigious career with really smart people who all aspire to become CFOs (my dream) someday upon getting their CPAs, work experience, and etc...</p>
<p>I was planning to go on a Big 4 for a long time, but the more exposure I've gotten the past year it seems like I was given a lot of misguided information? I worked in an accounting department the past summer (at a small organization) and the work was in fact very boring to me. Additionally the more stereotypes I hear about accountants the more they kinda seem true - because you hear about them everywhere! Plus, like I said I had this belief that accounting was sort of a prestigious career (I guess more like only at the Big 4) but let's face it...Big 4 and other midsized companies want more people - the more the better, not always quality > quantity.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm tryin to say is I'm more open to doing something else, maybe investment banking or corporate finance.</p>
<p>I'm a little all over the place right now, please help me out?</p>
<p>Also, I’ve always wanted to pursue an MBA (top/ivy) someday. What are the chances like for an accountant as opposed to those who were in IB, Corporate Finance, Consulting, etc</p>
<p>Ivy’s will take someone from all types of backgrounds. It just so happens that a lot of the best talent does ibanking and consulting, thus it inflates the averages.</p>
<p>Not sure what to tell you about accounting. I think you are underestimating the quality that the B4 demands. What topics interest you the most our of your finance/accounting classes?</p>
<p>Consulting is probably the most “dynamic” work, since it sounds like you are worried about being bored with work.</p>
<p>FutureCFO, I barely post on these forums anymore and whenever I do come on here I don’t really give advice. I resort to bashing people because of how naive they sound on here.</p>
<p>However, I will tell you that I was put into a similar situation as you. I was confused. In college I knew I wanted to get into public accounting and join a big 4 firm/large/mid tier firm and work my way up. </p>
<p>I realized later on that this work is not for me. This realization came in the middle of recruiting season. I got annoyed at Accounting, the work, some of the people, etc.</p>
<p>I dedicated 2 weekends to extensive research on where I wanted to be. I realized that a lot of large public accounting firms have different departments that are not audit/tax related and that’s the first place I started my research. And now I truly figured out what I want to do.</p>
<p>I am dead-set on where I want to be and I will do anything it takes to get there and be successful at it. This is the attitude you should have.</p>
<p>You still seem unsure on what you want to do. Take a deep breath. Reorganize. Figure out what you want to do through research and keep in mind that you are not the only one in this situation. There are countless other people in this situation. </p>
<p>If you want message me privately and I can be more specific. And try to keep a positive attitude on this.</p>
<p>“I worked in an accounting department the past summer (at a small organization) and the work was in fact very boring to me.”</p>
<p>What’s this have to do with Big 4 jobs? How old are you? You think jobs early on in your career are supposed to be glorious and full of decision making? What makes you qualified for IBanking straight out of UG? You want help and a healthy mindset? Stop feeling so entitled to get the most ideal job out of college. It’s work, not playtime.</p>
<p>What “accounting” where you doing? I’d bet that it was mindless bookkeeping (as in, processing AP, AR, cutting checks, invoicing, account reconciliations, etc…)</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s not accounting, that’s bookkeeping. I’ve done the exact same thing the past 3 summers and I can tell you it’s far from what real accounting is.</p>
<p>^^^ Boring is relative and it all depends upon what facet of accounting you undertake. </p>
<p>I mean, becoming a CPA and then holding your own small practice will probably only yield individual tax returns and some other minor things, which become menial mindless tasks after awhile. But other forms of accounting are problem solving situations in which no one situation is alike, thus creating greater interest and draw. </p>
<p>The stereotype is that it is boring likely stems from the fact that accounting is perceived to be “tons of complicated math” (which it really isn’t) and the fact that for some reason so many people “struggle” or “hate” math, thus in order to justify their feelings toward the subject, they peg it as boring.</p>
<p>Wow, dude, do you really think that at the entry-level investment banking or consulting is going to be any more interesting? Fact of the matter is that entry level jobs suck ANYWHERE, period. Investment bankers spend 80-100 hours a week getting *****ed at by their associate/MD, inputting numbers into an excel model, creating pitchbooks/formatting documents that may be trashed right after they finish it. Consultants travel all over the place and just gather data for upper management. Nothing you do right out of school will be interesting, so just suck it up. Work at the big 4 for 3-4 years minimum while getting your CPA, get an MBA from a decent school and exit to CFO after you’re done. Otherwise, go to a top corp finance rotational program and try and become CFO/VP of Finance internally. If you want CFO bad enough, these are the best ways to do it, so just man up. Thousands of people have done it and if you want to get anywhere in life, you’ll have to be the peon too.</p>
<p>Now I will admit investment banking has it’s less interesting moments, but IB as a whole is much more interesting than accounting. I would much rather be slaving away at a pitchbook and running a process than calling some low level manager (or even worse, taking inventory) to verify the numbers are correct. </p>
<p>Investment banking also has a lot more good moments than accounting. As an entry level accountant you are not going to be meeting anybody interesting. Entry level investment bankers will attend client meetings, and if they are lucky, go on a roadshow.</p>
<p>Accounting has many aspects that might be appealing to you, FutureCFO. In addition to audit, which I personally find boring, there is accounting services, Tax, consulting, litigation support, financial planning, strategic planning, forensic work, etc. In fact, the variety of jobs that accountants can do is quite varied. Frankly, I think you are being much too closeminded about this . I think Dawgie is right. You should reconsider your options and look at the opportunites that might be available to you with an accounting background.</p>