<p>I just wondering in the Accounting field as to how Micro, Macro, and Calculus are related to Accounting? Would I actually need skills in those 3 things to succeed in Accounting?</p>
<p>Do I actually need Marketing, in the real world? Stats? Finance? International Business? Management? etc...</p>
<p>And all these gen eds... I don't care....</p>
<p>Schools do not want to produce graduates who are blindly focused on one subject. And accounting firms do not want them either. </p>
<p>State Boards of Accountancy can be added to TomSr’s list.</p>
<p>And why take tax or cost accounting classes when you want to do audit work??? You can come up with a list so small that you maybe only “need” to take five or six classes to become an accountant. Sorry, but that won’t happen.</p>
<p>The fact is that accounting firms (or anyone for that matter) want to hire people who are well rounded – who have a good general business and liberal arts background – people who can read, write, think, problem-solve, etc. and not just do accounting. And yes, you also need to meet the requirements to become a CPA in your state (which now includes 150 credit hours). </p>
<p>Well, actually you can meet CPA requirements with just around 54 credits. Just take the GMAT and score a 620, then you’re eligible for the CPA in my state.</p>
<p>Nickrod, you will still need at least an associate’s degree which will require a certain amount of liberal arts classes.</p>
<p>I’m with you on the gen eds. You do not need history or biology to be an accountant. (You do need them to be a well-rounded student and well-educated person, but not strictly to be an accountant per se). I’m fuzzy on what the purpose of calculus was, but Economics and Finance are covered in some depth on the CPA exam which I just slogged through so having that background can be helpful. </p>
<p>If you want to be an auditor, Stats are crucial. The best auditors I know are the ones who actually get stats since it is the underpinning of all the sampling you end up doing on the job. Finance is also highly important depending on the client; good luck trying to assess your client’s fair valuation of their investments if you don’t understand option pricing models or discounting cash flows.</p>
<p>Don’t get tunnel vision. Accounting is more than just debits and credits, but also learning the ins and outs of your client’s business. In fact, I would argue that as a public accountant or a private accountant you are placed to have almost as much operational knowledge of the company as the people who actually work in operations! Saying that you won’t learn anything that doesn’t directly tie into accounting is like saying that you will only do 1/3rd of your job.</p>