Local CC Administrative certs worth it?

[Hunter91]

My current job is pretty dead end, and am looking to get into more of a business related career with more upward mobility. I enjoy distance education but am also looking to mix in more brick-n-mortar classes since I have the time.

Are any of these certs worthwhile in perhaps helping me gain an entry level business position, or do you think they are not really worth the time investment? P.s. Have my BA from TESC. Opinions?

Looking at the computerized accounting, but am open to others.

Thanks a lot y'all.

http://www.piercecollege.edu/departments...evel_1.asp

[dfrecore]

I worked in accounting, and I don't think any cert is worthwhile. On the other hand, the knowledge you gain may be worth quite a lot. When I was working in that field, I never came across a job listing where they asked for a certification, they just asked for very specific knowledge in whatever systems they used.

I'm not sure what type of "business" position you want though. That is very broad. "Business" is not usually "accounting".

These courses are very basic, you will find people who barely know how to use a computer at all in there. I would suggest going through regular college courses (towards an AA) rather than this cert program.

If you want to get into accounting and have zero accounting background, I would suggest taking Financial Accounting for sure, and it is a must that you know Excel. Spend your time learning that, because it's pretty crucial to accounting to know it, and it's a lot to learn. A Financial Planning course using Excel or something like that would be helpful to start with, but you will need to go in-depth with Excel.

Most entry-level accounting jobs start with Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable, but it's good to know both sides of that business. A little higher up is an Accounting Assistant position, and higher still is an Accounting Analyst. With both of those, you will need to know everything in Financial Accounting, and then Managerial Accounting is good to take. Computerized Accounting is sort of helpful, Quickbooks is ok, but if you're going to be at a company where they use something other than QB (which would be most except very small businesses), they start to want you to be familiar with one of the different types of accounting software packages out there. There are so many, it's hard to know where to start.

If I were you, I would start looking at job listings to see what they're looking for in the jobs that sound good to you. You will probably start to see some of the same things over and over again, with some places wanting more specific things as well. Then see what you need to do to get that knowledge.

[cookderosa]

I just finished an Excel class on Allison for free. Not that it replaces a certificate, but you could get the Excel knowledge without the cost. (they do sell certs, but I've never done that- usually about $60)

https://alison.com/courses/Microsoft-Excel-2010