Finance or accounting degree?

[joel66]

That's a great idea, if I remember right, I was thinking of doing the MSA since it was less credits than the MBA, but I think the MBA would be more versatile. Also, I think in Texas you have to have 5 years experience before you can even sit for the CPA. AAFES Headquarters has a lot of Accounting Tech positions, so I've been applying hoping to get in, but no luck yet. My husband knows a Soldier that works in HR there and he said to apply for anything just to get in then apply for the accounting tech because they give current employees first dibs on the jobs so that's what I'm doing

Keep in mind that in Texas you need at least 15 units of upper division accounting in a class room setting. I have been doing job interviews and have done some research in Texas and Florida because I could end up in either locations (hoping to know by this Wed) and noticed in the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy it states, "At least 15 of these hours must result from physical attendance at classes meeting regularly on the campus of the transcript-issuing institution."

[kimaya24]

Keep in mind that in Texas you need at least 15 units of upper division accounting in a class room setting. I have been doing job interviews and have done some research in Texas and Florida because I could end up in either locations (hoping to know by this Wed) and noticed in the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy it states, "At least 15 of these hours must result from physical attendance at classes meeting regularly on the campus of the transcript-issuing institution."

Thanks for the link! It will definately come in handy. I'm a student member of the Texas Society of Public Accountants, it's like $35 dollars a year; I did it to put on my resume so hopefully potential employers will see that I am serious about accounting. They give you a certificate; my husband makes fun of me because I put it in a frame in my office, he calls it my fake CPA certificate lol, I use it as motivation to have a real one some day!!

[MA2]

You can always get a bachelors in one (finance for me) and then depending on how things work out, get your MBA in the other. I might end up doing that, but gotta take one step at a time.

I'm lucky because where I live there are 2 schools that offer an MBA in finance or accounting, and they are both AACSB accredited.

Based on my interpretation of the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the Department of Labor, I think people with a bachelors in accounting earn more than those with a bachelors in finance, but an MBA in finance will get your more than an MBA in accounting. Could be wrong though.

[videguy]

Some schools now offer a 5 year program that gives you a Bachelors and a Masters in Accounting. Good prep to become a CPA.

[MA2]

Some schools now offer a 5 year program that gives you a Bachelors and a Masters in Accounting. Good prep to become a CPA.

Hmm.. haven't seen that before. Seen a few schools do a 5 year 150 credit "CPA fast track bachelors" but never a 5 year MBA in one.

Although there are schools that offer a 1 year MBA, so I suppose it would be the same thing.

[joel66]

Hmm.. haven't seen that before. Seen a few schools do a 5 year 150 credit "CPA fast track bachelors" but never a 5 year MBA in one.

Although there are schools that offer a 1 year MBA, so I suppose it would be the same thing.

Davenport University offers a 5-year BS/MBA in Accounting. They also offer an Honors version. I used to attend Davenport's MBA in Accounting, but realized really fast that I would have more success if I obtain additional accounting knowledge because the program is writing intensive and you need to post at least 6 to 7 DQ posts per week at minimum. In the two MBA courses I have taken, I was making 15 to 25 post per week at 200-500 words per post.

Once I complete my MS in Accounting, and depending on my future job projects, if I do not go to an AACSB school for my MBA, I will seriously consider either their MBA in Forensic Accounting or Finance. The school also offers a lot of scholarships if you have a high GPA. When I initially started their MBA program, my undergraduate degree gpa was 3.84 and I qualified for a Platinum scholarship at $4,000 per year, but decided on the veteran discount at 25%.

[LaceyLady]

The reason I first decided to go for a general business degree is that I want knowledge of all areas of business, in order to manage a small business. I do not want to be an accountant (at least at this point). Actually, I want to go into a completely different field and I am getting the business degree to give me knowledge to run a business in my chosen field. However, I took my first accounting course, liked it, took another, liked it... and so on. Now I have 15 accounting credits with straight A's. At this point, I am really considering changing my degree program to accounting instead of having a general business degree with many accounting credits. Especially considering that it would only require 3 more accounting courses. But if I do accounting, I would not be able to do the courses/exams that I want to do in finance, management, and marketing. Since I am more interested in doing finance than management or marketing (and finance goes well with acc.), I am now considering doing a double major in accounting and finance. I think that having a degree in accounting and/or finance would open up more doors, but I am wondering whether the extra expense and time would be worth it. Considering that the double major would cost around $3,000 more and take at least 6 more months, is it worth it?

Any suggestions, thoughts or ideas are appreciated. And sorry for the long post.

[Yenisei]

No one can say for sure, but I personally think it would.

[CollegeStudent7]

I took accounting at a vocational school my last 2 years of high school (10+ years ago) and I got straight As; I don't know how because I really didn't understand it and thought it was soooo boring (then we did most of the work by hand on that green ledger paper...yuck!!). That's part of why it took me so long to go back to school because I didn't know what to major in and I didn't like accounting in school. Then I got a job in the accounting department of the credit union I worked at and for the first time accounting made sense...and I liked it

Then when I took my first college accounting course I understand what was going on because I could relate it to my work experience and the practice was done on computer instead on paper which I like much better. That was when I knew accounting was right for me. My opinion is that studying accounting and actually working in accounting is different, you might hate taking the classes, but like doing the work hands on. Right now though, I'm taking Advanced Accounting I and I really like it, it's challenging, but the thing is to work on it a little bit everyday...I love it when the numbers add up right

This is what I heard! That the classes are difficult and boring. I LOVE numbers myself, but everyone says, Accounting is much different than Math. I guess I will have to see. Glad to see you got into a great field.

[ryoder]

A business specialization is better in my opinion. We hire programmers with mis degrees all the time but it's rare to see a general business degree in the computer field. I suspect the same is true in accounting or finance.