<p>I was thinking about applying to BYU and was wondering if anybody knew about this school and if a accouting degree was well respected?</p>
<p>Don’t major in accounting, it is the most dull major ever. Right now I am taking introduction to financial accounting and all it deals with is memorizing accounting procedures that are so boring that in real life the procedures are automated on computers. It is all about memorizing there is virtually no critical thinking skills needed. Major in finance or economic instead.</p>
<p>NoobTakular,</p>
<p>You couldn’t be more wrong. While the basic stuff that you’re learning has become somewhat automated (such as recognizing sales), real world financial reporting is far from procedural and requires extremely strong critical thinking skills. Your introductory course is only teaching you the language–the real world requires you to use it and, believe it or not, there is a ton of gray area in accounting. That gray area is also why I would recommend that someone take accounting even if they are going into finance–if you’re going to go into a position that requires you to analyze financial statements (as many finance majors do), you’ll be at a severe disadvantage if you do not know how to read them (and many don’t). Lots of people think that you can just pull out the annual report, throw some numbers into spreadsheet to compute ratios and automatically know how the company is performing. Far from the truth, and that is one of the reasons some analysts completely miss that mark on their recommendations.</p>
<p>I’m concentrating in both accounting and finance, and I can honestly say that accounting has developed my critical thinking skills much more than finance has and that I understand finance much better than those who are just finance concentrators at my school.</p>
<p>My friend graduated from BYU in accounting, got hired by Goldman Sachs in NYC, and is now an analyst for Sorenson Capital. BYU’s accounting program is very well respected. </p>
<p>Another friend got his MAcc at BYU and received offers from Deloitte, PWC, KPMG, and EY…he used this to negotiate a rather sizable signing bonus and salary, and went with EY and currently works in France.</p>
<p>Another guy I went to HS with graduated from BYU in Finance, worked a while for Bain and Company, and is also working at Sorenson Capital as an analyst.</p>
<p>FYI, Sorenson Capital is affiliated with the likes of Steve Young!</p>
<p>As far as Accounting being boring…the first classes (intro classes) are pretty boting, because they build the foundation for understanding the upper level courses which require a TON of analytical/problem solving/critical thinking skills.</p>
<p>NoobTakular will have to get into the upper level accounting classes to figure this out.</p>
<p>Also, just so you know…BYU is not the easiest school to be accepted to, so I wouldn’t use it as a safety unless you are good enough to get into the Stanford, Harvard, and Yale’s of the world.</p>
<p>What accounting classes are considered upper level? Would introduction managerial accounting qualify, i am taking that next semester.</p>
<p>No–introduction courses (in any discipline) are not considered upper level. You can usually tell which courses are upper level by their course number (which varies from school to school).</p>
<p>At my school, the accounting courses are as follows:</p>
<p>Financial Accounting</p>
<h2>Managerial Accounting</h2>
<p>Intermediate I
Intermediate II
Strategic Cost and Managerial Accounting</p>
<h2>Income Taxation I</h2>
<p>Income Tax II
Financial Statement Analysis
Auditing
Advanced Accounting
International Accounting
Government and Not-for-profit accounting</p>
<p>The first group are the introductory courses that everyone (regardless of concentration) are required to take. That is also what you are taking right now. It is just the basics.</p>
<p>The second group are the classes required to concentrate in accounting in my program. They are the basic things that every accountant really needs to know, no matter your career path (and really things that some finance professionals should know, too). It depends a bit on your program, but these classes involved several case-based team projects where we had to research both GAAP and non-GAAP pronouncements in order to come up with a recommended method of accounting for a transaction. In each instance, there was never a right answer (the companies who face such issues in real life all account for them differently).</p>
<p>The third group are courses designed for people who are going to sit for the CPA exam. They involve applying complex rules to complex situations. The two that I’d like to point out are Financial Statement Analysis and Auditing: Financial Statement Analysis was one of the best classes I’ve ever taken. It is amazing how much information you can get out of a financial statement if you know what you’re doing. It really needs to be taught to you by an accountant and not someone in finance. Auditing is very different–it essentially involved no numbers, but rather focused on using your judgment to evaluate a company and its internal control, which is what most people end up doing after they graduate.</p>
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<p>^^ I agree. The approach from the accounting/accountant standpoint is much more in depth, and a clearer understanding of a company’s financial statements and what they mean as a whole is obtained through the accounting/accountant’s approach. I think this is why a lot of finance professionals recommend majoring in accounting, even to work in the finance field.</p>
<p>Many firms like BYU due to its straight arrow reputation. You can have only so many Ivy party boys/girls on the staff.</p>
<p>Many firms like BYU because they like bi-lingual, responsible, leadership oriented, employees with integrity.</p>