<p>A CPA or a graduate degree in information systems. Which has the better career paths and higher salary?</p>
<p>Depends, but a CPA is definitely not a bad designation to have at all.
I could be a little biased, though, because I am planning on sitting for the CPA exam upon graduation :).</p>
<p>I’d go with what interests you the most. Coming from the IT industry (and leaving it), I would feel a whole lot better as an accountant especially considering all of the outsourcing to India. I know a VP for a major fortune 500 IT consulting company and he told me they are trying to outsource a lot more work to India (on the downlow).</p>
<p>That being said, I don’t want to totally scare you. Not all jobs can be outsourced to India, and even those that do will need liaisons in the US to communicate with customers.</p>
<p>If you are interested in IT and Accounting, how about becoming an IT Auditor? Some schools offer a graduate degree in Accounting Information Systems (essentially a combo of the two degrees). My friend is an IT Auditor with a major accounting firm. He has undergrad degrees in MIS and Accounting and then had to take a few more Accounting classes to be eligible for the CPA. The CPA isn’t necessary to be an IT Auditor (but it’s probably advisable to get one…not sure if u need it to become partner or what). Anyways, he’s definitely on the fast-track to making 6 figures. I asked my friend if he would ever need to get an MBA to be a partner, and he said that most of the partners there don’t have MBAs so it’s definitely not necessary.</p>
<p>thanks for the replies. I have a little more than a full year done and I’m at the point now where I need to pick a concentration. I was leaning towards the INFO degree, but I’m not sure.</p>
<p>What exactly does an IT Auditor do?</p>
<p>There is tons of information about IT Auditing on wikipedia:</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_audit[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology_audit</a></p>
<p>After the corporate scandals of 2001 and 2002 (ie Enron, Sunbeam, WorldCom, Global Crossing, etc) and the subsequent enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, corporations began putting a much bigger focus on IT Auditing.</p>
<p>Vector, did you major in mis?</p>
<p>Yes, I graduated with a degree in MIS back in 2001. Previous to my graduation, people were getting multiple offers (due to the Tech boom). However, in my graduating class a lot of people had their offers rescinded by consulting companies. It was probably slim pickens for students in the next couple of years (due to dot.com bust, 9/11 etc).</p>
<p>what did you leave the IT industry for? Also, where did you go to school?</p>
<p>I originally left my job because I was bored with it and didn’t have enough upward mobility. I looked for a consulting job for a bit but didn’t find anything that would pay what I was demanding. I also don’t have a passion for IT anymore (as I did when I graduated from college) This fall I will be going to graduate business school. I attended Texas Tech for undergraduate (and I started my job with graduates of UT, A&M, OU, Baylor, and Oklahoma St).</p>
<p>Oh I see. Im currently attending WVU, and I’m thinking about transferring to a better school. Not quite sure if I’m completely set on MIS yet as my major. I’ve dealt with computers my entire life and enjoy it. But I also have an interest in business and finance. I’ve sat down with a couple of the counselors from my school and they kept feeding me the idea of MIS, plus I guess they need more people to major in it. If you have any recommendations I would appreciate it. Thanks for your help.</p>