Everything you wanted to know or should know about accounting

College Majors Business Majors
1761

<p>Great question Valley Accountant (glad you asked), about what success means to me. For sure, it is not employment in any of the Big 4. </p>

<p>Like you, I am very interested in taxation, and after finishing my Bachelor’s, I am thinking about a master’s in taxation, if I decide that is the best direction for me. IRS could be my beginning, to gain experience in taxes, but I am open to anything. Since I have a decent job, I want to finish my bachelors before I look for another one. I can even gain experience par-time, since I do most of my current work in the morning, but I am not sure if I can make that work. CPA is my ultimate education goal.</p>

<p>About stress, deadlines, and difficult clients, I have 23 years of experience in that. I probably know some of the same people you do, and I have relationships established.</p>

<p>Did you attend Fresno State?</p>

<p>Thanks for your input!</p>

1762

<p>So I just had an audit final earlier today know I didn’t do well. I’m hoping for a C at this point. I have a big 4 internship in audit and i’m really worried that i may get it rescinded because of the c. I’m not sure what happened, i understood all the material and studied for weeks (yes, weeks) but the final was all multiple choice questions, same difficulty as cpa exam multiple choice according to the professor, and they threw me off really badly. i’m really freaking out because i loved this class and am incredibly excited to start my internship but getting my offer rescinded is my worst nightmare. any thoughts?</p>

1763

<p>Clearly you did not understand all the material. You should call up the recruiter and frantically plead your case before they make any final decision about you now that you’ve gotton a C in one class. </p>

<p>lol</p>

1764

<p>Giantsfan, I wouldn’t stress too much at this point. A C might be a red flag but if you have a solid GPA in all of your other classes then you should be alright.</p>

1765

<p>my GPA is ok… I mean it’s not terrible but it’s not amazing either. it rose after i went through recruitment but will most likely drop down to what it was during recruitment after this quarter. i do go to a top 25 nationwide university and i got lucky with the internship because i networked like crazy during recruitment and had a pretty good resume, my gpa definitely was one of my weak points. i just took this class to get a good base for the internship so i have some sort of foundation instead of jumping into it without any audit knowledge, i never imagined it’d be so difficult. i’m also not the best at multiple choice. i would imagine if it throws up red flags, they would at least talk to me before making any decisions?</p>

1766

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I’m currently a fourth year accounting student who will be staying as an undergrad for 5 1/2 years for 150credits.</p>

<p>I have a question about internships and resume.</p>

<p>When recruiters look at resumes, would they prefer a student who interned at 1 organization for a long period of time (7-8 months) or a student who held 2 internship during that period( 3-4 months each)</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

1767

<p>I don’t think it matters too much. I would assume that the longer internship would be more beneficial for you in that it would give you more chances to tie it in with the behavioral questions, but I don’t think recruiters would care that much.</p>

1768

<p>I thought I might weigh in on this discussion regarding degrees, accreditation, internships, etc. </p>

<p>First, AACSB accreditation is very important. If you are interested in the Big Four, they focus on that accreditation in deciding which schools to hire from. </p>

<p>As for the degrees, to sit for the CPA exam, you only need 150 hours with a minimum of them in accounting and business. Each state has different requirements as to the number of Accounting hours and the number of additional Business hours, so you need to look at the State Society website for your state to make sure you have the correct number.</p>

<p>If you get an undergraduate in Accounting you will have the required Accounting and Business hours and will just need to get the additional hours to get you to the 150 requirement. They can be any hours (most states do not specify what you have to take).</p>

<p>If you decide to get a Master degree, you need to determine if you want a specialized Master in Accountancy or an MBA. Usually, Master of Accountancy degrees do not require experience like MBA programs. Some require the GMAT, but others waive the GMAT if you have an undergraduate degree from an AACSB accredited program and finished with a certain GPA. If you are going into a true Accounting job, the Master of Accountancy is probably the best choice. A lot of times programs allow you to specialize in certain areas, such as, Audit, Tax, Internal Audit, etc.</p>

<p>The MBA is for those that want to get more into management areas. Most MBA programs do require professional experience and the GMAT. You will not get any additional accounting knowledge in most MBA programs.</p>

<p>As for internships, you need to do at least one if possible. Internships provide you with great experience and future employers like to see that you had one. Most of the Big Four do the majority of their hiring from their interns. One internship is great and a second is even better. Many students try to do different internships (Public firm, Private company, Governmental agency) to decide which area they like most.</p>

<p>I hope these answers prove beneficial.</p>

1769

<p>Has anyone here heard of University of Iowa or University of Northern Iowa for accounting? The Big4 do recruit at both schools but I’m wondering if I should go to Indiana University for better opportunities.</p>

<p>However, I saw that each of Big4 firms come to U of Northern Iowa every year to visit their accounting club and do golf outing, bowling night and community service event. Is that a pretty significant sign for preferred recruitment? Or do they do that at most schools they recruit at? </p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated for this confused rising senior.</p>

1770

<p>big 4 recruit almost everywhere. and yes, they do those things at my school too. </p>

<p>You should be more concerned about the other firms that recruit at those schools. If the big 4 are the only public acctg firms recruiting there, then most of the students wont get jobs in public acctg. regional firms are more selective, in regards to the schools they choose to recruit at.</p>

1771

<p>Thanks for the input whatdidyou. Can I ask you what school you go to? Or you can pm me if you want . and it seems like midtiers recruit there as well as industries like John Deere.</p>

1772

<p>I go to a large state school in the northwest. Not Iowa :). </p>

<p>Another thing to consider, is that I think, in general, colleges in big cities probably have better job prospects due to their proximity to more companies/firms, internships opportunities during the school year (AKA busy season internships at CPA firms), and more relevant part-time job opportunties.</p>

1773

<p>I recently completed my M.A. degree in Experimental Psych but the job prospects are non existent! The smaller (but accredited) university that I’m at offers a certificate in accounting for people who have bachelors degrees in non-accounting areas. They also offer the MAcc which would take a year longer than the certificate. Looking to get an internship and job with the big 4 and wondered if they’d see a smaller school as a bad thing and also if they would look badly at the certificate program vs. MAcc? This thread is great! Keep up the great advice!</p>

1774

<p>I am wondering why you decided to all of a sudden go for a job in accounting. At this point in your education career why the huge change? Have you ever had a job in accounting? Have you ever taken a course in accounting? Seriously if you are doing it just for the $ you won’t last very long.</p>

1775

<p>I would look down on you from a recruitment perspective since have an unrelated masters degree. I would ask you why the change and if you said $ I wouldn’t hire you. Big 4 CPA’s work 80+ hours a week and if you average out your hourly wage it is very very low. If you are lucky in the big 4 you will start at 65k a year. That is of course in NY or SF not in an area with a low cost of living. Your MA is meaningless to the big 4 if anything it puts you at a disadvantage.</p>

1776

<p>Has anyone here with an accounting degree or studying accounting considered looking at IRS as a job opportunity, and why?</p>

1777

<p>Pluses- flexible schedule, can transfer offices, receive government retirement, good benefits, no age discrimination, more job security, and you can gain tax specializations. </p>

<p>Minuses- people will hate you if you tell them what you do, you use aliases instead of your real name when dealing with the taxpayers, pay ceiling is very low compared to private industry and public accounting, promotion may be very bureaucratic, and losers around you that don’t know what they are doing are difficult to fire after their probationary period. Last time I checked veterans automatically get job preference over other no matter their academic or professional record. Pay scale isn’t as dependent on performance as it is dependent on years of service. </p>

<p>Personally I despise government jobs.</p>

1778

<p>Thank you ValleyAccountant,</p>

<p>Interesting perspective. I happen to agree with a lot of what you said. I am looking at it as a way to gain experience in taxes, to then transfer to the private sector. I am not sure if that transition is common, but I believe it can work for some people. Also, if someone decides to continue education, they cover the cost for so many units per semester. I am also assuming that they have exceptional training for their employees.
About all the pluses and minuses, every company has those, so it really depends on what your plan is for the future. As an older accounting student, I think I have a better shot at starting as an accountant at the IRS than in the private sector, especially if I need to get some training at the beginning. After gaining experience, I can prosper in the private sector which is where I have always worked.</p>

1779

<p>Lusitano. One of my sons has been considering working for the IRS. However, when I check on USA Jobs.com , there doesn’t seem to be any IRS openings for examiners, agents or even for criminal investigators. Be aware of this.</p>

1780

<p>Taxguy,</p>

<p>IRS is in a hiring freeze for new positions right now, and the people they are hiring right now are just to meet the immediate needs. I will be looking at IRS a couple of years down the road since I don’t have my degree yet.
Check IRS Recruitment on Facebook. They answer lots of questions to people interested in working for IRS. [IRS</a> Recruitment | Facebook](<a href=“http://www.facebook.com/pages/IRS-Recruitment/269210540098]IRS”>http://www.facebook.com/pages/IRS-Recruitment/269210540098)</p>