I’m going back to college and trying to decide which route is best. I currently work in the accounting department of a large company and have found a niche that I enjoy and am doing well at. I don’t do “real” accounting - I’m not involved in financials, etc.
I already have a degree (BA in history) but my workplace is tightening up education requirements. I am safe in my current position as supervisor of my little group, but I’m also stuck. Under these new requirements, without an accounting or related degree, I don’t qualify for almost any position in the accounting department.
So I’ve decided to go back to school. But which is the better route to go? I need to take 69 credit hours to get a BS in accounting. Or I could take 41 credit hours and get an MBA. The HR department at my company says that an MBA would meet the education requirements - it is an advanced degree in a related field. It would take less time to obtain, but is it the better choice? I doubt I’ll work for this company for the rest of my life, so which would be more appealing to another company?
Is there some reason going the CPA route wouldn’t work? I have an english undergraduate degree and the easiest and also most respected in the business world thing to do was take the 30 credits and sit for the CPA exam. A CPA - no matter what undergrad major - is universally considered significantly more knowledgable than someone with just a BS in accounting.
Is it feasible to take the 30 credits and have a reasonable chance of passing the CPA exam? I always hear how hard the exam is, so would only 30-some hours of accounting credit be sufficient?
Between the MBA and BS in accounting, the MBA is the more widely regarded since bachelors degrees are so commonplace, many graduates with just bachelors degrees wind up working at McDonalds. Someone I know who has a MBA has moved between multiple companies, going to CEO level in the process. Someone else I know graduated with a BS in accounting, spent 4 years at an accounting firm, then straight to CFO of a well-known corporation, but his father was a college business professor. So unless the BS is from an Ivy League college, the MBA is the better choice.
It is feasible; the vast majority of people have to take a prep course to pass though. For most states you need a minimum of 150 credits to be eligible to sit for the exam. Anyone with any undergraduate degree will have 120 of the credits filled. If someone does not have any accounting courses, those extra 30 credits are mostly going to be in accounting subjects. I needed to actually take around 50 credits for eligibility because I never even had an econ class, but it all depends.
Thanks desertmonk. I am in Oklahoma and they require 30 hours of accounting credit above introductory accounting, and 9 upper level credits in economics, statistics, business, etc. No graduate-level course requirements.
Based on what I have heard so far, I would very very very very highly recommend against this for the OP. There is absolutely no reason to get a MACC unless the OP wants to choose a niche and has a very specific reason for going into that niche - he or she has nothing like that going on.
Having a CPA is superior to having a masters for the most part and the candidate with the CPA is much more likely to be looked upon more favorably in the application process. In one of my classes a fellow student actually has a master’s in accounting but is going back to school again to study for the CPA because it would make him more employable.
This is very confusingly written so I can see why you would think that they may be saying something they are not. It is no different in this state form other states as far as I can see. It is saying the same thing I said upthread 150 credit hours total, 30 must be in accounting, 24 must be in certain business disciplines.
The 24 credits can be very easy to pass - many community colleges are accredited and can offer them, they are just basic courses like econ 1 and 2, stats, ethics. You can probably take many of them online.
After that thought, the accounting courses can be very difficult. Intermediate 1 was harder by an order of magnitude from any course I had taken at a 4 year institution. Intermediate 2 is supposed to be even harder. Tax is pretty rough - but I think that’s about it as dicey as it get though. As long as you don’t make the same mistake I did, scheduling took many time consuming courses at once.
What would be the reasoning for going for an MBA over a CPA? They both have there advantages and disadvantages but I think the CPA might be better in this situation.
The CPA would be better if OP wants to really gain a mastery of accounting and dedicate himself to a career in accounting. It sounded to me like he just wants to qualify for working in the accounting department where he works, then move on to other work later maybe in another field. The masters degree seems better suited to those aims.
One of the biggest things I have against the MBA is the expense. You’re looking at maybe $15,000 for what you need to go the CPA route vs. probably at least $80,000 for an MBA. If the OP’s employer is footing the bill though, I would take the time to fully consider both options.
Its actually very difficult to get a CPA in a lot of states now without the Master’s degree. The credit hours in a B.S. Accounting program aren’t sufficient to let you sit.
Cite?? There was talk a little while back about requiring a Master’s and not just 150 credit hours to include certain courses - it did not go through AFAIK. It certainly is not the case in my state.
Just so there is no confusion for those unfamiliar with this process - A B.S. alone does not add up to the 150 credit hours required to sit for the exam but that does not equate to needing a Masters in Accountancy to sit for the exam.
However, in the past, one only needed a bachelors degree. If you go far back enough I think no degree was needed - but I am not certain.