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An accountant with an MBA?

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ajk2010
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An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2009, 13:26
Hi all,

I'm new to the forum. This is probably a noob question but I'm still curious. What would an accountant do with an MBA?

I'm a 20 year old accounting major, applying for an MS in accounting at my current university. I just took the GMAT today and scored a 760. Because I scored much higher than I ever thought I would I've started looking around to see what people do with MBAs in case I ever want to pursue one (much more interested now that I have a score that may help me get into an elite school). As an accounting major, I plan to get my CPA and work at one of the Big 4 for a while. However, I saw in another post that Wharton has the best program for MBA with a concentration in accounting. Would someone get this who will remain in the accounting profession (ie. working for a major accounting firm) or would this degree be more aimed at someone with a background in accounting who is now making the switch to some type of industry?

Any help would be great,
Andrea
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2009, 13:35
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Hey!

Welcome to the GMATClub. Finding this site is probably one of the best thing that happens to you on your way to the business school.

First of all, congrats on your GMAT score. It's an impressive score. I see that you are going for MS degree. Once you get in, please participate in our MS Accounting forum. Many prospective students have questions and we are in need of additional experienced members in that area.

I work in Big 4 accounting firm. I worked there since 2005. I worked in taxation for first 1.5 years and then pursued MS in Management Info System (while working FT) in order to move to ITAS (information technology advisory services) div of our company.

I just finished my bschool application journey and I am happy to report that many bschools are interested in CPAs and other accounting professionals. (I am not the only one @ Gclub w CPA and top bschool MBA admit).

You asked the purpose of MBA for accounting professionals....

Accounting is a great major and CPA is a fantastic profession to start your career. However, as your career progresses - majority of Big 4 professionals leave the field of public accounting for better opportunities. Many go work at fortune 100 companies, while others like myself enter business school.

I want you to stay open about bschool even after attaining your CPA certification. Because getting a CPA is like entering minor league system of MLB right out of the draft. In the next few years, you will figure out exactly what you want to do professionally. Business school is a great way to transform your life.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and good luck.

P.S. - If you get your MS in Accounting, some bschools might prevent you from majoring in accounting again. Please check the curriculum requirements. (Edited)
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2009, 21:20
This is not true...No one will forbid you. However, why would you major in accounting if you already have a master's degree in it?


P.S. - If you get your MS in Accounting, bschools will forbid you from majoring in accounting. (I think this is true for undergrad accounting students as well) This is true in pretty much all of the top schools
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2009, 21:54
Actually, both of you guys are right. Some business schools have their MS and MBA students taking the same classes for accounting courses. MBA Accounting major and other MBA majors take different core accounting classes in some programs.

So both of you are right. I think ninkorn was incorrect by saying "forbidden"...

Some schools don't care (although they might question the student's decision) while others prevent it. (especially for PT programs)
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2009, 22:00
Fine. I will edit the P.S. note. :-D
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2009, 01:18
Completely OT: how come that Andrea has a 760 Q47 V50 and ninkorn has a 770 Q44 V50?
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2009, 06:11
Paradosso wrote:
Completely OT: how come that Andrea has a 760 Q47 V50 and ninkorn has a 770 Q44 V50?


Very good question. I was wondering that myself.
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2009, 06:23
Paradosso wrote:
Completely OT: how come that Andrea has a 760 Q47 V50 and ninkorn has a 770 Q44 V50?



Sonibubu has GMAT 780 (Q50, V47) - same V and Q breakout as ajk2010 - but their V and Q is reversed.

8-t60945


I read somewhere that the score depends on difficulty level of the questions answered correctly and frequency. Perhaps, this is the reason in variance in the score?
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2009, 09:19
ninkorn wrote:
Hey!

Welcome to the GMATClub. Finding this site is probably one of the best thing that happens to you on your way to the business school.

First of all, congrats on your GMAT score. It's an impressive score. I see that you are going for MS degree. Once you get in, please participate in our MS Accounting forum. Many prospective students have questions and we are in need of additional experienced members in that area.

I work in Big 4 accounting firm. I worked there since 2005. I worked in taxation for first 1.5 years and then pursued MS in Management Info System (while working FT) in order to move to ITAS (information technology advisory services) div of our company.

I just finished my bschool application journey and I am happy to report that many bschools are interested in CPAs and other accounting professionals. (I am not the only one @ Gclub w CPA and top bschool MBA admit).

You asked the purpose of MBA for accounting professionals....

Accounting is a great major and CPA is a fantastic profession to start your career. However, as your career progresses - majority of Big 4 professionals leave the field of public accounting for better opportunities. Many go work at fortune 100 companies, while others like myself enter business school.

I want you to stay open about bschool even after attaining your CPA certification. Because getting a CPA is like entering minor league system of MLB right out of the draft. In the next few years, you will figure out exactly what you want to do professionally. Business school is a great way to transform your life.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions and good luck.

P.S. - If you get your MS in Accounting, some bschools might prevent you from majoring in accounting again. Please check the curriculum requirements. (Edited)


Thanks for the response. This is really encouraging news. I imagine that I would start Big 4 but I have absolutely no idea if I would want to stay the length of my career or if I would want to venture out. I'm glad to hear that there are people with both CPAs and MBAs. In my school, there is definitely a major division between finance and accounting majors. It seems like if you major in accounting you get CPA cert and that's basically it. There's not much talk about eventually getting an MBA for the accounting kids, while most of the finance majors plan on getting an MBA down the line. It's encouraging to know that I haven't limited my career opportunities by choosing accounting instead of finance.



I'm also a little curious about the score difference. Don't care that much though. I'm still elated to have gotten 99%-tile (I only needed a 600 to get into my program so I wasn't that worried and did not study too much).
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   09 Jan 2009, 10:59
ajk2010 wrote:
Hi all,

I'm new to the forum. This is probably a noob question but I'm still curious. What would an accountant do with an MBA?

I'm a 20 year old accounting major, applying for an MS in accounting at my current university. I just took the GMAT today and scored a 760. Because I scored much higher than I ever thought I would I've started looking around to see what people do with MBAs in case I ever want to pursue one (much more interested now that I have a score that may help me get into an elite school). As an accounting major, I plan to get my CPA and work at one of the Big 4 for a while. However, I saw in another post that Wharton has the best program for MBA with a concentration in accounting. Would someone get this who will remain in the accounting profession (ie. working for a major accounting firm) or would this degree be more aimed at someone with a background in accounting who is now making the switch to some type of industry?

Any help would be great,
Andrea


I'm a former Big4 auditor, w/ BS accounting and CPA exams passed but no license. I left public accounting after 6 months to join an investment fund at end of 2005 working in investment/finance more than accounting (I was fortunate to find this opportunity back when jobs were more plentiful.)

If you know that you like accounting/auditing/tax then you will probably not need an MBA w/ your MS. For the MBA, it really depends on how ambitious you are, but even if you want to be CFO, you could do PT MBA or just have Big4 experience that would give enough credentials, the rest is up to you. You can have a good career w/out MBA if, for instance, you wanted to make Partner at some firm (or even start your own firm.) But really, you should view the MBA as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card if you find you want a career change.
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink] New post   18 Jan 2009, 06:58
I am also a CPA, working for a Big 4 firm. I did 4 years in audit and how am in HR. For me, as the others have mentioned, getting an MBA from an elite school was about changing careers and getting out of the accounting profession. In my firm, having or not having an MBA doesn't mean a thing for advancement and promotion, as long as you have your CPA you can advance as far as you want. Also, a lot of people who leave the firm get very good jobs at F500 companies with nothing more than their CPA and Big 4 experience on their resume.

Besides that, even though it doesn't matter for advancement, there are a growing number of people who are doing PT MBAs while they work for the firm. When states started adding 150 credit-hour requirements for the CPA exam, people decided to get an MBA to fulfill this requirement rather than just take random courses.
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Re: An accountant with an MBA? [#permalink]
18 Jan 2009, 06:58

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