accountants??

Question

education required (ba, ma, dvm, etc)/ how many years?


specific schools/colleges w/ the programs?



math courses needed/ used in career?



length/ schedule of a typical day?



salary range?



any websites?

Answer 1

1) You would need at least a Bachelor degree, which will take you about four years to complete, though many schools are now going to a program where you can complete a Bachelor and Master's degree back to back in five to six years. Also, it is very helpful to get your CPA license after graduating.

2) Most major colleges will offer a degree in Accounting, usually as part of their Business School. I am a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, and consider my learning there to be top notch. The University of Illinois - Champain/Urbana is also a top flight program.

3) At UT Austin we were require to complete one year of Business Calculus, though this likely varies depending upon the college you attend. There is very little math used in Accounting, aside from add, subtract, multiply & divide. What you learn in high school would generally be all the math you would need.

4) That depends upon where you are working. I usually only work a normal 40 hour week, but if you go into public accounting the hours can be much higher. Also, the job is very cyclical, with month/quarter/year end closing cycles being much busier than mid month periods.

5) It depends upon where you are working. Different companies will have different salary structures. I would say that fresh out of college now working for a larger company with a Bachelor degree you should expect something in the $30-40K range. The first link below has information on salaries as well.

6) Try the links below, but also do a Google search such as "State Board of Public Accountants North Carolina" or State Society of Accountants North Carolina (Where I live), etc.

Good luck to you!!

Answer 2

I'm a CPA and I think Christopher's answer is excellent. I would add that accounting is really not a bunch of complicated math like calculus or trigonometry. Instead, it's using basic arithmetic and applying various rules and judgments to do your job.

I highly recommend doing a five year program to get your BS and Master's so you can become a CPA (most states now have a rule that you need 150 hours to be licensed). If you do a simple job search for accounting positions, you'll see that most require or strongly prefer a CPA. Salary depends on your location but I'd say you can be earning $50K plus within 3 years of working in the profession.