Accounting to law?

Question

I am thinking about majoring in accounting in college. How far can i advance with this? I heard you can go on to law? How is this possible, would you work for the IRS or something? Also, should i take any law courses in college? Please help me out because i am clueless

Answer 1

Realistically, the highest you want to go in accounting is to get a masters in it. It's better to just get out then and start making money than to try for a PhD in it (unless you want to teach).

Going to law school right after getting a bachelors in accounting is a perfectly good choice. Law schools don't care what major you have.

Having an accounting degree won't confine you to business law. You can still do criminal or family or whatever if you choose. However, you'll have it easier than some others in getting business law related jobs.

Most likely, you'll head in the tax or business law related fields. Maybe you'll spend another year to get a LLM in taxation and become a tax attorney.

You can work for the Big 4 firms. They interview at law schools. You can work for gov't taxation entities like the IRS or whatever the state one is called. You can just work for a regular private firm doing tax or business law for business clients. Lots of options.

Errr, if you take any law classes in college, I'd just take one or so to give you an idea of what issues you'll face later. More to see if you even like law and law school. Law schools tend to frown on undergrad law classes b/c law school changes your way of thinking. Law schools often feel they have to untrain kids who took too many "law" classes in undergrad so they don't like those applicants as much as "fresh" minds. If you've got a great GPA, they'll like you whether or not you've taken law classes tho.

Answer 2

You will take business law, it's a requirement for a BS in Accounting. You can go to law school with any undergraduate degree. My guess is that you'll practice business law with an undergraduate in Accounting. If your goal is to be an attorney with a financial background I was suggest majoring in finance.

Accountants make good money and it's a career that will never die. I am an accountant got my BS and then my masters I will sit for the CPA exam in May of 09.

Accounting is a tough major - well I guess they all are, but you must have an analytical brain - are you up to it?

Answer 3

My undergraduate catalog recommends some accounting courses for those planning to attend law school. Your college major will not pigeonhole you into a certain field of law, though. I have read that tax attorneys are among the most well-paid in the field.