[FPAnalyst]

I have a BA in Accounting and currently work as a Sr. Financial Analyst at an automotive firm in Detroit. Before this, I worked in Big 4 audit. I made the switch because I decided I liked corporate finance more than public accounting and corporate accounting.

I was thinking about doing a part-time MBA at my local university (University of Michigan) to advance my education while also moving me up to management. It will be fully paid for by my employer and is also the 6th best program in the country, so it’s pretty much a no brainer decision.

After I complete the MBA, I will have enough credits to sit for the CPA license. But will having the CPA/MBA combo be worth anything in the corporate finance field? I’m curious to know where (or in what kind of jobs) it will give me a leg up.

There’s also the CMA certificate, which seems to be just as respected as the CPA and is also more applicable to the corp. finance field in general. Would that be a better option?

Any advice? In what jobs would I have a leg up? What can I do with a CPA/MBA or CMA/MBA combo? Also, what salaries could I expect?

[Hammer]

MBA is only worth it if you go to a top tier school, like you mentioned. UM totally falls into that category as I too want to get a Ross MBA some day. Go blue.

FAR - 70, 81
AUD - 83
BEC - 77
REG - 70, 78

Licensed in Ohio.

Now what the hell do I do?

[ohiostategirlcpa]

I am surprised how much verbiage goes towards comparing certifications degrees and speculation about their worth. What is the ROI on this verbiage?

The discounted cash flows of education are troubling because it is not the education doing the work, it is you who has to work. If you choose to slack, there is no income, regardless of the education. But since you would have to be working anyway, how much of your income is attributable to education and how much to your natural intelligence, savvy, etc?

These questions cannot be answered on an individual level. One could apply statistics to the general population only.

So questions such as “should I do X or Y degree” cannot be answered. Only questions about the overall population have an answer and even then correlation does not mean causation.

My next comparison would be to a machine overhaul, and the ROI on that, alternatives comparison. Where your brain is the machine and the education is the overhaul. But even this analysis overlooks the self-referential aspect, the brain makes decisions about its own overhaul, and then at the end it still has to use that education and work.

But what this discussion misses is the use of the resources that you already have. If you knew and fully used the education and certifications and knowledge you already had, to their fullest, would you need to sit in any more classes?

F91 A95 R90 B94
CMA since 2015
(Gleim books/PDFs, MCQs, SIMS)

[Missy]

No ROI can be answered on an individual level, whether its about a degree or a financial instrument.

A company can estimate cash flows for the capital investment they make but if the sales force or market shift, its all moot. A property investor can determine a ROI for the purchase of a piece of property but if he doesn't maintain it, or theres a housing bubble again the ROI done is meaningless. Same with ROI for education, your inputs are partly based on assumptions and your result is only as good as the inputs.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[GHardesty]

@ohiostategirlcpa

In my posts to this thread I addressed the pros and cons of an MBA, which can include a network and training. Networks can open doors previously not available, which therefore one can attribute some income growth to education and not work ethic or savvy. In the case of the original poster I mentioned that he did not need additional credentials for purposes of growing his career, and that the CPA was sufficient. You'll recall that I made the assumption that he would use equal efforts (as you question in the last sentence of your post). This means that my posts do not miss the points that you say this discussion misses.

Happy New Year.

Thanks,

AUD 80 05/31/16 (1x)
BEC 80 01/16/16 (3x)
FAR 78 11/23/15 (2x)
REG 87 02/29/16 (2x)

[Author]

Replies