Nonprofit Accountants – MPA

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #202041
    msgolds
    Participant

    Hi all,

    I am responsible for Financial Reporting at a large nonprofit. I belong to a professional society for nonprofit professionals, and was recently made aware of an opportunity for a fellowship for a part-time MPA program. With the fellowship on top of tuition reimbursement from my employer, I believe I would be able to complete the program tuition free.

    My question is: have any of you who work in the public / nonprofit sector completed an MPA program? How would you describe your experience in the program? Did the education help you advance to a greater leadership role in your organization? I would love to hear about any experience that you all might have.

    BEC - 90 PASSED
    FAR - 84 PASSED
    AUD - 93 PASSED
    REG - 84 PASSED

    I DID IT!!!!

    Using Becker Self-Study

    "If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • #776940
    mtaylo24
    Participant

    Stupid question but MPA meaning Master of Professional Accountancy or Masters of Public Administration?

    AUD - 1st - 60 (12/12), 61 (2/13), 61 (8/13), 78! (11/15)
    REG - 55 (2/16) 69 (5/16) Retake(8/16)
    BEC - 71(5/16) Retake (9/16)
    FAR - (8/16)

    #776941
    msgolds
    Participant

    Public Administration. As I said, I work in the nonprofit sphere and am considering this designation to advance my career in the NFP financial management sector.

    BEC - 90 PASSED
    FAR - 84 PASSED
    AUD - 93 PASSED
    REG - 84 PASSED

    I DID IT!!!!

    Using Becker Self-Study

    "If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

    #776942
    CISNC
    Participant

    I work exclusively with non profits and I have not seen one executive director or CFO with an MPA designation. They usually only have one advanced degree (MBA, PhD, etc) or a CPA (if only going to be in the accounting side of NPF). There also are certification for specific NPF's. One that comes to mind is ASAE (The Center for Association Leadership) with a CAE designation (Certified Association Executive). I have seen more CAE certification from my clients next to MBA/CPA.

    FAR - Pass
    AUD - Pass
    BEC - Pass
    REG - September

    #776943
    Matt Douglass
    Participant

    The main question I have is: do you already have a Master's Degree? If no, then I think this would be valuable. If yes, well, I'm not sure it's going to help that much. My wife and I both work in non profit, I work at a private college and she works in the quasi-governmental world and none of the people we know in Sr. management have a MPA.

    MS, Accounting - Done!

    FAR - 83 (CPAexcel/Ninja MCQ)
    AUD - 87 (CPAexcel/Ninja MCQ)
    REG - 10/16
    BEC - 11/16

    #776944
    msgolds
    Participant

    Thanks for the feedback, all!

    To answer Matt Douglass, I do not currently have a Master's. I have two Bachelor's degrees in Accounting & Management, and my CPA. I've been in the NFP sector for about one year now, coming from an Audit / Consulting background in the government contracting industry. We have a number of government contracts here as well, which was my in with this organization, but I've learned that the nonprofit world is a completely different beast than the for-profit world. Completely different sets of stakeholders to report to, asset restrictions, 990s, increased accountability requirements, etc.

    On the one hand, I feel like getting a formal education in nonprofit governance might prove useful for me in understanding ways to improve my organization as a whole. On the other hand, any degree is a great deal of work, and I don't know if I would want to go through all that time and effort if I couldn't realize tangible advances to my career, so I am open to learning about other designations as well. The organization I work for is a government-funded research think tank.

    BEC - 90 PASSED
    FAR - 84 PASSED
    AUD - 93 PASSED
    REG - 84 PASSED

    I DID IT!!!!

    Using Becker Self-Study

    "If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

    #776945
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I work at a non-profit college. I think non-profit colleges are sometimes a hybrid of the non-profit and for-profit worlds, since they are non-profits and it definitely shows in how they're run, but there's also aspects of a more normal company in that they are providing a service for a fee and people sometimes see them more as a corporation than as charity. So, with the caveat that I'd consider my non-profit to probably not be typical of all non-profits…

    No one in the upper administration here has an MPA, but I have heard them discussed. I'm the Controller here; my direct manager is the CFO/VP of Business and Finance. I'm a CPA; he has his MBA. We have 2 other VPs; one has his MBA; the other has an MA and MLS (Master of Arts and Master of Library Science?) and a PhD. The one with the PhD is the VP of Academic Affairs/Dean of the College. Our President has a Masters in Education and a PhD in Philosphy, History. However…my impression is that the MPA is a more up-and-coming degree. While it may have existed for awhile (I'm not sure), it seems like it's gaining traction more in recent years. So, since the upper administration here all earned their degrees many years ago, the MPA probably wasn't a common option when they were earning their degrees, but it may be that it will be common for administration of a similar level in 10 or 15 years, which would be the people earning their degrees right now.

    Since I work at a college, degrees are discussed a decent bit. From the discussion I've heard, my impression has been that the MPA is like an MBA, but with less accounting/finance focus. My understanding is that the reason it's thought to be better for non-profits is because knowing how to create a profit isn't as necessary for a non-profit, so having less accounting/finance focus is OK for non-profit management. So, since you've already got the CPA to demonstrate your competency in the financial side of things, the MPA might be a fine choice for you to complement the CPA and show that you're competent in the non-financial aspects, too.

    Just be aware that the MBA degree is still much more well-known, especially outside of the non-profit world. So, if you decide after another couple years in non-profit that you'd rather work in a for-profit, then the MPA probably won't be nearly as useful as an MBA. However, it won't be un-useful.

    Personally my goal was to complete an MBA, even while working in a non-profit, unless the college I worked at began offering an MPA (and not an MBA), and then I'd pick the MPA simply because I could take it for free as an employee. So, by that logic, if I was in your shoes, I'd probably do the MPA since it's free. However, I think the benefits of the MPA probably won't be as great as those of an MBA.

    #776946
    msgolds
    Participant

    Thanks for the feedback Lila! The difference between an MPA and an MBA is definitely one of the things I've been looking to suss out. The thing is, I hear from a lot of people in this field that the job market is over-saturated with MBAs right now, which is one of the reasons I've been steering clear of it. Since my career has always been based around the federal government in one capacity or another, I was thinking an MPA would be a useful way to differentiate myself in this sector from MBAs. But I guess that really depends on how different the curriculums really are. If an MPA is just an MBA-lite, I don't know if I'd necessary see the value in it.

    BEC - 90 PASSED
    FAR - 84 PASSED
    AUD - 93 PASSED
    REG - 84 PASSED

    I DID IT!!!!

    Using Becker Self-Study

    "If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

    #776947
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    *shrug* It was people with MBAs talking that said it was an MBA with less financial focus, and from how they talked it sounded like they saw it as easier. But, that could be like people who passed the CPA exam in the paper days saying that on computer now is easier. Is it really? Or is it “I have this, so yours must be easier”?

    I'd try to find a school that offers both MBA and MPA and compare the curriculum to see what's really different, or look at the curriculum of the MPA that you have the fellowship offer for and compare it to an MBA program that you're interested in. My impression has been that both take the same classes for the majority of the degree, with just 2 or 3 classes substituted out. If that's accurate, then practical knowledge to help you in your job probably won't be substantially different, and then what weight each credential will carry will matter more. If you plan to stay in government and non-profit, then the MPA might be the better credential – I'm really not sure. 😐 However, if there's more differences than that, and/or if this MPA that you have the fellowship opportunity for is specifically tailored to have more public sector information so would have lots of practical knowledge, then that makes it much more attractive. Like I said, my impression has been it's just a couple classes different, so I have been focused on the reputation, but my impression could be completely wrong.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • The topic ‘Nonprofit Accountants – MPA’ is closed to new replies.