[veronicak5678]

I am going to graduate soon with a BS in Applied Math, and have been considering going on to get an MS in Accountancy. Someone told me this is a waste of time and money because I can get the 24 accounting units I need from a community college and then take the exam, and that most companies don’t care about your degree as long as you have taken or are eligible to take the exam. Is this true? Is there a reason to invest all that money in a MS I live and plan to work in CA, and I’m pretty sure my math and computer science classes cover the business-related units, so I just need the accounting units.

[Anonymous]

I really didn't look into any of the recruiting opportunities because I was already employed, but they didnt advertise or plan events or anything. I never had a professor or anyone ever say “theres a big4 recruiting event on campus this week” or “the big4 are accepting applications for internships next week”. There is really NO interaction at all between the students and professors outside of submitting tests and getting grades back. It was also my experience that most students were not interested in getting their CPA. Many were returning students looking for a career change, and some were students who just graduated with their undergrad and had no idea what they wanted to do.

And the firm i worked for in sacramento recruited heavily at CSUS for undergrads, but never even thought about recruiting from the graduate program. It really didn't feel like there was a strong recruiting program at the graduate level.

I think the introductory finanical accounting, managerial accounting, tax, and audit courses help prepare for the CPA exam because the course material is pretty relevant. But since its online, its really the same as taking any other self-study prep course. the best pro is that its online, you know you can always get the classes you need to get those 24 units. It might be a little tougher to find all the courses you'd need to make up 24 units available online through a community college.

Funny story, when I got my degree in the mail it actually said “Master of Business Administration-Accountancy” and i thought, Cool! i got an MBA and didn't even know it!

Apparently there was a miscommunication between the college of graduate studies that prints the degrees, and the college of business that names the degree programs.

They sent me a second certificate that says “Master of Science-Accountancy”

Great! now i have an MBA and a MS Accy!! LOL

[veronicak5678]

Two degrees for the price of one! It's decided- I'm going to CSUS. Totally worth it.

[Yaegermeister]

A post-secondary degree is not required. I filled in the gaps with 15 hours of CLEP tests.

BEC 2/28/11 79

[khachik2003]

the actuary exams are beyond brutal. To sit for the exams, all you need is a bachelor's degree.

To be considered an associate actuary, you need to pass 5 tests: P, FM, MFE, MFC, C

I studied for and sat for FM which was financial mathematics ( I have a finance background). This test is considered the easiest of the 5. To pass, you need to get a 6/10 and unlike cpa scores, companies do care about your actuary exam scores.

I got a 3. The test was excruciatingly difficult and brutal. Without hesitation I can say that I did not know 70-80% of the questions asked. They are not joking when they say that 300 hours of study is required for each part AND you need a mathematics background to succeed. Were you one of those few whiz kids in math class during high school? If yes, pursue actuary. If no, steer clear.

I recently sat for BEC and it was a cakewalk compared to FM. A CAKEWALK. The salary for actuaries might be high but there are almost no jobs out there, especially in California. The majority of actuaries work in Chicago and New York.

[pandasteak]

SJSU stands for San Jose State. The big 4 firms in San Jose love recruiting from the students in our program. The past couple of years haven't been good in terms of recruiting due to the economy, the class before mine had about 12 of 22 students with offers at the big 4. It got much better this year.

This program is only for students w/o an accounting background. Getting into the program is fairly easy, only need a 3.0 in the past 60 semester units of your undergrad and a minimum 530 GMAT score. The avg GMAT score in our class was about 630, had a bunch of students under 600 and some way above.

In the program, you go through the recruiting along with all the undergrads via meet the firms, etc. If you're interested in a MS accounting program, definitely do one that's on-campus because the only value of a MS Accounting degree is for the second chance on campus recruiting, as the big firms only hire direct from campus students for entry level. There are lots of good programs all over the place, in my winter class, everyone was pretty much MS Accounting students. We had some from Vanderbilt, Northeastern, UT-Austin, Golden Gate University. I think I paid a total of $4000 out of pocket for this program due to grants/scholarships and the winter internship money. $4000 for a job, was worth it to me. Another benefit is that with the winter internship, you find out if you really want to be in public accounting as you're tossed right into the busy season fire. Two of the students in my class turned down their big 4 offers after the internship because they didn't like it.

[Anonymous]

@pandasteak

Sounds like SJSU has a great program! I think its great that they build in time off to take a paid internship too. If I wasn't already working, I would have gone there!

[mla1169]

I suggest you think about your career preferences first, then look @ job listings for those type of jobs. While many jobs say they want a masters, some just say that to weed out totally unqualified candidates. However in a tight job market like now, it may give you the competitive edge over someone without one. I tend to look not only @ job listings but also google CPA resumes or profiles on linkedin to see what credentials people who do what I want to do have. I'm finishing my MS in accounting and finance in December (never underestimate the value of tuition reimbursement when looking for a job)

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[ROACH]

Ah, so SJSU doesn't have a MS program for accounting students? Is that particular program strictly for non-accounting background?

I remember watching ‘Along Came Polly' and Ben Stiller actually made actuaries seem kinda cool lol. I actually looked up some info and downloaded a free practice test and after attempting the first 5 questions… I knew I couldn't touch the stuff.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[pandasteak]

The SJSU program is strictly for non-accounting students. If you've taken any higher level accounting courses, you wouldn't be accepted. The most they allow is an intro accounting course.

[luluxiu]

If you can concentrate and be disciplined, so I do not understand why you can not succeed in the way of CC. I am neither a two, a more structured program has greatly help me…

Buy Tera Gold?Tera Online

[kb24]

@veronica

Before you go the CC route check with your state accountancy board to verify that CC classes are acceptable to fulfill the academic requirements. Some states require upper lever courses and most CC courses are numbered like lower level courses.

FAR 4/1/11 - 89
AUD 4/15/11 - 85
REG 4/29/11 - 80
BEC 5/13/11 - 85

[Author]

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