[Anonymous]

Sorry this is so long, but I feel like I need to explain where I’m coming from…

I still have 3 more sections of the exam to get through, but need to start thinking about how I’m going to get my 150 hours (I have 125 right now). I was contemplating an MBA, but have decided that will be probably not be the best route for me right now for 2 reasons which are 1) an MBA is a lot more credit hours than I need and because I’m paying for this on my own (well, taking out student loans) the less hours I take, the less the cost and 2) if I were to put in the time and effort for an MBA, I would like for it to be from a desirable school. I checked out some of the online programs as I don’t have any schools that are close to me, and they are $80-90k!

I started out working in audit for a BIg 4, and after that went into the corporate world and did HR based accounting. I did payroll processing and benefits accounting as well as some HR Generalist type duties, and I loved that type of work. I have been staying home with my kids for the past few years, but when I go back to work in a couple of years, I would like to either do that type of work again or audit retirement plans.

I am researching the Masters in Human Resource Management with a concentration in Benefits and Compensation from Penn State. It’s an online program and will cost about $25k (which is manageable for me). I figured by getting this type of degree, it would not only help me from an accounting perspective but also give me an entirely different career option in HR if I got tired of accounting. So does anyone that does this type of work have any feedback about this or advice they could offer?

Thanks in advance!

[ROACH]

I have no advice or knowledge about what you're talking about but can you share your experiences in the HR field?

I'm working closely with my HR manager lately and his job seems pretty chill.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
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[Anonymous]

Sure, Roach. I am definitely not an expert on the subject, but will share my observations.

To me, HR can be broken down into 2 areas – the business side of things (numbers) and then the psychology side (dealing with employee issues). I only did the business side, but since I was an HR employee I saw a lot of the psychological side which dealt with firing, layoffs, conflicts between employees, conflicts between employees and managers, etc. The business side was much more appealing to me, and I don't think I ever could/would want to deal with all that emotional stuff.

The business aspects of HR are a lot like accounting b/c you work with lots of numbers and have to stay up-to-date on constantly changing rules and regulations. And they do have a professional certification you can obtain which is called the PHR (and it's a breeze compared to the CPA).

At the regional company where I worked, the VP of HR made roughly the same salary as the Controller who is a CPA (they were about the same age, too), but quite a bit less than the VP of Finance.

Hope that helps. If you want to know anything else, just ask 🙂

[Author]

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