[75orbust]

I am curious what everyone’s motivation was to go to school for accounting. Was a family member a CPA and gave you the idea, did you want to go to school for 5+ years and then after graduating have to face another year of he11 with this exam? What was it?

I more less stumbled backwards into my accounting degree. I wanted to go to school for business and decided against management-too basic, marketing-hate sales, statistics- ahh no, finance-a poormans accounting degree, economics-not very applicable to a small town business I don’t think. They always said accounting is a good starting point and you can learn the other aspects of business after accounting but its much harder to learn the accounting after doing something else for awhile. Plus its the most prestigous degree in the business school and I liked all the professors.

I also enjoy hunting and being from MN I would prefer my busy season to be in the spring when few hunting seasons are open and the weather outside is lousy.

Anyone else?

FAR-1/04- 86 KAPLAN Review
REG-5/12- 89 MN Licensed CPA
BEC-7/17- 81 ETHICS - 100
AUD-8/31- 85

[Anonymous]

I watched my older brother burn through 100k in tuition at a fancy private school in CA and all he had when he graduated was an “International Relations” degree and no job (8 years later he still is struggling to find a career).

I went to a big Pac-12 school and knew I wanted stability. I took an Accounting class and did so well that I was invited to an “accounting luncheon.” In hind site, I realize the accounting department was picking out the most talented business students and steering them into accounting. I was a Finance major and my accounting teacher cornered me and told me that you can get a finance job with an accounting degree, but not vice versa. I was sold and switched to accounting.

Now, I have a skill which I can perform from a distance (Master in Tax) to, at some point, live abroad and make decent dough.

[Anonymous]

Well someone I knew in high school suggested to me that I try Accounting. I took the advice with a grain of salt. I just tried a course in college to see if I like it and I did. It's challenging and I enjoy studying this stuff. I honestly have no regrets picking Accounting as my major. I think it's my calling in life.

[Anonymous]

I graduating with an undergrad in Finance and couldn't find a job. I saw how cyclical finance was and didn't think it was a stable profession.

I choose accounting for the stability. Even my colleagues that were laid off during the recession quickly found new positions fairly quickly in a terrible job market. Maybe not the most ideal jobs, but still were able to work.

I do enjoy the work, but the stability was why I chose it.

[mla1169]

I had no choice. Literally. I worked for years as a bill collector for a credit card company. Got a job doing business collections. (much better than retail). Employer was good to me let me try out various other positions as they opened up–a/p, employee expenses, commissions, etc.

Got divorced and had to do something better for myself and the kids so I went back to school. Chose accounting because it was what I was doing at work. Only wanted my associates, figured anything else was too intense for me.

Once the ball was rolling I transferred from my associates program to a bachelors program, then decided to move to my masters. Figured after all that schoolin' LOL I may as well be able to add 3 letters to my name.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[ROACH]

I have no passion for accounting but I don't have passion for many things in life. I get dat dere money from accounting so its what I do.

If I had the choice to go back 5 years and pick another major.. I would consider becoming a geologist. I heard they get all the girls around here. No girls wanna **** an accountant.

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

[hilaryh_88]

I loved accounting in high school and then was bored to tears with my first class in college and switched to Psychology. After getting a BA in that and starting grad school for marriage and family therapy I knew that wasn't for me and returned home to the family farm. I immediately became the bookkeeper for the farm and for my husband's plumbing company. During the winter I worked for a local accountant. I realized that I enjoyed what I was doing but wanted to get some actual certification to give myself more credibility. I also thought it would be a good field to get into that I could do from home when I wanted to have a family.

AUD - 82 Becker
BEC - 75 Becker
REG - 71, 82 Becker
FAR - 66,61,71,74,70 and #6 80!!!! FINALLY DONE!!! 9/20/12
Yaeger and Yaeger CRAM for the final battle!

[sacredtheory]

Primary reason…job stability and something to call a career

After high-school, I knew I wanted to go to college, but wasn't sure for what. I figured I'd work for a few years, make some money, and figure out what I wanted to do. I took a job working on the warehouse of a biotech company, and before I knew it, 10 years had passed, and I had been promoted several times and ended up in a senior quality role, and it was decent pay as well for someone without a college degree.

But then a few years ago I came to the realization that I didn't consider it a career, and I didn't want to go to college for biology or chemistry. I was always good with math, so chose accounting. Good thing too, because I just graduated earlier this year and found out the company was closing. That's when I quit, with my new degree, and moved to accounting.

I did two public accounting internships (tax) and became worried because I really didn't like it. I ended up taking a position as a portfolio accounting analyst at an investment firm, and that's where I'm currently at. Luckily they have a CPA program where I can gain my work experience in auditing and financial reporting in order to actually get my license.

BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed
REG: Passed
FAR: Passed

Jared

[Anonymous]

OK here's my story…once upon a time I was a Criminal Justice major. I had visions of busting the bad guys like Andy Sipowitz on NYPD Blue, it was gonna be great! Then I got a taste of what law enforcement is all about, and it is definitely not like the glorious cop dramas on TV…you could actually get killed out there!!! (Kidding aside…I have the greatest respect for police officers, they have one of the hardest jobs you can imagine) So at that point I decided that I wanted to do something safe and secure…I narrowed it down to accounting or information systems. I chose accounting, but looking at some of my IS friend's salaries I think I chose wrong 😉

Seriously though…from the first day of Accounting 101 at my community college it just clicked in my head and seemed to come so natural to me. On the advice of my Intermediate Accounting professor, who was a CPA herself, I transferred my CC credits to a four year program and got my Bachelor's in Business Admin/Accounting. At that time my state just changed the eligibility rules to require 150 hours to sit for the exam, so the CPA became something that I'd get to “someday.”

So after seven years, a marriage and a daughter “someday” finally came last year. With the blessings of my wife and daughter I went back for my Master's and began taking the exam. I didn't realize how bad I wanted it until I got my first passing score…I realized that it was possible and I could actually do this! That was a year ago, and now I'm just two weeks or so away from knowing if I've finally gotten there…come on 9/19!!! 😀

[Author]

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