[Anonymous]

So, here is my debate. Why people are so stubborn to not understand the difference between designation vs. a degree… People are so confused putting MBA after their name (which is incorrect since this is NOT a designation) and that bothers me because we are working hard to be recognized for this designation (CPA) and thus we actually deserve to use it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying MBA is not an accomplishment (it is), I am just saying that this should not be included after your name because it looks silly… I also hate the fact that in the corporation I work for, they hired a new senior accountant (with an MBA) and he puts it in the email signature (I guess he wants to feel special)… Also I would look silly if, for instance, put MAcc after my name (because I do have Master in Accounting)…

I founnd the following article interesting: https://watchyourwallet.blogspot.com/2008/06/should-i-put-mba-in-my-title-on-my.html

---

FAR: PASSED

AUD: PASSED

REG: PASSED

BEC: PASSED

EXPERIENCE: Done

* My CPA journey took 1 year and 2 months but it felt like an eternity

** Applied for the license on 06/17/14

[Anonymous]

I have an MBA but agree that it shouldn't be included after my name the way I will hopefully be putting CPA after my name in a few months. Not sure what it is, but using the MBA after your name does come across as douchey. Maybe that's unfair, but that's what I think every time I see it.

(I also agree that now that every Tom Dick and Harry has an MBA, it's getting to be a fairly meaningless degree.)

I have a woman I work with whose husband is getting ready to start working on his CPA. She was getting info from me for him, and she asked me how it compared to the MBA, which he has as well.

I told her the CPA is no question a harder process to go through, and a bigger accomplishment, IMO.

[ScarletKnightCPA]

The thing about the MBA is that you can pretty easily coast and maintain a B average. CPA, being a series of lengthy exams with a lot of subject matter to cover don't allow you to do this (which is why I am pro standardized tests, less gaming the system and objectivity).

That said, If you take the MBA for all it's worth, do all the required reading, homework, and then put in the extra work for the sake of learning, the MBA can be rather challenging and equivalent to the CPA.

I am on my final CPA exam (BEC) and am completing my MBA with dual concentration in ACCT and FIN.

Far: 76 (Wiley Test Bank)
Aud: 77 (Wiley Test Bank)
Reg: 61, 76 (Wiley book, Wiley Test Bank)
Bec: 86 (Wiley Test Bank)

MBA in progress

[How many letters do you need]

Although I fully appreciate how Mayo just went BOOM with MBA designation thing, this really has been played out and turned out way too many times. More than, less than, where you choose to place the designation, meaning of top 25 vs.not, everybody has their opinion and at the end of the day they are going to go the way that they feel is best for their own career. As for giving advice, it really comes down to “it depends”.

The CPA will be my third designation (counting the MBA…hah) and I don't plan on stopping there. The reasons are many, some of them personal but one is simply I want as many weapons as I can get and the knowledge that comes with them. Few specialties aside, to me the true value is going to come in versatility. The way to have it and to prove it (short of getting the experience) is through certification. I got sick of being “just” a Finance guy so I took a detour and an interesting one. Getting back into Finance with 3 years of accounting experience, the CMA and CPA makes me so much stronger. Not just on paper but in reality. The question shouldn't be which one to get, it should be how many….

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[John Tucker]

As I stated before, from research with College Department Chairs (the ones that teach us this stuff lol) only terminal degrees and certifications go behind your name. However, if someone wants to put MBA after their name I really don't see what's the big deal to the extent of calling them douchebags?

How is someone that actually got off their tail, worked hard and completed a graduate degree with an attempt to BE something of value in this world, a douchebag? Maybe they are using their degree “out of place” but calling them a douchebag is far-fetched.

It's so funny that in this politically correct world we can easily call MBAs douchebags for whatever reason, but yet we are not allowed to say a WORD about:

– Single mothers in poverty popping out kids left and right, with no father insight, adding more individuals to the welfare rolls AND (stats show) soon to the prison rolls.

– People filing fake disability claims

– People sitting on welfare and food stamps for 15 years

– People living a “gangsta” lifestyle of selling drugs that has them forever in trouble with the Courts and the Cops (but of course it's just the Courts and the Cops that are picking on those people)

It is as if in this country, everyone PREACHES to “work hard, study hard, stay out of trouble, and be successful” but damn when you actually DO that, then they come down on you with all types of language basically labeling you “the enemy” or “stupid” or any other label that they can find other than a hard-working, disciplined SOB.

* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015

[Anonymous]

@John Tucker…I agree (with reservations)…but that's a whole other topic for a different thread

[ScarletKnightCPA]

Agreed in part John Tucker, I don't think your examples are exactly the type of people who tend to call these people pretentious in the corporate world though, I mean afterall, the people in your example are not working.

Saying it's improper form is one thing, calling the person a douche bag is quite another.

As stated by others, I do feel like it stems from jealousy and not wanting to be minimized due to a lack of a degree. Even though academics is one of the few objective qualifiers there is, the alternative being mostly who you know and subjective review of performance.

I think it reflects an anti-academic culture that we have in this country, where no one wants to feel like anyone is better or worked harder than anyone else but instead puts on the pedestal the ‘rich dumb, but “relatable”, jock kid'.

Far: 76 (Wiley Test Bank)
Aud: 77 (Wiley Test Bank)
Reg: 61, 76 (Wiley book, Wiley Test Bank)
Bec: 86 (Wiley Test Bank)

MBA in progress

[Partially Deaf]

As long as you didn't go to a below top 25 school, MBA > CPA. Period.

MBA Candidate - UCLA Anderson School of Management

REG 89 - 4/9/2012
BEC 88 - 5/29/2012
AUD 93 - 8/20/2012
FAR 83 - 2/4/2013
-All passed on the first attempt!

CFA Level 1 - Passed on first attempt in June 2014

[John Tucker]

Partially Deaf, why is that? Why must I go to a top 25 school and pay $150,000 for an MBA if my goals aren't to work in a large financial corporation but instead, to work for a start-up or an established small or medium sized business? If you aren't seeking to be recruited into a large financial corporation, why do you need the top 25 school and $150,000 in student loan debt?

* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015

[How many letters do you need]

I agree. If you are going small CPA> top 25 MBA, it's just more useful to a small company. Fortune 500, it's probably the other way around IF you want to do something outside of Corp accounting one day. If you are truly happy being in corporate accounting the rest of your life you can probably be a CPA and done. Still, director and above it helps to keep you from looking like a numbers only accounting guy. You don't want that stereotype in Corp accounting on that level, they like that you can see the big picture and can communicate professionally. .. which is really what the MBA is all about.

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[GoVPI]

In my mind, CPA will always be greater than MBA because MBA is like the BEC test to me, you are good in a lot of areas, but to be a CPA, you have to be GREAT in accounting. I didn't graduate from a top 25 school but every single one of my finance and accounting professors said CPA, CFA over MBA every single time. It proves you are excellent in one field and you know it enough to get a professional license. My audit professor went BBA, CPA, practice for 30 years, MACC + PhD combined i think it took 3-4 years after selling her practice.. She had a contract for NASA so I think she was alright without her MACC but wanted to teach.

BEC 8/14/14 - Passed
Graduated from college 12/13/14
AUD 8/31/15 - 74. Retake - Passed
REG
FAR

[Partially Deaf]

In my opinion, if you aren't using the MBA for it's intended purpose (management at big companies/institutions), then the time/money/effort can better be spent elsewhere. This is why I said Top 25 MBA > CPA.

Let me tell you a funny story. A good friend and former coworker of mine back in 2011 were joking about how MBAs are completely useless, and that people would probably learn more earning another graduate degree, whether it be in economics, statistics, or engineering. We also said that we respected CFAs more than MBAs.

Fast forward to now, my friend is going to MIT this fall and I'm going to UCLA. We both ate our words – because we see the value in the MBA. This value comes from the connections made and the extra curricular activities done outside of class, not just the classes taken. If you go to a top 25 program, you get to truly meet some of the smartest business minds out there. I'm sure there are plenty of people at lower ranked programs, but the more rigorous programs foster a better environment. Top 6 is also vastly more impressive than top 25, so I recognize I'm not going to a truly elite program.

At the end of the day though, you get out what you put into the program. If you go to a top 25 program but only attend classes and don't really get involved, then I don't think it's worth the high sticker price. But if you immerse yourself into the MBA life and drink the koolaid, the MBA experience is much more valuable than just a CPA.

MBA Candidate - UCLA Anderson School of Management

REG 89 - 4/9/2012
BEC 88 - 5/29/2012
AUD 93 - 8/20/2012
FAR 83 - 2/4/2013
-All passed on the first attempt!

CFA Level 1 - Passed on first attempt in June 2014

[Anonymous]

Since I'm going for the CPA, I'm going to have to say CPA > MBA.

But once I enroll in a top 10 MBA program, I am sure I will be on message boards in a desperate attempt to convince myself and others to the contrary as well. That's how it works.

[John Tucker]

Partially,

I just don't see why someone would need to spend $150,000 to network with other smart business professionals? In this day of LinkedIn, Chamber of Commerce, Business Associations, Business Clubs, Political Clubs, etc., you can meet these same people for free, faster, more efficiently and in a much higher quantity.

Plus, the chances of the people you meet during the MBA program to turn into business opportunities once the program is over with, are very slim. Truly, from what I have researched, the true value of the top ranked MBA programs are the ability to get recruited into top financial corporations in which their hiring practices is usually that of recruiting out of the top ranked MBA programs.

* State of MA CPA Exam Candidate
- BEC: Sunday, August 24th
- FAR: Saturday, November 29th
- AUD: TBA for February 2015
- REG: TBA for May 2015

[hutchinson29]

@acome

I disagree. At least from a personal values standpoint. Someone with integrity is going to be honest with themselves. Often, I think its the other way around. Someone choose the CPA over the MBA because that's what he or she believes, and then argues it. Not the other way around. At least that's what a person with integrity does.

If someone believes top 25 MBA is better he or she is going to take that path because its what he or she believes, and then argue the point, not the other way around.

[Partially Deaf]

@acome – Having an MBA is kind of like joining a club. A lot of those who have it think more highly of those who are also getting it or have it.

@John – touche, because I don't see the value in going to a small unranked MBA program.

MBA Candidate - UCLA Anderson School of Management

REG 89 - 4/9/2012
BEC 88 - 5/29/2012
AUD 93 - 8/20/2012
FAR 83 - 2/4/2013
-All passed on the first attempt!

CFA Level 1 - Passed on first attempt in June 2014

[Author]

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