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I just finished this semester, and I can attest that Intermediate Accounting is by far the toughest I've had to deal with so far. My college actually splits it into three separate courses, and the second and third classes are killers. Cost Accounting was a walk in the park compared to Intermediate III. It's not so much the algebra that gave me trouble as it was just keeping all the rules straight. Amortization, discounts, premiums, leases, pensions... yuck. It's just so much material to learn in a short period of time. Granted, it probably didn't help matters that I took all of my Intermediate classes as online 8-week courses.
Income Tax was pretty challenging too, but I had a terrible professor.
Some so called hard majors are easy for some and some so called easy majors are hard for others if that makes sense.
One of my degrees is in a STEM major and it was actually easy because I have always been a science and math person however I have another degree in psychology that was hard for me because it made me use critical thinking instead of science and math.
In your experience is the study of Accounting in college really that hard?
No
Quantum physics is hard. Made me realize that I would never be a physicist.
Econometrics (at the PhD level) is hard.
Thermodynamics is hard.
Becoming fluent in another language is hard.
These stretch your brain.
Accounting does not.
I coasted.
Last edited by davebarnes; 05-11-2013 at 10:21 AM..
A relative of mine is in his 2nd year of college and has decided on an Accounting Major. She said that the first two Accounting classes were the hardest and the Professor made a point to tell the class that a good percent of the class would bomb out because they just could not handle it. The Professor said, "Some of you will be bored, some of you don't have the intellectual skills to handle the complexity of the subject and some of you will admit to yourself that the study of Accounting is just too complex."
In your experience is the study of Accounting in college really that hard?
I took four different accounting courses, I failed one and got an A, a B and a C in the other three. The biggest thing is the language of accounting. Then you have to remember all the rules and balances in accounting (and finance as well)
Quote:
Originally Posted by csuram2012
Maybe I'm "stupid" but I thought the one accounting class that I took was very complex/hard.
No it's not just you. I am not dumb but quite frankly accounting IS hard.
The reason why some student have trouble with introductory accounting and wash out is they don't get the concept of T accounts and how accounting flows conceptually. In my accounting class (I went to a very good college), it was assumed that you could figure it out and we only spent 2 classes on it. How the T accounts work form the basis of the more complex things you need to learn and if you don't get it, you'll struggle hard and probably not continue in accounting. For example, you'll never really get contra assets and why they are used and why they are important if you don't understand the T-accounts.
The problem is that introductory accounting assumes that everyone will understand the concept quickly and there is just too much other information to teach to spend too much time at it. If you are reasonable smart and put time into learning it, you should be able to figure it out. But some cannot, as it is basically all the high school accounting/bookkeeping classes crammed into 2 classes.
The another thing that trip out students and caused a lot of accounting students to drop out is the lack of advanced algebra skills and the inability to learn how present value and annuity formulas work, and how to calculate things like internal rate of return. It is algebra and you have to know how to do it very easily at some point. If you struggle with it, you'll struggle with accounting and finance.
The last thing is the comfort with computers and systems. You should be able to quickly learn and be comfortable with spreadsheets and have a familiarity with how databases work. If you don't understand how T accounts and general ledgers flow through databases, you are going to really struggle.
Beyond that, accounting is a memorization of a lot of rules and principles and going through problem sets or writing papers applying those rules and principles. So if you struggle with memorization and things like math type word problems, you'll probably struggle as well. But overall, anyone with reasonable intelligence and work ethic should be able to get through it.
since were done with the pre lims i think those you mentioned was just piece of cake by the way im from the philippines and i think we are advanced in terms of accounting lessons.
As someone who did accounting and is now working on IT accounting is probably harder than most liberal arts majors but I would say it is not that hard. The math is simple. It is mainly understanding the rules, logic, and concepts behind it. It is really a matter of effort. People that find it hard aren't putting in enough effort.
I'm an accounting major, and I am currently in intermediate two, so I feel that I have a valuable opinion on a topic like this.
Accounting is a disciplined art that requires lots of time and effort. It's not "hard" in the sense that we have to do calculus equations, but there are so many rules, concepts, principles, and pieces of information to learn. And it's not just pure memorization. You have to actually understand how to test for impairment, not just memorize how to do the one impairment problem in the homework (because a couple different words in the problem can change how you do it). Now times that by thousands of different boring and uninteresting concepts you'll learn throughout your accounting career. And don't think about forgetting about them once your class is done...you'll need that information for the class that is next in line.
It isn't like history, where you memorize some facts about a time period and you're pretty much good to go for the exam. It's hard work, and anyone who says it isn't hasn't been pass the basic introduction to financial/managerial accounting classes.
I'm an accounting major, and I am currently in intermediate two, so I feel that I have a valuable opinion on a topic like this.
Accounting is a disciplined art that requires lots of time and effort. It's not "hard" in the sense that we have to do calculus equations, but there are so many rules, concepts, principles, and pieces of information to learn. And it's not just pure memorization. You have to actually understand how to test for impairment, not just memorize how to do the one impairment problem in the homework (because a couple different words in the problem can change how you do it). Now times that by thousands of different boring and uninteresting concepts you'll learn throughout your accounting career. And don't think about forgetting about them once your class is done...you'll need that information for the class that is next in line.
It isn't like history, where you memorize some facts about a time period and you're pretty much good to go for the exam. It's hard work, and anyone who says it isn't hasn't been pass the basic introduction to financial/managerial accounting classes.
As an accountant I agree with your view on accounting but disagree about history. History is not about memorisizing facts, maybe in HS, but understanding why things happened, its impact, being able to conduct research, and presenting it. It isn't as technical as accounting but it isn't rote memorization.
Also accounting technically does have calculus when dealing with NPV and finance stuff.
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Accounting is trivial
