New accounting graduates (IT job, offer, non profit, accountant)

[e_cuyler]

Your best chance at getting into public accounting is while you are still in school, assuming firms have recruiting activity there. A lot of firms don't hire entry level outside their college recruiting pipeline. The best way is to get an internship and then start full time after you graduate. New hires who did not intern start out at a big disadvantage, or at least that's how it was where I used to work.

The only reason firms prefer a Macc is for CPA exam eligibility purposes. That is not an issue for you, so I don't think they will care. I know the firms hired a lot of people who only had undergraduate degrees at my school. Biggest thing is to have a good GPA, and preferably extracurricular activities. I used to work with our firms recruiting a little bit, and the GPA was the main thing that would get people that first interview. Usually their extracurricular involvement and especially any work experience they had while in school would be what would determine whether they got an offer.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by ETSUAccountingGuy

Hi all,

Anyone here care to tell how your experience was trying to find your first job with an accounting degree?

I'll be graduating with my BS in Accounting within the next 1-2 years. I'll have over 150 hours due to going to 3 different colleges and changing my major 4 times. I'll plan to take the CPA exam with Becker review help once I finish school.

I'm a little nervous how the job market is for folks with just BS degrees. The dept counselor at my college said most firms only want those with a MACC.

I did both Finance and Spanish for undergraduate, but did an Internal Auditing internship at a Fortune 500 company. When the market tanked, I decided that getting a MACC was the best route for me to go so that's what I did.

I submitted about 120 resumes, I got on campus interviews for about 35 of them, got called into the offices for about 12 of them, and got 2 offers from that. I believe my internship helped alot.

[ETSUAccountingGuy]

What was everyone's GPA upon graduation? My GPA will be higher when I grad than in the fall when they come to recruit.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by ETSUAccountingGuy

What was everyone's GPA upon graduation? My GPA will be higher when I grad than in the fall when they come to recruit.

I was a pretty mediocre student. I think I graduated undergrad with a 3.06, but my Finance in-major GPA was like a 2.5 or so, horrible.

In my master of accounting program, I graduated with a 3.2, so I was basically a solid B+ student

Only grades that count now is the fact that I've gotten better than a 75 on 3 sections of the CPA exam already.

[ETSUAccountingGuy]

Let's assume I have to start as a clerk or ar/ap clerk when I graduate. While doing that, if I get my cpa exam passed, would firms consider hiring me at that point for entry level?

[ETSUAccountingGuy]

My gpa at graduation is likely to be very similiar to yours Hokie.

[VTHokieFan]

Originally Posted by ETSUAccountingGuy

Let's assume I have to start as a clerk or ar/ap clerk when I graduate. While doing that, if I get my cpa exam passed, would firms consider hiring me at that point for entry level?

Generally, firms just want to hire someone who's eligible for the exam. In Virginia, for example, that means that I have been approved to take them. Firms will hire you with or without the exam.

As for getting your MAcc, have you considered maybe doing yours at a school that might have better recruiting than ETSU? That's not a jab at the quality of education at your school, but maybe Vanderbilt, Tennessee, etc. might have better prospects for Top 100 firms? MAcc programs are very easy to get into in comparison to an MBA program. I got into the VT MAcc program, which is ranked 24th, with a 3.06 and a 620 GMAT. Not really eye opening stats.

[ETSUAccountingGuy]

Well... I would go to U of Tenn but I think its highly competitive. I guess I could apply and find out though. I never did really think of this. Thanks! :-)

[ETSUAccountingGuy]

This is from UTK's Macc site...

What should my GMAT score and undergraduate GPA be?
The average GMAT score is 556 and the Average GPA is a 3.5 (overall). Remember, some are higher, some are lower. If in doubt, apply.

[e_cuyler]

If at all possible, you need to try to be doing accounting clerk or AP/AR work now, while you're in school. It's even better if you can work part-time for a firm while going to school. I was interviewing in 2007 for firms and they all seemed to have trouble with the fact that I was not working while attending school. I'm sure they're even more picky now.

As long as firms have recruiting activity at a school, I think rank of program usually doesn't matter too much. However if you go to a top program you may have a better choice as far as working at different cities for a particular firm, whereas if you go to an average school you'll be stuck with the office that is sending the recruiters.