Becoming an Accountant with a Bachelor's in BA (credit, 2013, degree)

[Brad12345]

Hello everyone! My name's Brad. I'm 24 and currently work as an Accounting Clerk for a fairly large bank. I graduated from college in 2013 with a bachelor's in Business Administration and a minor in Psychology. After graduating college, I had no idea what to do in the real world, so I worked two minimum wage jobs for about a year. I was barely able to get by and pay rent, and I had the pleasure of experiencing firsthand what it's like to be poor and constantly stressed. Then, I was able to secure my current job, which I thought boring at first but have actually begun to like as I have been entrusted with more responsibility.

So, before I bore you all to tears with my life story I will get to the point. I would like to become a real accountant, and I am wondering what the best path to obtaining this position would be (factoring in time, money invested, and potential return with salary). Should I go for an associate's in accounting? A bachelor's? Should I get a master's in business administration with a concentration in accounting. Or would it be best to go straight for my CPA (I would probably have to take some accounting courses to have the necessary credits). Maybe there's another option I'm not even thinking of.

Please help a fellow brother out. I'd rather plan this move out with the help of people much smarter than myself, than to charge blindly ahead like I did when I first went to college.

[Thatsright19]

Get a bachelors (or masters) in accounting to be able to meet the requirements for the CPA exam. Intern while you are in school at a CPA firm. Then give up 2 years of your life studying for the CPA exam.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by Thatsright19

Get a bachelors (or masters) in accounting to be able to meet the requirements for the CPA exam. Intern while you are in school at a CPA firm. Then give up 2 years of your life studying for the CPA exam.

The guy already has a business degree. The easiest way is to do a either a 1 year Master's of Accounting program full-time or a 2 year program part-time.

I'll give you a tip that your accounting clerk position really isn't going to be a big deal for professional accounting jobs, but your grades, activities, honors, and networking will.

If you think accounting is your thing and willing to devote a lot of time into your studies and networking, and believe in your self, I'd do it full-time. If not, maybe keeping your job is OK. Just be warned paraprofessional accounting jobs are often dead end ones and rarely will they promote a clerk to professional accountant just because they got a degree. You'll be treated as an entry level accountant once you graduate, and you'll be evaluated on your professional experience (i.e. internships), your grades, the quality of your school, and outside activities and leadership positions.

Good luck. The BA in Business and MBA in Accounting combo will probably not be as effective as a focused accounting master's program. Unless it is a top 10-15 MBA school.