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I was promoted to an accounting manager position with staff reporting to me in 1995. I was young with no college degree with only a GED. This was a job at major real estate investment firm well known on Wall Street at the time. The EVP/CFO promoted me without a degree because she knew I was the right fit for the job. I worked my butt off for 3 years - started out as a temp.
So yes, promotions like this happen all of the time. Just focus on your own job. Don’t judge someoen because they didnt go to college (eventually I did by the way for ME).
I personally have learned way more accounting on the job than I did in college. As others have said not all accounting positions need a CPA so if she's capable of doing her job it doesn't matter.
I recently started working at a new company and my coworker got promoted to be an accountant. She’s only been with the company less than a year. I found out when she asked me about my graduate school that she has no bachelor’s degree in anything, but working towards her bachelor’s degree. She only had a high school education and 2 years of experience in accounting. I just found it strange that a corporate company would promote someone to become an accountant without a bachelor’s or associate’s degree. Is it common in the field of accounting? Could this affect the company’s reputation?
I don't know accounting requirements. I bet you need at least an associate's degree if you were to apply for an accounting job. Then again, this person may have been entitled in some way, maybe she knows somebody. I think this is a common situation. When I worked in clinical research science, there were people working there with all kinds of non-science degrees and some with no degree at all. They got promoted. Some could barely speak comprehensible English.
There are those who wonder why they went to college with all the time and loans/money required; while others seem not to need a degree and get the job and get promoted without the required credentials that others are asked to have. Is it fair? No, but we know life is not fair. Is it acceptable--Yes, it happens when you are well liked and/or a long time employee and/or are recognized for having skills and potential.
Most entry level corporate accounting jobs are very repetitive task. If someone is doing that repetitive task well for a few years and is at the top of their salary band, you promote them so you can give them a raise. I don’t see that a degree has anything to do with it. They’re still doing repetitive task work after the promotion. I doubt they’re being asked to do strategic thinking and analysis.
I suspect the OP perceived that certification would put an employee on a different track from those who aren't certified. To be fair, a lot of certifications are "sold" that way, billed as something that will put your career on another trajectory. I recently received a certification for work I had been doing at my former employer; without it, it would have been almost impossible to get the kinds of jobs that I was applying for. Of course, internally, companies are much more likely to put their experience with you much higher in importance than a certification.
In my last position, most of my co-workers had an MBA. I only have a high school diploma. I recently got promoted over them. There is a lot of resentment about this.
But I honestly wonder if some schools hand out MBAs in boxes of Cracker Jacks. Two of these people are absolutely horrible at their job. When we were all in training together, these two never took notes or asked questions. They spent most of their time typing snarky IMs to each other on their laptops (usually about me and all the questions I asked). When we got out of training, they were completely clueless.
When we were going through a slow period, they spent their time surfing the internet. I spent my time shadowing experienced people, taking classes online and studying examples of work other people had done. When we were busy, I worked evenings and weekends and had the highest production numbers. One of these guys has been let go and the other is hanging by a thread.
Of course, most people I know with an MBA are intelligent, hard-working go-getters, but these two tend to stick out in my mind.
But I honestly wonder if some schools hand out MBAs in boxes of Cracker Jacks.
I think it is more a matter that university coursework often doesn't train someone to do the day to day work of some vocation. A lot of good arguments can be made that our higher education system is rather inefficient, often preparing young people to do work that they have no intention of ever doing. That's mainly because universities aren't really (and never were really) intended to train someone to do the day to day work of some vocation. The structure is really best suited toward preparing students for something more abstract than most students will end up doing in their first jobs.
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