HR or Accounting field? (CPA, computer science, skills, degree)

[Alpharetta,GA]

Which career will provide more opportunities? Meaning, jobs available, salary, etc.

HR or Accounting?

[killer2021]

Accounting. A lot more demand for it and you have a lot of opportunities.
You could work small business, corporate and if you get your CPA you can become your own boss by working for the public. Another thing I like about the accounting industry is the abundance of entry level positions. You could easily get a first job as an account payable or account receivable clerk among many other positions with little experience in the industry and little education (probably AA degree is good enough for entry level). I used to be a computer science major however I changed to accounting when I realized that there were very few entry level computer science positions. How was I suppose to get a job fresh from college when there are no entry level positions? I can't. There was tons of 50k+ positions but most require 4-5 years experience and BS degree mandatory.

As for HR it is also a good field but not as good compared to accounting. In HR you mostly work in large corporation. Most small business have no need for HR people, the owner is the hiring manager.

[yellowsnow]

Accounting! HR is outsourced a lot and inhouse HR is considered to be 'overhead'.

[Dingler]

I work in HR and it is a dying field, with poor money and incompetent people, making us all look bad. The typical HR person is a pretty prickly women in their 20s and 30s and many have no skills or training in the field.

Accounting has people of all ages, races, and backgrounds and is highly regarded in many companies. Many high level managers and CEO's have an Accounting or Finance background.

Though I find HR more interesting and rewarding. Accounting is better for detail people who like solitary work and sitting at a desk all day.

[Alpharetta,GA]

Thank you "all" for your helpful advice. Here's another question, though. I have a BA in Journalism/Broadcast Communications, and want to obtain my MBA. In order to enter the accounting field, should I skip the MBA altogether and go for yet another undergrad degree in Accounting? I really wanted to pursue the MBA, though.

[yellowsnow]

MBA will get you more money. Especially from a top flite school.

[heavyweight]

Originally Posted by Alpharetta,GA

Thank you "all" for your helpful advice. Here's another question, though. I have a BA in Journalism/Broadcast Communications, and want to obtain my MBA. In order to enter the accounting field, should I skip the MBA altogether and go for yet another undergrad degree in Accounting? I really wanted to pursue the MBA, though.

I’d suggest the MBA with a focus in Accounting. At least this way, if you discover you don't like Accounting (many people come to this realization), you'll still have an MBA. You can simply choose to take more finance or operations courses instead. The MBA will also increase your earning potential.

Check out the 2007 projected job growth in public accounting (one slice of the accounting industry) alone.

10-year Job Growth: 22%
Growth in Jobs 263,854
Total openings 485,893

(see money.com for source)
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/...oneymag/4.html

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by callsnap

I’d suggest the MBA with a focus in Accounting. At least this way, if you discover you don't like Accounting (many people come to this realization), you'll still have an MBA. You can simply choose to take more finance or operations courses instead. The MBA will also increase your earning potential.

Check out the 2007 projected job growth in public accounting (one slice of the accounting industry) alone.

10-year Job Growth: 22%
Growth in Jobs 263,854
Total openings 485,893

(see money.com for source)
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/...oneymag/4.html

lol yup it is pretty nice. Also I would like to mention that public accounting means you need to have your CPA, which is not so easy to get. Depending on state, you need relevant experience + undergrad accouting degree. So most of those 480,000 positions are good paying. When you factor in all the lower level accounting work there is well over 2,000,000 jobs.

According to BLS:
Accountants and Auditors 1,051,220
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks 1,815,340

and that is only including positions that are directly related to those fuctions. It does not include people who, for example work in payroll.

[lorelei2873]

Just make sure whatever you do, you become a CPA. That's the key thing.

For example, we have a girl that just got hired at my bank with only two years experience out of college, and she got hired on at a much higher wage rate than me (I have a master's but I oversee marketing, not accounting) and the girl in the office next to me who has a law degree. However, the new hire only has a BA but is a CPA.

[jlmerritt36]

Originally Posted by Alpharetta,GA

Which career will provide more opportunities? Meaning, jobs available, salary, etc.

HR or Accounting?

I found that Accounting will give you more jobs and the salary is very good. But, beware if you have bad credit finding a job in Accounting will not be easy.