What can I do with an Accounting Minor?

Hi Rissa,

It's great that you're thinking about minoring in accounting. Accounting is known as the language of business because it's often used by managers to communicate financial and economic information to others, so getting a minor in accounting will be helpful in any business-related settings. For example, you may decided to major in public relations and end up working at a PR firm, but with a minor in accounting, that can open up opportunities for managerial positions that will require you to communicate the performance of your team to higher-ups who care about the financial and economic impact. All in all, an accounting minor is very versatile and I highly encourage it!

Accounting is the fundamental language of business - so having a minor in accounting can serve you in many ways. If you choose another business discipline (like finance or marketing) it will help you understand the ramifications of decisions you make to a company's performance and financial reporting. The same would be applicable if you chose a career in government - although some of the accounting and financial reporting is different.

If you choose to run your own business it will be invaluable in helping you understand how to best manage your business profitably and perhaps if you wanted to buy a business it would be very helpful in that regard as as well.

A minor in accounting can also help open doors with entry level jobs. It demonstrates you have attention to detail, can understand rules and regulations, etc. these types of jobs are available in banks and other financial institutions.

Whether a major or a minor, accounting is a great area of study and can benefit you in many ways.

Hi Rissa,

That's a great question and I applaud you for not only making the choice to pursue a college education, but also trying to be as strategic as possible in the choices you make while you're there.

I'm not sure what point you are at in determining your major, but if you still have time to decide and are interested in pursuing a job in the accounting field or a job that requires a CPA, then you may want to consider majoring in accounting.

However, there are lots of other related jobs (including jobs at accounting firms) that don't require an accounting degree. For example, within PwC, I work within the "Risk Assurance" group, which executes audits, but with a focus on IT elements. Although I majored in accounting, a lot of my coworkers majored in Management Information Systems (MIS), and a minor in accounting would be very useful and relevant for this job.

In general, an accounting minor can help provide you with 1) a basic understanding of the accounting field and 2) a potential resume builder, which could help be a tie-breaker between you and another candidate.

The specific additional benefits of an accounting minor depend on what you've chosen as your major and what your career goals are.

• If your major is in Business/Finance/Economics, then an accounting minor can give you a deeper understanding of how financial theories are used and applied, and can be a valuable asset in your job search.
• If you want to work in the Finance Industry (i.e. develop software that will be used in the accounting industry), an accounting minor can give you the background you need to operate in that space.
• If you hope to start your own business someday, a minor in accounting may help provide you with the groundwork you’ll need to understand the financial side of being an entrepreneur

I encourage you to spend some time thinking about what your career goals are and how an accounting minor might align (or not align) with those goals. It may be helpful to browse some job listings you may be interested in to get an idea of the associated requirements and relevance to accounting (although it sounds like you've already done some of this, so good job!).

Hope this helps! Good luck!