What are the requirements needed for accounting?

Hi Ryan,

Congrats on getting into college, well done!

While I was a Finance & Economics Major during college, I took a significant portion of the Accounting curriculum and had many friends majoring in Accounting, so I can offer some perspective on this...though I'm sure others in the CareerVillage community will have lots of other comments to offer as well.

Suppose that your question can be answered from two perspectives - requirements in advance of your accounting courses and the likely curriculum of Accounting courses required to earn an Accounting degree.

1) Requirements in Advance of Accounting Courses (How to Prepare)

To my knowledge, outside of earning your high school diploma, most undergrad accounting programs do not have specific academic requirements that must be completed before beginning...though you'll have a number of classes your freshmen year that will serve as prerequisites for more advanced courses later in your academic career.

With that said, to prepare while still in high school, you could perhaps look for a 'Bookkeeping' class that your school might offer or see if Junior Achievement is offering any programs on economics / business / accounting...that could be helpful as well.

Overall, I'd just encourage you to bring your enthusiasm and work ethic with you to college and your accounting classes...if you're diligent in your studies, you'll pick it up in no time and will be well on your way to success in accounting!

2) Likely Accounting Curriculum

While programs will differ from school-to-school, they'll likely include some collection of the following...

Financial Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Intermediate Financial Accounting (I & II)
Tax Accounting
Accounting Information Systems
Auditing
Business Law
Advanced / Special Topics in Accounting
Advanced Tax Accounting

Note: You'll likely also need to take a number of broader Business (e.g., Marketing, Management, etc.) and Liberal Arts courses (e.g., History, English, Math, Science, etc.) as part of your degree program. Depending on the number of required courses for your major, you'll also likely have an opportunity to choose a minor concentration. I'd encourage you to take full advantage of these Liberal Arts and elective requirements, choosing subjects well outside your major will help round out your education and will also make you a more interesting person (both on paper and in an interview setting).

Hope that this helps...keep up the good work and good luck at college!

Geoff

Hi there!

If you're looking for the requirements needs to major in Accounting in college, each college should have all that information online or in their Student Services center. It's like most majors where the first 1-1.5yrs are general/basic classes, and then the last 2-2.5yrs are the major/upper classes. They're mainly going to be accounting/numbers based and some theory. Accounting is a lot of numbers and theory. You learn why the rules are in place, and then figure out how to make the numbers work within those rules. It's interesting, not just adding and subtracting, that's just supporting data. While you're in accounting, some people will take part time jobs or internships during the summer. Those will be the most helpful to get a good Accounting job. Also, they'll help you get a better understanding in what you'll be doing for the future. In addition, you can ask them for references to do more informationals to find out more about Accounting and the different areas. The major areas are general accounting, tax, and audit.

Hope this helps!

Please check your college's website for requirements for accounting. To major in accounting there will be course requirements set by your college during your 4 years. Also keep in mind that if you want to get your CPA license there are some requirements when it comes to college credits you will need before taking the CPA exam, and then you will have to take the exam in order to get your license. It is good to check the credit requirements in your state before starting college so that you can figure out how you will attain all of those credits.