Is accounting a good career path?

Hi Lauren,

I went to university for a business undergrad, not exactly knowing which area of business I wanted to get into. The benefit of applying to a bachelor of a business administration, or bachelor of commerce degree is that you will have the opportunity to take many different business courses throughout your first few years (HR, marketing, finance, accounting, international business, strategy and operations, tax, etc). By taking this wide variety of courses I was able to determine my interests and which areas of business I was more passionate about. In my third year of university I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in accounting. You don't necessarily need to decide right away! Allow yourself to explore all of your options. Good luck!

Hi Lauren,

Many years ago when I went to college, I started off with my major declared as accounting (my Dad and sister were accountants). I went through 4 years of undergrad and was known as "that accounting girl" because most of my electives were in accounting! My first job out of college was with PriceWaterhouse (known as PW at the time) in audit (now called assurance). I knew that first week that I had made a big mistake. I loved accounting but really didn't know what to expect! After a year, I left and went back to get a MBA in MIS (Management Information Systems). What I learned is that combining accounting with technology was really what I wanted to do.

33 years later (after graduate school, I went to Arthur Andersen and lived through the Andersen Consulting to Accenture split) where I spent 26 years working on some very cool clients leading some global transformations. 4 years ago I left Accenture and moved to (back?) PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers). I love telling my story of how I received a degree in accounting which proved to be an excellent foundation to take my career into the technology direction.

I fully support the other advice you have received and the advice I give to my own daughter, who is a junior in college, is pick something that YOU find interesting. Network with professors, other students and organizations. There is great money to be made in a number of industries, accounting included.

Good luck and let us know where your journey takes you! This is such an exciting time and there is immense options and opportunity for you.

Hi, Lauren,

I would say that if you're only starting college, you will have plenty of opportunities to change your major, so do not worry about choosing the right career from the very beginning. But if accounting is something you think you might be interested in, then I would suggest taking an Introduction to Accounting (or Accounting 101) class and seeing if you enjoy it. It is often a required class for any business major. I would also advise you to talk to Accounting professors, your career center, or your academic advisor, as they can also help determine what you might enjoy as a career.

While an accounting career usually pays well (especially if you choose to be a CPA), I would not recommend going into it if you do not enjoy it. There are many other well-paying career options, so try to explore different subjects while you're in college.

I am an Accountant, specifically an auditor and CPA, and speaking from personal experience and experience of my colleagues and classmates, you may not use that much math in Accounting. We work with numbers, but most of the actual calculations are done using spreadsheets, like Excel, or other software. And I do quite a bit of writing in my job as an Accountant. So it is not actually that much math. However, if you like math, you might find that you like accounting just because it is logical and makes sense.

Overall, keep an open mind about different majors, but if you are truly interested in Accounting, go to a business school (choose a business major) and see if you like it.