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MSF or MACC
 

sss411's picture
CF
(Monkey, 38
 
Points)
 on 6/1/12 at 4:36pm
Detroit-20120528-00447.jpg

so I'm confused as hell on what to do. my initial plan in life was to get my BBA-Accounting, get a Macc, and get the CPA. Who ever I've spoken to suggests that is the best way to go, including my banking friends. They say things along the lines of accountancy being a skill and providing a stable and solid career. They also add to get a good MBA and move on from accounting later. The emphasis is on accounting being the base and the MBA pushing you in banking/consulting/PE.

I got my BBA as an accounting major and didn't do so well. why? I never enjoyed accounting. A masters degree is my only chance to do well and have a shot at top recruiting. having said that I currently work at a top F500 as an FA. I like it but corporate accounting is'nt my thing. I have too much of an interest in investments, ideally i would want to work in PE

My question is with the CPA would I better of, or should i just go for the MSF and hope to lateral from big 4 advisory somehow. MSF also means ill go for the CFA.

i might not be making sense..but with my accounting background what options would i have with an MSF for a decent opportunity in the investment world.

also, what obvious advantages would either of the graduate degrees provide. i.e advantage of doing a Macc and CPA and advantages of MSF and CFA?

all help is appreciated

Tags:
IlliniProgrammer's picture

Accounting is a nice, stable,

ST
(Almost Human, 9,197
 
Points)
 on 6/1/12 at 4:51pm

Accounting is a nice, stable, career. The Big Four will give you a fairly easy life with time for a family and a six figure income. You would turn that in for research or trading in an imploding industry?

If you want to work in trading at a hedge fund, bank, or decent prop shop these days, you need to do an MSF, really an MFE, at the level of the following schools:

-University of Chicago
-Cornell
-Columbia
-NYU
-CUNY Baruch (no, I am not an alumn before anyone yells at me. They just have a great MFE program)
-Princeton
-Carnegie Mellon
-Stanford
-Berkeley
-MIT

Even then, there's no guarantee on a nice, happy career like there is if you get your CPA. If somebody filed taxes last year, they will probably need to file taxes again next year. If someone needed to prove to investors that they had the books they claimed last year, they will probably need to do it again this year. But investors are leaving the stock market in droves. Credit Suisse noted that trading volumes have continued to decline from their 2006 peaks:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-31/broker-fe...

Getting into this industry today is like signing up to work on the assembly line at GM in 1983 as folks are getting laid off and knowing that some of the worst layoffs are still coming. So are you sure you want to do this? Why not get your CPA, grab an MBA a few years later, and pursue a role in corporate finance and eventually land a job as a CFO?

Work hard, play hard.

blastoise's picture

IlliniProgrammer: Accounting

O
 
Points)
 on 6/1/12 at 5:43pm
IlliniProgrammer:

Accounting is a nice, stable, career. The Big Four will give you a fairly easy life with time for a family and a six figure income. You would turn that in for research or trading in an imploding industry?

If you want to work in trading at a hedge fund, bank, or decent prop shop these days, you need to do an MSF, really an MFE, at the level of the following schools:

-University of Chicago
-Cornell
-Columbia
-NYU
-CUNY Baruch (no, I am not an alumn before anyone yells at me. They just have a great MFE program)
-Princeton
-Carnegie Mellon
-Stanford
-Berkeley
-MIT

Even then, there's no guarantee on a nice, happy career like there is if you get your CPA. If somebody filed taxes last year, they will probably need to file taxes again next year. If someone needed to prove to investors that they had the books they claimed last year, they will probably need to do it again this year. But investors are leaving the stock market in droves. Credit Suisse noted that trading volumes have continued to decline from their 2006 peaks:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-31/broker-fe...

Getting into this industry today is like signing up to work on the assembly line at GM in 1983 as folks are getting laid off and knowing that some of the worst layoffs are still coming. So are you sure you want to do this? Why not get your CPA, grab an MBA a few years later, and pursue a role in corporate finance and eventually land a job as a CFO?

Back this up with stats.

Scott Irish's picture

I can't speak for what the

O
(Orangutan, 369
 
Points)
 on 6/1/12 at 8:40pm

I can't speak for what the MSF will do for your chances in finance, but you can take classes in just about anything and still qualify to take CPA, you just need 150 hours and, if you have a BBA in Acct, you'll already have enough acct courses.

GPA might not hurt as much as you think, get the CPA and go for it. Big Four isn't a lock, but the industry does need bodies right now.

DaisyFrost's picture

Hi there - I'm new to this

(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 6/1/12 at 9:46pm

Hi there - I'm new to this forum though I've been following/reading posts for a while.

An accounting degree is very useful, but to break into strictly finance-related field (IB/PE/AM) with only an accounting degree, a relatively high GPA is important (3.5+), especially if you are looking to go BB or in the northeast among all the targets - just think of the caliber of your competition.

If banking/PE is what you want to do your best bet is to get the MSF degree in addition to your accounting degree and lateral over. Depending on school, the MSF is what will open the doors to banks and investment firms that recruit at each school. Attractiveness of different MSFs obviously vary depending where you want to work, but the top 10-15 MSF programs in the US (you can do a search for it - I know I've seen several posts in the past and they all tend to agree on the same ones) all have solid networks in terms of job placement, either nationally or strong regionally. Do your research based on your preferences and choose the one that aligns with your goals and expectations.

Can't speak much about the CPA, but I wouldn't worry about the CFA for now (unless you just happen to have lots of free time on your hands). The CFA isn't that important at the entry-level. Break in first before heavily investing time in studying for the CFA because it isn't a guarantee into the field despite what people think.

I was a non-finance major, took a great interest in finance following undergraduate studies, and am starting MSF this upcoming fall. There are actually quite a few accounting majors in my MSF program and most of them have 3.7+ GPA and 700+ GMAT.

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