Does having an accounting/finance background help in consulting? I only have an economics background and was wondering if that's why I'm struggling
I'm at a firm where many of my peers have bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting. By contrast, I only have a degree in economics. I lack practical skills in Excel and PowerPoint. I find analyst reports very hard to understand because I don't know accounting terms.
Is their education the reason why I'm so behind and they are so ahead?
The short form answer is yes.
Accounting undergrad/masters degrees usually train/prepare you to some extent to study for the CPA. The programs don’t automatically prep you (those students usually have to study still), but they get you a decent portion of the way there. My recommendation is looking at some crash course options and doing them on your weekends (self study).
The short form answer is yes.
Accounting undergrad/masters degrees usually train/prepare you to some extent to study for the CPA. The programs don’t automatically prep you (those students usually have to study still), but they get you a decent portion of the way there. My recommendation is looking at some crash course options and doing them on your weekends (self study).
Yes,
Getting a Masters in Accounting and working towards your CPA will help open lots of doors for your career. The big4 are all highly involved in consulting in some capacity and even if you don’t start out in consulting, spending a few years and doing well in another line of service will allow you to transfer in easier. Additionally, consulting hours can be more manageable compared to your traditional audit and tax roles.
Contrarian view here but, to me, the answer is "no," assuming you are working in "traditional" management consulting and not an accounting-related field (e.g., transaction tax). The accounting and corporate finance principles you need to understand a 10k are pretty basic; for example, what goes into EBITDA, fixed versus variable costs, etc. You do NOT need to understand financial optimization, how to build an LBO model, etc. Plus, critical economic principles such as basics of monetary policy are valuable lessons your Econ degree should provide.
If you feel you are "behind" your peers, I would suspect that it's not actually due to an understanding of accounting principles. IMO, there isn't an "ideal" major for entering consulting, although the ideal study mix is one part accounting/finance, one part economics and one part qualitative analysis (Philosophy, History, etc.) which are extremely underated skills for three primary reasons:
1. It amazes me how many consultants at top Firms are poor writers - I see WAY too many slides with grammar issues, run-on sentences instead of short, succinct thoughts and prose versus organized bullets.
2. While TAM modeling is certainly quantitative, there is also a lot of qualitative work that must occur when data is scarce or open to interpretation - I see MANY young consultants struggle with how to blend quant and qual insights effectively and often lean too heavily into one or the other.
3. WHAT you say is often less important than HOW you say it. Deconstructing a complex problem into constituent components that are digestible and trace back to a higher-level relevant insight are critical components to effective presentations, which is what consultants live and die by.
A few recommendations:
1. Examine whether or not your lack of an accounting background is truly a pain point or if there are other skills in which you are missing. Excel skills are mostly learned on the job so don't blame that on your academic background.
2. Leverage free sources to brush up on technical knowledge where you think you may be lacking. It's amazing how much quality content is available on YouTube.
3. Speak to your engagement leaders (Managers and Senior Managers in particular) to get feedback on how you can improve - strangers on the internet operating off of a paragraph of information tend to provide incomplete responses :)
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