Accounting Degrees (Accounting Careers)

Introduction to Accounting Degrees

If you have an aptitude for accounting and business, the field of accounting will offer a variety of job opportunities.

With a high school diploma or a two-year associate degree earned at a community or technical college, you could find employment as an accounting clerk. An associate degree could also land you a job as a bookkeeper for a local business. Being proficient with QuickBooks and electronic spreadsheets can also lead to employment.

To be an accountant, however, you will need a minimum of a four-year bachelor’s (or baccalaureate) degree in accounting. With this degree, you will have more job opportunities open to you and may earn twice the salary of a person with an associate degree. The bachelor’s degree in accounting is likely to include 36 credits of difficult accounting courses, 20 credits in other business courses, and 60+ credits in nonbusiness courses.

If you want to become a licensed certified public accountant, you must pass the Uniform CPA Examination (CPA Exam). To qualify to take the exam, you must have earned between 120 and 150 college credit hours as specified by your state board of accountancy. You should be aware that less than half of those taking the CPA Exam will be successful.

If you decide to pursue an accounting degree, make certain that you enroll in a college or university with a well-respected program. One indicator of a quality accounting program is the ability of its graduates to find employment through the campus placement office. In short, if an accounting program is excellent, employers will actively recruit the graduates of that program. Find out the job placement rate for the college or university that you are considering.

Two-Year Associate Degree in Accounting

Many two-year colleges, community colleges, and technical schools offer an associate degree in accounting. With an associate degree, you may find job opportunities as an accounting clerk in a large company, or as a bookkeeper at a smaller company. You will be somewhat limited as far as advancement and pay, earning perhaps only 50% of what an accountant with a four-year bachelor’s degree will earn.

If your goal is to obtain an associate degree in accounting, be certain that there is a demand for this skill in the geographic area where you intend to live. Before enrolling in an associate degree program, do the following:

• Visit the career services or placement offices of the schools you are considering. Ask for the percentage of graduates getting placed in positions sought by the graduates.

• Visit the human resources departments of the companies and organizations where you’d like to work. Inquire about the opportunities available for people with an associate degree in accounting.

• Visit several temporary staffing firms to see if they have clients in need of temporary employees with associate degrees in accounting.

• Be certain that your school’s curriculum includes hands-on experience with popular accounting and business software. Technology keeps getting more efficient and employers want to hire bookkeepers who know how to use the latest in business and accounting software.

• Find out if your course credits will transfer to a four-year college or university in the event you decide to pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting or more advanced courses.

Four-Year Bachelor's Degree with a Major in Accounting

If you choose to major in accounting, there are many colleges and universities that offer a bachelor’s degree program in accounting. These degree programs typically require a minimum of 120 semester-credits that include the following:

• Approximately 30-36 credits of accounting courses in areas such as financial accounting, cost accounting, income tax, consolidations, auditing, and accounting systems.

• Approximately 20-30 credits of other business courses such as organizational behavior, human resources, marketing, business statistics, information technology, business law, economics, and administrative policy.

• Approximately 60 credits of courses outside of business, such as social science, physical science, languages, and other liberal arts courses.

Keep in mind that to become a licensed certified public accountant a 120-credit bachelor’s degree in accounting is no longer sufficient. See our discussion below on the 150-credit degree.

150-Credit Degree for New CPAs Is Changing

Each state in the U.S. has a state board of accountancy that is responsible for licensing certified public accountants (CPAs) to practice in that state. Each of these boards issues its requirements for becoming a licensed CPA. For the past 20 years, this typically meant that new CPAs needed a 150-credit college accounting degree (or a master’s degree containing the required accounting credits).

However, many states are allowing a person to be a licensed CPA with a 120-credit bachelor degree in accounting if the person has two years of professional experience, and has passed the CPA Exam. Check with your state’s board of accountancy.

Colleges and universities with respected accounting degree programs will offer both a bachelor’s degree in accounting as well as the 150-credit degree or an appropriate masters degree. Find out what your state requires for taking the CPA Exam and determine which degree best fits your needs.

You should know from the outset that college accounting courses are difficult—they demand an ability to understand and manipulate complex financial concepts. You will be expected to attain above average grades in an environment with high grading standards.

Less than half of the students who initially enroll in a college accounting degree program will graduate with an accounting degree. Of the students qualified to take the CPA Exam, only half will earn a passing score.

Learn more about the difficulty of the CPA Exam.

If your goal is to become a CPA, you should prepare early. While in high school, enroll in courses that are part of the “college track.” Completing advanced placement (AP) or post-secondary enrollment option (PSEO) courses in high school will give you an advantage when in college.

Meeting the Education Requirements in Different Ways

Generally, colleges and universities will design an accounting program that guides students through the college credits required to sit for the CPA Exam and to be licensed as a CPA. You should be aware that the state boards of accountancy allow some flexibility. Here are examples of how people met the education requirements for becoming licensed as a CPA:

• Judy earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from a college or university noted for its outstanding undergraduate program. Judy then earned an MBA degree from another graduate business school.

• Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from a college or university noted for its outstanding accounting program. Mike then attended another exceptional university and earned a graduate degree in taxation.

• James graduated from college in only four years with the 150-credit accounting degree. This was possible because James came to college with many AP (or PSEO) credits that he earned in high school.

• Sue chose the alternative pathway of a bachelor’s degree of 120 credit hours with a concentration in accounting. She wasn’t concerned about the extra year of experience to become licensed.

Note: Beginning in 2024, the CPA Exam will consist of three core exams plus one of three discipline exams. Be certain that your accounting courses prepare you for changes to the CPA Exam.

Choosing a College or University

Since the cost of tuition, books, housing, and your time will be significant, be certain that your education is worthy of your investment. Select a college or university with an accounting program that is well respected by employers and that will prepare you for a successful career in accounting.

Here is some advice as to what you should look for:

1. The college’s undergraduate, 150-credit accounting program, or master’s degree with an accounting emphasis should be accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International). If the college does not have AACSB accreditation, verify that your state’s board of accountancy recognizes the accounting program.

2. CPA firms recruit from campuses that consistently graduate a significant number of high quality students. Ask the college placement office for the names of the firms coming to campus year after year to recruit accounting graduates. Look at the college’s career services and placement office statistics for its recent accounting graduates. Obtain the placement rate of accounting students in the accounting positions that students were seeking and the salary offers they received. A first-rate campus placement office combined with an excellent accounting program means that you will have an easier time getting your first professional accounting position.

3. In addition to a high grade point average, recruiters are interested in your communication, leadership, and team dynamics skills. You can develop these through involvement in student organizations that operate within a college’s accounting program, such as an accounting club or society, a chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, or a student chapter of IMA (Institute of Management Accountants). Inquire whether such organizations are active at the college or university you are considering.

   Being a member (and later, being an officer) of a student accounting organization will allow you to learn more about the accounting profession, help you develop leadership skills, and give you valuable experience interacting and networking with accounting professionals. Students who served as officers in accounting organizations are often sought after by firms. Informing a recruiter that you are “just now getting involved” is not impressive. Get involved early so you can proudly discuss your non-academic achievements during the interview.

   Getting involved in student organizations often allows you to get to know your professors better—and vice versa. This becomes important when you need a reference.

4. Inquire about accounting internships that are coordinated by the college’s accounting department. Not only will a paid, full-time internship be an impressive addition to your resume, it will also give you valuable, on-the-job experience. Many people say that their accounting internship was the best thing they did in college. Students state it helped them to narrow their career focus, opened up new avenues of networking, and infused them with renewed motivation to finish their coursework and prepare for the CPA Exam. A successful accounting internship often leads to an offer for a permanent position after graduation.

   Another way to gain experience (and perhaps earn college credit) is through a campus-sponsored Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA provides free help with income tax preparation for people with low or moderate incomes.

In summary, make certain that you are enrolled in an accounting program that has demonstrated success with its students passing the CPA Exam and keeps its curriculum up to date for changes to the CPA Exam. A weak accounting program staffed by undemanding professors who give easy exams and high grades may give you a false sense of your accounting abilities.