like just using a cpa you're gonna have that doesn't mean your text expert i'm gonna say this again just because you are not or just because you are a cpa doesn't mean you are a tax expert tonight guys welcome back to my channel it's jess and so in today's video i'm going to talk about the truth about being an accounting major um there's just some misconceptions that i've seen floating around like you know in regards to being like you know in school and then transitioning into the career world i just kind of wanted to give you guys tea about being an accounting major and yeah just know that there's a lot of things that people don't really realize about accounting that i just kind of wanted to talk about so if you're interested in the topic of accounting or if you're trying to consider whether or not you want to major in it or switch your major into it then keep watching so the first thing is that accounting is underestimated as an easy major i don't know why but i feel like there's a conception like misconception that like accounting is such an easy major or it's not like that hard but i definitely think accounting is the hardest major in the business school um you guys don't drag me in the comments but that's my opinion it definitely wasn't my business school and i do think accounting is one of the more challenging majors i'm not going to say that it's the hardest major obviously but it's definitely not a major that you can just like bs and sign up just for an easy aid that is not the major at all so definitely like if you are considering accounting make sure that you're willing to put in work because it's not an easy major at all the second thing is like you need to have 150 credits in order to be considered for a cpa certification so that's definitely way more than the average number of credits that you need to graduate i think you need 129 so definitely consider that you might have to take summer school you might have to overload on some classes if you're still in high school by any chance watching this video consider taking ap credits that's how i was able to really get a lot of my credits out i came in with like four classes already with credit and so that's honestly something to really consider if you don't have 150 credits you can't sit for the cpa exam so definitely that and then you know speaking of the cpa exam that's a real consideration a lot of times like accounting majors talk about the cpa exam it's a huge exam like basically it's equivalent to kind of taking a board exam for other majors for other professions the difference is that you don't have to take the exam to be in accounting but if you want to progress past a certain level you need to take the exam so it's definitely a real consideration like being in a major where like there's pressures to take an exam after you graduate that's something something to consider i had known what i had known i don't know if i would have stayed in accounting with all the pressures to take the exam and you know just to keep almost studying when you've graduated so the learning truly never stops like once you graduate you're off to studying unless you're in like a five-year special master's program that allows you to take the exam like as you're in your program but i graduated in four years i didn't get my master's of accounting i was able to you know do everything in four years but that means that i was stuck studying and trying to work and trying to navigate post-grad life so another thing is that you don't need to be good in math like i don't know why people think accountants are like math quizzes obviously you need to know like how to do the basic operations but you don't need to be like a calculus genius or like i don't even know you don't need to know any of that like i do think that you have to be you know you have to like numbers a little bit you can't just be like you know against numbers you have to have some kind of basic interest or like for numbers because obviously you're working with numbers constantly and you should kind of be quick on your feet with the basic operations uh they should just come to you obviously but you don't need to like math the next thing is that you need to be an analytical person so this major requires a lot of analysis like you're basically analyzing everything um why this happened why is this in this place why is it this amount could it be this amount if you do this if you change this how does it affect this so there's a lot of analysis i feel like this made you super analytical so if you like to analyze like to think you like to ask questions you might like accounting because it's definitely very analytical definitely very like retrospective always looking back at what happened trying to analyze and see if there's flaws or if there's something to be done you definitely need to be organized you need to have some kind of interest in organizing ideas organizing numbers organizing concepts because i feel like a lot of the error of being like an accounting major um like in terms of classes that are harder are just because you don't have the organization or you don't have you know or you don't like organizing things because like accounting is very much like where where are things put is how does it affect this financial statement or this financial statement how does it affect this number or how does this number affect this so like if you know if you kind of have like a systematic thing in your head of like okay every everything has a bucket and every bucket affects something then you'll like being an accounting major because it's definitely there's definitely a level of organization there's a level of order and structure that accounting has so if you don't like that or you can't wrap your mind around that then you will not like being an accounting major the other thing is that people say about county majors that were boring or that were introverts i mean i can i can definitely say that accounting majors may be introverted i feel like i'm kind of introverted but i i really want to get rid of that narrative of like accounting majors are boring or like you know you're not creative because there's definitely plenty of people that are creative definitely plenty of people accountants that are very lively extroverted and stuff like that but just because you choose not to you know make your career something that's not as creative doesn't mean that you yourself can't be creative if that makes sense so i definitely want to break that stereotype i do think especially in this um 21st century you know in this modern era you know people have been really doing a good job of breaking the stereotypes but i really do think that like you can be an accounting major and still be really cool definitely if you're gonna be an accounting major you're going to need to know how to use excel you have to be comfortable with excel like over any other microsoft application excel will be your best friend like you need to know excel you don't need to know inside and out but you need to be comfortable with the idea of knowing excel inside and out because literally you use it a lot you don't mind i don't remember using it as much honestly in school but you use it every single day at work like there's no i don't think there's been one day working that i haven't used excel um you live and breathe excel like you have to know how to do all the tricks like vlookups different tables different formulas equations how to highlight things fast like it's such a big analytical tool a statistical tool for people in the industry that like you know the more you can learn about it while you're at school the better so definitely you know if you want to take an excel class or in a course that would be good i wish that's something that i did like i'm not to be honest i'm not the best at excel i'm definitely more advanced than the average person obviously but there are still some things that i know i need to get better at so take it from me like where you can just make sure you know how to or you're comfortable with learning how to use excel an internship so like while you're in school the biggest way to get a job is through an internship i interned for one of the big four firms and that's how i got my first job out of school so internships are definitely a big way to get jobs i think you need to do at least one i did only one i wish i would have done two honestly two of my summers should have been filled with internships but i didn't realize that i could intern earlier than i did so definitely from your sophomore year summer yeah that's the summer after the summer after your sophomore year try to get an internship with your big four firm or when another friend that you're interested or try to get a internship with whatever area that you want to enter and then the summer after your junior year also that's a critical time to get the internship that internship usually will lead you to the job that you'll get post grad a lot of times at least for big four if you can get a big four internship then definitely that would be a big advantage because that means pretty much if you go through the internship successfully then you'll be able to get your full-time offer that's definitely a big thing make sure you are up to date with all the or make sure you're in the know about what what all the internships that they offer so that you're not kind of shot out of luck when you're a senior and you're still kind of scrambling for the job because the goal is to have a job secured by your senior year before your senior year like i did so so i'm now going towards like the career so like as an accounting major i feel like it's really important to kind of know what to expect you know for career trajectory and like what the industry is like so definitely a big concept misconception even i made this misconception and people still literally tell me this all the time is that cpas are not tax experts not every single cpa is a tax expert like just using the cpa you're gonna have that doesn't mean your tax expert i'm gonna say this again just because you are not or just because you are a cpa doesn't mean you are a tax expert obviously cpas tend to have more technology than the average person because one of the sections of the cpa exam is regulation which is tax and business law but that doesn't mean that you're a tax expert i have never ever ever worked in tax a day in my life i haven't done anything related to tax in terms of you know my job i specialize in audit and assurance and that's pretty much where my expertise is so when people are like oh can you do my tuxes i'm just like i don't know that much about taxes i do think that obviously being a cpa kind of will give you the knowledge of tax a lot of the knowledge of tax and it's easier for you to kind of learn the tax than maybe the average person but it definitely doesn't mean you're experts the cpa certification is huge for jobs so if you are graduating with an accounting degree and you're looking for a job or you're already in the job workforce cpa is going to be where you hear a lot everyone's always talking about how you know you should be certified are you taking your exam are you working towards a certification especially if you end up getting a big four job that definitely is going to be something that they always talk about because to be very honest when before i had graduated and started working i had considered taking the cpa exam but i wasn't super super sure about taking out until i got my big four internship and just kind of heard the talk about taking the exam and until i saw people taking the exam or that have already taken the exam so there's a big pressure to take the exam so if you are not interested in being cpa certified or if you don't want to be a cpa if you want to take the exam then that's something to consider like there's no there's always going to be that pressure of the cpas versus the non-cpas and if you want to stay in this profession and really be super super successful i feel like a cpa would be your best bet you don't have to be there's definitely other certifications you can get you don't have to be a cpa but i do think like especially in this industry is probably the highest regarded certification so definitely work to get that work to pursue getting certified do your best on the exams because it's definitely a big thing and it affects your job trajectory as well if you don't have a cpa at some at certain companies or certain firms you can't progress past the manager level or yeah pretty much you can't progress past the manager level so that just means you'll be basically a senior like a senior senior staff senior associate forever which is not fun i think that's the biggest thing with the cpa i think it gives you that boost of credibility that kind of takes you over that hump another thing is that finance and accounting are different so this kind of is not really related to career but it kind of can apply to being a student as well but if you are considering finance or accounting just know that they're not the same finance feel like deals with more projecting more forecasting and accounting deals with more like retrospective looking back analyzing you know filling in gaps solving problems type of perspective so like definitely if you're an accounting if you're an accounting major that doesn't mean you know finance if you're a finance major that doesn't mean you know accounting i feel like a lot of people end up majoring in both accounting and finance because they're obviously like two pieces of a puzzle but one doesn't mean you know the other so i feel like a lot of people think that because i'm an accounting major like i am like some financial expert um i won't lie i feel like i do know finance a little more than the average person but that's on me i think that's something that i kind of when i went out of my way to kind of learn more about but a lot of accounting majors don't know anything about finance and a lot of finance majors know nothing about accounting so i just think that's like you know something to consider like make sure you know what side of you know the money portion you want to be in you want to be in the accounting side of the money or the finance side of the money for pay starting out so pay does not equal the hard work you put in especially if you're like at a big four company you do not get paid accordingly like you're putting in a lot of work you're at a prestigious firm but your pay is like a bit shoddy so it's just one of those ones where it's like if you're willing to take low pay for you know experience name recognition exposure and you know learning a lot in a very short period of time then definitely that path is for you but otherwise if you're just looking just for the money definitely don't do accounting accounting is not the avenue that will get you rich quick you have to really grind and you have to have grit and really kind of climb that ladder because it's it's a doggy dog world out here like it's just it's not for the faint of heart so just know that i feel like accountants get that like stereotype oh like you're so rich which that can be the case there's a lot of accountants that are millionaires but a lot of times that happens eventually like after years that's not gonna happen honestly within the first three or four years maybe five to six you start to see but not in the first couple of years definitely not just know if you're especially if you're entering big four i think that initial shock is like oh my god we guys don't you know we don't they don't really pay us that well so i mean it's definitely decent pay to make a living off of but for the work you're putting in and all the effort you're definitely not getting paid what you deserve in my opinion industry in my opinion is definitely way more relaxed than public i started off at a big four firm than transitioned into industry or like internal audit i love it i think it's the best um i just i don't think public accounting is for everybody i think i have to be a certain kind of person to really work through that you take a big four offer if you take a big four job just know that you might not stay as long as you hoped and it's okay perfectly okay to leave you know whenever you're ready and go to work for an actual company in-house aka industry the big four terminology is huge you've probably heard me say big for like a thousand times in this video already but big four's like the big buzzword for accounting like everyone's trying to get a big four job it's it's the ideal job in my opinion to get after graduating because it's a gateway it really out it really just kind of opens opportunities for you ever since i worked at my big four firm i have been getting opportunities i think that's it kind of gives resume clout for lack of a better word it really kind of just puts you or differentiates you from other applicants that don't have it there's something about the prestige of big4 the experience that you gain how much that you learn that i guess just other jobs starting out you know from college don't give you and so i would say if you really want to kind of secure your best chances for making accounting something for you then definitely try to get a big four position i think that's going to be like that's like the foundation for anything you want to do after you get your first job and you're looking to move on to another job a lot of jobs end up really preferring big4 experience so it's definitely something that like is huge in the accounting world that's like the elusive like i guess golden jobs ranking i feel like it doesn't really matter like the where you went to school the elites of your school doesn't matter um it's very much just like as long as you get your credits and your cpa exam cp exam eligible if you're willing to do the work then that's all that matters honestly no one cares if you went to a top 10 school or if you went to a top 100 school i've come across people that have come from all different kinds of rankings of school and be successful and i'm not elitist at all but i feel like for some majors ranking like the rank of your school matters but the exam is the great equalizer so you basically know your stuff if you pass the exam so yeah ranking really doesn't matter as much so don't be too bogged down with you know trying to go to the best school i think if you can go to a state school or you know a local school that's fine honestly but overall i definitely think you can have a good career in accounting it's definitely not for everybody i mean i am obviously transitioning out if you watch my other videos you'll know that i'm like you know trying to go to law school which is how i've always been the plan always been the goal but i do think having my accounting experience and having a cpa really differentiate me when i do like start my career i think you can really make a good career in accounting you just have to have a lot of things in mind you have to kind of level your expectations and really be ready to like lay low because it's it's definitely like a a hard work pays off type of professional but you really do sometimes have to just go through the years and gain the experience slowly but surely and climb that ladder slowly but surely i hope this was helpful to somebody i hope that you guys kind of have a better understanding of what accounting majors are or what what what you would be getting into if you're majoring in accounting what to expect if you graduate with an accounting degree so yeah so thank you guys so much for watching please like comment subscribe and share bye