There are few industries growing as fast as business and accounting, which is why there are so many jobs available with an MBA in Accounting in today’s economy. An MBA with this concentration combines the detail-oriented management skills of an MBA with the advanced accounting skills needed to make sure a company stays fiscally solvent and acts responsibly in virtually any economic environment. Graduates from a program of this caliber can expect to have many options available in quite a few different industries, boosting the ROI of their MBA dramatically when compared to their classmates in other concentrations.
Becoming a CPA is One Strong Option for Graduates
In many states, it’s possible to become a Certified Public Accountant after completing 150 educational hours in business and accounting. While some states require a specialized master’s degree in accounting, many others will accept an MBA program with an accounting concentration instead. Students simply need to make sure that their degree program includes a sufficient number of accounting-related credits.
In many cases, students must have at least 18 additional accounting credits in order to be deemed eligible for the CPA exam. After qualifying for the exam itself, MBA graduates will be able to pay for and schedule the test, take it over the course of a single day, and hopefully obtain the credential needed to work in public accounting. This particular field is growing rapidly, and it offers a large number of career and advancement opportunities over the long-term.
Accounting Management Work at Major Firms
Another option for MBA grads with an accounting concentration is to work for a major accounting firm or corporation in a management capacity, according to Poets and Quants. Even though students have spent a significant amount of their coursework studying accounting, they have also studied advanced finance, economics, management, and even marketing. This makes each graduate a well-rounded manager who can easily use their interest in accounting to head a large, corporate accounting department. In most cases, MBA graduates will qualify as senior-level managers who oversee the firm’s routine accounting, quarterly report preparation, or evaluation of new business opportunities and markets that might make fiscal sense for the company as part of its long-term strategy.
Management Work in Numerous Other Capacities
Despite an accounting concentration, well-rounded MBA grads will likely be able to find any kind of management work that interests them after they have finished the degree program. Many graduates with an accounting specialization go on to manage non-accounting departments within major corporations. Others choose to start their own accounting firm or begin an unrelated business selling a product that they created on their own. MBA graduates have a wide range of skills, and this makes it possible to work in virtually any department, at companies of any scale, all around the world. The options are limited only by what the applicant feels comfortable doing on the job.
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A Great Opportunity for Management Work Across the Board
Management skills and accounting concepts account for a significant portion of what today’s corporate employers are looking for in successful candidates. By merging these two concepts together into an MBA program, students will enjoy a robust job market with great opportunities for CPA work, accounting management, or more generalized management in a larger corporate setting. This means that the jobs available with an MBA in accounting are limited only to what the candidate likes to do and feels he or she can excel in doing.