The Insight to Accounting

Introduction

In this interview with Mira, she goes

 in depth with what it is like pursuing

 the accounting major. With talking to

her I came to understand more about

what accountants actually do

and what I would expect if i entered this field.

Deciding on the Business Major

Mira decided on business in junior year of high school after participating in many business related activities.

A key club influence was DECA(Distributive Education Clubs of America) which was an entrepreneurship program which she did all four years of high school. She also was apart of another entrepreneurship program where each student had to create a startup idea.

During Mira's college life she started at Santa Clara University which was very accounting focused and later on transferred to Berkeley, which was more finance focused,"Santa Clara is very much accounting focused...and then I went to Berkeley. They're very focused on finance." After shifting universities, Mira is still exploring to see what she enjoys and might re-recruit for finance next year.

Motivation for The Major

Mira's main motivation for the business major was the entrepreneurship aspect of it ,

"It's a good balance of quantitative and qualitative..it's not super STEM heavy."

In addition, the way finance and accounting applied math to real life really satisfied her and influenced her as well.

A Day to Day in this Field

Firstly when she interned at Deloitte she had a positive experience as,"They treat their interns really well..they give you a lot of opportunities to network." The work there was also not super number heavy and engaging.

A typical day in the accounting field starts around 8AM with team check-ins and meetings. Mira usually got assigned tasks related to testing whether the client's controls work. "As an intern... I had, like, a few tasks, like making sure the client has their financial statements accurate." Her accounting internship involved a lot of excel work (which is like a digital binder that stores and organizes data) and sometimes visiting the client sites.

Another part of her daily routine was auditing which basically means to understand another business through it's financial statements,"We're looking at their business operations and being like, okay, like, what are those numbers?"

Challenges in Accounting

Mira's main challenge in accounting has got to be the work hours especially during the year end, "Especially during busy season, it can get kind of intense." Another challenge not talked about often is needing a CPA in accounting to advance in the field.

"If you want to stay in accounting long term, you have to get something called a CPA... Otherwise you can't get promoted."

Is Mira going to get a CPA? She talked about how she is planning to but not completely sure ,"I'm planning. But again, like, it's like a very big time commitment, and [you] have to be, like, really set on it. "

Reflections

Looking back at her journey, if Mira could change something she wishes she networked earlier and learned more about the business fields like finance, consulting, etc before getting too involved in one thing.

"I wish as a freshman I talked to more people... I didn't know much about, like, finance fields like investment [or] consulting. Yeah I just wish I was more knowledgable in all the fields of business."

Although she still really values her accounting pathway and her recent internship "No regrets. I feel like my accounting internship was great."

Key Takeaways

• Excel is a big part of it

• Accountants work crazy hours to get financial statements out

• They track how much a company makes in sales, their expenses, and their profit -if you want to stay in accounting long term you have to get your CPA

• Usually people who don't get their CPA pivot into a different field after 2 years as it is a big commitment to plan on getting one

• If you are a numbers person accounting is definitely for you as it involves real world math issues!

• Busy season for accountants is around December as companies are required to submit their financial statements before the year ends

What surprised me?

During our interview what really caught my attention was when she mentioned how many accountants either commit to achieving a CPA or quit after about two years in the field. Getting the "Certified Public Accountant" title is the only thing that can ensure you move forward in this field which I was not aware of before. I always thought that once you get into the field of accounting it was very straightforward and there wasn't any other achievement you would need to acquire, like for example, to get in the law field you would need to pass the bar exam. However, it is not impossible to have a career without a CPA but you would be stuck at lower accounting positions while higher paid accountants with CPAs usually would work at public accounting firms.

Conclusion

Accounting is a very math oriented major great for logical thinkers. Having internships in accounting can give you great experience and give a great insight to potentially working daily as one. The main idea of being an accountant is to manage and track companies financial statements.