SDSU MSA Program / final script RT: 5:23
Mike Bertolino
Forward thinking is critical, and the master’s program helps you get there.
Anthony Mosca
If you know the language of business, you can really go anywhere with that knowledge.
Holly O'Brien
I was looking for a program that provided a great education, good base for accounting and also didn't cost an arm and a leg.
David Down
The master’s degree I think sets you apart.
Vicky Nguyen
And I want to be in a leadership position.
David Cubeta
I'm one of the biggest champions for coming to San Diego State.
Mike Bertolino
SDSU is not only a great academia program. It is a fantastic program because of the environment that’s created,
Dr. Michael Cunningham
It is a pleasure to welcome you to San Diego State University. We are very proud of our nationally recognized graduate programs including our Master of Science in Accountancy. The Charles W. Lamden School of
Accountancy was the first accredited accounting program in the state of California and has done an outstanding job of preparing students to meet the challenges and demands of careers in professional accountancy. In our
MSA program you will have the opportunity to learn from our outstanding faculty who are leading scholars, and also from accomplished business accounting professionals.
Mike Bertolino
I’m the tax managing partner of the west tax practice of Ernst & Young. That’s huge, and if it wasn’t for San
Diego State University, I would never be in this role. I made partner about 13 years after I graduated from San
Diego State University. The clients that we serve include Apple, Cisco, Google, AMD, Oracle, and it goes on and on and on. Part of the education process that you receive at San Diego State University in the master’s of accounting program will actually help you be a forward thinker, so when you get into your career, not only are you going to be the best at what you do, but you're going to see things differently. You're going to be forward thinkers and you're going to be able to probably see some of the startup companies that could become the
Googles, the Apples, the future.
Dave Down
The Charles Lamden School of Accountancy has been a terrific source of graduates for us over the years. KPMG is one of the four multinational firms. We have about 90 offices in the U.S., offices in every country. We have
17 partners in KPMG from the San Diego State School of Accountancy. That happens to be the largest concentration of partners from any university within the country. We've had students from the San Diego State program go immediately into our global training program, into our national training program and excel as

mentors very rapidly in the firm. Over the years I've had a variety of different positions, and I think my degree from San Diego State really helped me prepare for all of them. It gave me the foundation to be a terrific accountant, but even more than that, to really be a good businessperson.
Anthony Mosca
I’m a fifth-year accounting student in the graduate program right now. With the School of Accountancy, they provide direct interaction between the professionals and the students. We've had the opportunity to work with different faculty members that have won all sorts of awards across the State of California and nationally.
Vicky Nguyen
I got my MSA degree from San Diego State. Upon graduation I got a job with Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting firms. I really enjoyed accounting theory, and as a result of that class I’m pursuing a job opportunity with the FASB, the regulators who establish accounting principles, and even to be considered for a position there a student has to be really competitive academically and professionally.
Holly O’Brien
I did my undergrad at USC, and I was looking for another accounting program that I could do that would provide quality education. I went through the career center when they were doing internship recruiting, and I got an internship with Deloitte, which is a Big Four public accounting. I’m on the tax side, so I do mostly corporation clients, but I also have some partnerships as well. But when I started, I did a little bit of everything, so my courses at San Diego State helped prepare me, because you get a little bit of experience working on everything.
One of the most exciting but also challenging things, I think, was when I was first a TA, I actually taught a class.
So I lectured, which I think was challenging but also helped build, and when I took time to take the CPA exam, I knew that stuff probably better than anyone because I really developed those fundamentals.
Dave Cubeta
It’s a very difficult program to go through, but that difficulty is rewarded downstream when you take the CPA exam and start your career. The opportunities are numerous to get involved in research, teaching, tutoring with different accounting firms. There's just a wide array of different things that students can do to really further their development and make themselves attractive to potential employers. This school has definitely done a lot for me, and I’m very fortunate to call myself an alum here.
Narrator
San Diego State University, accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business in 1959, was the first California state university to earn this distinction. The Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy
College of Business became the first accredited accounting program in the state of California in 1982. To learn more about the MSA program please visit MSA.SDSU.edu or call the graduate business school office at 619-594-
8073.
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