Poteat 1
Wood Poteat
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1103
10 Nov. 2014
The Future Life of an Accounting Major
Yes, Accounting majors deal with a lot of math, but that’s more to the job than what most
people see. That’s what I used to think about it too. To really grasp the whole picture that is
accounting, you really have to go deep into the basis of the classes that accounting major’s take
during college. You also have gain a knowledge of the job fields that are open for people with
degrees in accounting. For me, I really found a strong interest in the banking fields, such Bank
Examiner, and as a Tax Accountant. The whole reason for me looking into accounting was
because I came into college with a mindset of becoming an engineer, but I decided that it wasn’t
for me. Now that I have some information on accounting, I’ve decided that accounting is what I
want to do.
I started my search with looking into the curriculum of UNCC for an accounting major. It
seemed like a pretty easy schedule. Freshman year I would be taking mostly general education
classes, the basic math classes, freshman writing, a natural science and some liberal studies
classes. There are only two pre-accounting classes, like Intro to Business and Professional
Development and Intro to Business Computing (UNC Charlotte, 2014). After freshman year
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though, the work load gets to be a little bit tougher. Being that I didn’t start freshman year with
the business classes needed, it will be a set-back for me. I don’t think that it will affect me too
much though, because I will only be starting one semester behind. I feel like I can come back
from this and get back on track to getting a degree in Business Accounting.
Instead of it being more general education based classes, sophomore year moves into a
lot of business classes. Sophomore year, there is one math class, one writing class, one science
class, and two liberal studies courses. Intermingled with those are four Pre-Accounting classes:
Principles of Accounting I, Principles of Macro Economics, Principles of Accounting II, and
Principles of Micro Economics (UNC Charlotte, 2014). Now the focus more on the business and
accounting side of the trade.
After getting through all of the courses required for freshman year and sophomore year,
which I feel will be the hardest two years to get through, I would be considered pre-accounting.
This midpoint is where the most prominent information from the previous pre-accounting classes
will begin to all come together. Entering junior year, the journey to becoming a business major
begins. I had a goal before coming to college that I would obtain as much information from
freshman and sophomore year as I could for engineering. Now that I’m not following the
engineering path, I still think my goal can be put in place for accounting. I still want to, and need
to retain as much from my first two years of college as possible.
Poteat 3
Junior year is where everything begins to come together and focus mainly on
accounting. There is only one class in this year’s curriculum that isn’t focused on
business. All of the other classes are either involved with general business, accounting, or
law. Intermediate Financial Accounting I, Accounting Information systems, Intermediate
Financial Accounting II, and Managerial Cost Accounting all focus on the accounting
part. Financial Management, Management and Organization Behavior, Marketing
Concepts, and Management Information Systems cover the general business management
part. Then finally, Business Law I covers basic law practices that all accountants need to
know (UNC Charlotte, 2014).
Most of those courses are just basic information courses, which will just cover
practices that are involved in all business professions. I feel like they will be fairly easy
classes since I will be covering some of it in previous accounting classes. It will be a lot
of hard work though and it will require a lot of time to keep good grades, but I have faith
that I will be able to do it. I also think that I am going to try and get an internship with a
bank near school to try to get some experience with what kind of work I will be doing. I
think that this will also help me keep information from my classes fresh in my head,
which will help me in senior year.
Senior year, which could be one of the hardest or one of the easiest years of my
college career. The first semester I will have to take Introduction to Auditing, Income
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Tax, Business Communications, and Operations Management (UNC Charlotte, 2014).
There is also a non-business elective class that I have to have. Second semester, I take
one business class, which is Strategic Management. The rest of the classes are general
electives (UNC Charlotte, 2014). My second semester of senior year should be very easy
if I can get my classes completed on time and keep up with the academic plan.
With having completing all of these courses, I will graduate with a degree in
Business Accounting. I also hope to have a little work experience that I can gain from an
internship with a business firm of some sort. With that experience, I think that looking
for a job will be a little easier, depending on what I decide to apply for. I have two of my
top job choices picked out that I would like to pursue as of right now. I know that things
can change in the next couple years, so I am going to keep an open mind. For now
though, I have picked out Bank Examiner and Tax Accountant.
Bank examiners ensure that a bank’s activities are legal and guarantee financial
stability (Education Portal, 2013). The job description is pretty straight-forward, as a
bank examiner, I would look into the banks past and present business accounts and check
to make sure that all transactions abide by the legal standards. I would also be checking
to make sure that banks transactions are not causing them to go into a bankruptcy, by
either allowing more money to be withdrawn than they are having deposited, or by just
not having enough money deposited into it. Examiners complete their assignments by
Poteat 5
conducting audits and checking official bank records (Education Portal, 2013).
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is to be a 6% increase in jobs
from 2012 to 2022. The bureau also reports a median annual salary for a financial
examiner was $75,800, as of May of 2012 (Education Portal, 2013).
Bank Examiners have a set requirements before they can get their jobs. They have
to have a 4-year bachelor degree in finance, a few years of field experience, either in a
bank or another business firm, and they must take a test that is designed to assess
professional competency (Education Portal, 2013). The years of field experience allow a
person who is trying to become a bank examiner the ability to see how a bank is
supposed to run, which will allow them to have a better understanding of how to do their
job as an examiner better.
Being a Tax Accountant was my other option. I feel like I would do very well in
this field because I do very well with numbers, and that’s a lot of a tax accountant’s job.
As an accountant, I would provide financial information to management and other
decision-makers by analyzing financial data and preparing reports based on my findings
(Udemy, 2014). Tax accountants may also advise clients on how to minimize tax liability
and ensure compliance with taxing agency requirements.
Jobs for accountants and auditors were expected to increase by 13% from 2012 to
2022. The median annual salary was also projected as $65,080 for accountants and
Poteat 6
auditors. The education requirements for becoming a Tax Accountant is, at minimum, a
bachelor’s degree in accounting. Individuals who are considering master’s programs in
accountancy may look for programs that include a tax concentration (Edu Portal, 2014).
I feel like the job I would be most interested in would be a job as a Bank
Examiner. Their median annual salary is greater than that of a tax accountant, and I feel
like I would be involving more of the legal side of accounting in examining that I would
be getting as a tax accountant. Both would be great jobs for me to have, but I really think
that I will pursue the Bank Examiner job for now. Things can change in a couple years
though, so I will try to keep my mind open for now.
The life of an accounting major isn’t what most people see it as. Sure there is a lot
of math involved, but there is also a lot of business management and law involved as
well. The courses that are required to receive a degree in accounting seem to strongly
correlate with the jobs that I am wanting to pursue, which I feel is a great thing. I hope
that my choice to change majors to accounting works out for me in my future endeavors.
I feel like I need to keep looking into this some more though, and become completely
sure that this is the path I want to follow.
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Works Cited
Edu Portal. (2014). Tax Accountant: Job Description & Requirements. Retrieved from
http://educationportal.com/articles/Tax_Accountant_Job_Description_and_Requirements_for_Becoming
_a_Tax_Accountant.html
Education Portal. (2013). Bank Examiner: Job Description & Career Requirements. Retrieved
from http://educationportal.com/articles/Bank_Examiner_Job_Description_and_Requirements_for_Becoming
_a_Bank_Examiner.html
Udemy. (2014). Accountant Job Description & Required Skills. Retrieved from
https://www.udemy.com/blog/accountant-job-description/
UNC Charlotte. (2014). Belk College of Business. Retrieved from
http://belkcollege.uncc.edu/sites/belkcollege.uncc.edu/files/media/C%20Guide%20%20PACCPBUSPECO%2C%202014-2015.pdf