Accountants Make Better Business People Than MBA's

Q: Do Accountants make better business people than MBA's? Or are Accountants just bean-counters? To register your vote, visit www.accjobs.com or www.accjobs.com/vote.php.

A:Some do and some don't. Many CPA's don't see a value in getting an MB

A: MBA may make a lot more sense for poeple with no accounting background. I got my CPA after an MBA so CPA still held value for me. Ron Todd may have a different opinion on that. You would have to look at the individuals and the individual situations. Generally the people who get MBAs are different from the people who get Accounting Degrees. Splitting very fine hairs, most accountants are technical specialists which is usually not the same as being a business person. (In the sense that a business person is usually, to some degree an entrepreneurs.) ((Aside from Business Week's "business persons" who are many times career climbing politicians rather than technicians or business people.)) In today's environment, I would think a CPA (the real ones in public practice) would be much better off getting a MS Tax or a JD if they can swing it. I was a Federal auditor and picked up the CPA as an after thought. In today's market, unless you have somehow gotten possession of a client list, it is of little value. The supply folks with CPA licenses far outstrips the demand. Last figure I heard was 26% of the U.S. workforce has a B.

A: or better. I don't think there is a shortage of any thing that a college degree is required for these days. I heard it has been especially tough on those Ph.D.s with degrees in English since the country started going to self

service gas stations. :-) Someone, maybe it was Friedman, did an economic analysis of the opportunity cost of a four year degree, maybe five years ago. Even at that time, in most cases, people would have been better off going into a trade and investing the tuition in AAA bonds. I am pretty sure I didn't beat the fellow in my High School class who became a plumber. Very interesting. I agree that the additional earning potential with a college degree vs. a trade has almost disappeared. That's why I think it's better to study something you are passionate about and I don't know any 'normal' people who find accounting something you could be passionate about. (Smile)