[secund2nun]

I am trying to decide what to do. Currently it is hard for me to even get an internship, let alone a job. I have no accounting experience. I am gonna do VITA for some experience. I want to get in tax. I have ZERO interest in public accounting. I’d prefer either a small/medium firm or the government job like the IRS. I’m pretty simple. Even an accounting job with 35000-40,000 salary would be fine by me. I’ll literally take any accounting or accounting related job as long as it’s not public accounting even something like tax preparer for the IRS. I passed 2 of my 4 CPA parts. Am working on the other 2 parts.

I am strongly considering either a MACC w/tax concentration or MsT. I graduated from the university of south florida. They have a pretty good accounting program. They unfortunately don’t have a MsT but have a Macc w/tax concentration. It would only cost me about 10,000 to do my macc there. Also I am considering an online MsT from GGU (or elsewhere) that runs about 30,000. If the cost were equal I would pick the MsT easily. Would it make a huge difference in the tax world between a MsT vs a Macc w/tax concentration? If I applied for a job like the IRS or a small accounting form would it make a difference if I have a MsT vs a Macc w/tax? Does a MsT or Macc w/tax even help for it getting a government job or getting hired by a small firm?

One more question- If I went back to USF they have on campus recruiting there. Is it only just big 4 that usually recruits at colleges? Or does the government and local firms also recruiting at colleges?

[Study Monk]

You are pretty much in the same situation as me. I don't have any recent experience and am hoping passing the CPA exam can land me a job. If not I will also be looking into a masters. I have also looked at GGU and even had an appointment to enroll on campus before I decided to wait until I finished my CPA exam.

If you are 100 percent certain you will end up in a tax job than the MsT would be the stronger degree. However the MACC w/tax concentration is the much safer degree and would be the one I would end up choosing. Keep in mind with no real tax experience you are just assuming you want to be in tax. Tax is boring for most people and a lot of people leave tax accounting to go to private accounting.

If you have the MACC you will be more marketable for senior accounting and controller jobs than with the MsT. You could even take the concentration in tax off your resume when listing the MACC. Also GGU has great on campus recruiting in California while if you go to your Florida University you will have recruiting locally. The fact that they recruit from there shows that the degree is good enough to get yourself in the door. Also $20,000 more at GGU is huge when you don't have a job. I wish I could find a masters program for 10k out here in Cali.

I also want to say that tax opportunities are very limited and when you don't want to work in public accounting you are really looking at a more narrow selection of tax jobs. Ironically people that might need to get a MsT to sweeten up their degree are people who are looking for competitive public accounting jobs. I think getting in the door with the IRS or local state tax authority should be relatively easy with just your CPA license.

To conclude my rant I would go for the MACC so you can talk to local recruiters and save 20k. One of the only reasons I am considering getting a masters is another opportunity at on campus recruiting.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

You are pretty much in the same situation as me. I don't have any recent experience and am hoping passing the CPA exam can land me a job. If not I will also be looking into a masters. I have also looked at GGU and even had an appointment to enroll on campus before I decided to wait until I finished my CPA exam.

If you are 100 percent certain you will end up in a tax job than the MsT would be the stronger degree. However the MACC w/tax concentration is the much safer degree and would be the one I would end up choosing. Keep in mind with no real tax experience you are just assuming you want to be in tax. Tax is boring for most people and a lot of people leave tax accounting to go to private accounting.

If you have the MACC you will be more marketable for senior accounting and controller jobs than with the MsT. You could even take the concentration in tax off your resume when listing the MACC. Also GGU has great on campus recruiting in California while if you go to your Florida University you will have recruiting locally. The fact that they recruit from there shows that the degree is good enough to get yourself in the door. Also $20,000 more at GGU is huge when you don't have a job. I wish I could find a masters program for 10k out here in Cali.

I also want to say that tax opportunities are very limited and when you don't want to work in public accounting you are really looking at a more narrow selection of tax jobs. Ironically people that might need to get a MsT to sweeten up their degree are people who are looking for competitive public accounting jobs. I think getting in the door with the IRS or local state tax authority should be relatively easy with just your CPA license.

To conclude my rant I would go for the MACC so you can talk to local recruiters and save 20k. One of the only reasons I am considering getting a masters is another opportunity at on campus recruiting.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[I should be studying]

If you have to cover the cost yourself, I'd go with the MAcc. I have my MAcc, but from what I've heard an MsT is preferred. It's my opinion that it doesn't matter much in the long run after you get your CPA and some experience, but I don't have enough experience of my own to know for sure. It's a good idea to try to find a job that will pay for some of your graduate degree before you decide on what to get/where to go, if you can. I'd start getting my resume out there sooner rather than later, as tax season is fast approaching and a lot of places will be looking for help.

I did the VITA program before I started my first job. It's good to have on the resume but it's a little nerve racking if you've never done tax returns for other people before. When I did it, the people sit next to you and watch you do their return on a software you probably won't be very familiar with, and all of them assume you're a tax professional with years of experience. It will be a good experience though since it'll help you learn how to deal with clients, do taxes, and know whether or not you want to do taxes for the rest of your life.

REG - 80 (2/28/13)
AUD - 68 (5/24/13), 84 (7/11/13)
BEC - 83 (8/29/13)
FAR - 70 (12/04/13) 80 (2/10/14)

[I should be studying]

If you have to cover the cost yourself, I'd go with the MAcc. I have my MAcc, but from what I've heard an MsT is preferred. It's my opinion that it doesn't matter much in the long run after you get your CPA and some experience, but I don't have enough experience of my own to know for sure. It's a good idea to try to find a job that will pay for some of your graduate degree before you decide on what to get/where to go, if you can. I'd start getting my resume out there sooner rather than later, as tax season is fast approaching and a lot of places will be looking for help.

I did the VITA program before I started my first job. It's good to have on the resume but it's a little nerve racking if you've never done tax returns for other people before. When I did it, the people sit next to you and watch you do their return on a software you probably won't be very familiar with, and all of them assume you're a tax professional with years of experience. It will be a good experience though since it'll help you learn how to deal with clients, do taxes, and know whether or not you want to do taxes for the rest of your life.

REG - 80 (2/28/13)
AUD - 68 (5/24/13), 84 (7/11/13)
BEC - 83 (8/29/13)
FAR - 70 (12/04/13) 80 (2/10/14)

[secund2nun]

Thanks for the answers guys. You are right I'd actually take any accounting job tax or non tax. I just thought that MsT would get me hired more so that's why I was learning toward tax.

So it sounds like the Macc w/ tax helps with getting tax jobs as well (not quite as much as a MsT) but also helps with non tax jobs since you can take off tax concentration…while a MsT really helps in tax, but doesn't help in non tax jobs. Makes sense.

Are you guys aware of how many accounting jobs are made up of tax vs non tax? If it's something like 50/50 it certainly makes more sense to get the macc w/tax concentration then as the MsT would not be helpful for any non tax accounting job.

My GPA is like 3.3. My accounting GPA is probably around 3.1. Would campus recruiting really help me? From what I understand its mainly just big firms who want high GPA students. Plus I am not interested in big 4 anyways.

[secund2nun]

Thanks for the answers guys. You are right I'd actually take any accounting job tax or non tax. I just thought that MsT would get me hired more so that's why I was learning toward tax.

So it sounds like the Macc w/ tax helps with getting tax jobs as well (not quite as much as a MsT) but also helps with non tax jobs since you can take off tax concentration…while a MsT really helps in tax, but doesn't help in non tax jobs. Makes sense.

Are you guys aware of how many accounting jobs are made up of tax vs non tax? If it's something like 50/50 it certainly makes more sense to get the macc w/tax concentration then as the MsT would not be helpful for any non tax accounting job.

My GPA is like 3.3. My accounting GPA is probably around 3.1. Would campus recruiting really help me? From what I understand its mainly just big firms who want high GPA students. Plus I am not interested in big 4 anyways.

[Study Monk]

Tax jobs are probably 5 percent of accounting jobs when you consider private industry and government accounting. Accounting professors are just pushing public accounting because it is a good outlet for students to get high paying jobs out of school. So when in college it feels like 50 percent of the jobs are audit and 50 percent of the jobs are tax.

High GPA is not everything as far as recruiting goes. If you have a presence where you come off as confident you can probably land an interview or two. I went to three university recruiting fairs. The first one I got three interviews and no job. The second two I got two interviews each time and landed a public accounting job at each. I present myself well by smiling a lot asking a lot of questions and coming off as likable. I had a 3.0/ 2.9 GPA in all scenarios. Since you are unemployed I would go to develop interview skills and who knows someone might sell you on their firm.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

Tax jobs are probably 5 percent of accounting jobs when you consider private industry and government accounting. Accounting professors are just pushing public accounting because it is a good outlet for students to get high paying jobs out of school. So when in college it feels like 50 percent of the jobs are audit and 50 percent of the jobs are tax.

High GPA is not everything as far as recruiting goes. If you have a presence where you come off as confident you can probably land an interview or two. I went to three university recruiting fairs. The first one I got three interviews and no job. The second two I got two interviews each time and landed a public accounting job at each. I present myself well by smiling a lot asking a lot of questions and coming off as likable. I had a 3.0/ 2.9 GPA in all scenarios. Since you are unemployed I would go to develop interview skills and who knows someone might sell you on their firm.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[secund2nun]

Oh ok that's very interesting. So most accounting jobs are non-tax. That definitely makes me lean toward the macc w/ tax. That's good you got job offers from it. From what you saw did various types of companies recruit at those events? Or was it mainly the big 4?

[secund2nun]

Oh ok that's very interesting. So most accounting jobs are non-tax. That definitely makes me lean toward the macc w/ tax. That's good you got job offers from it. From what you saw did various types of companies recruit at those events? Or was it mainly the big 4?

[mla1169]

Please don't spend 10k to help land a job. It's just as tough a job market with a masters, maybe even tougher as most entry level jobs pay low wages. Find a job that offers tuition reimbursement if anything.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

Please don't spend 10k to help land a job. It's just as tough a job market with a masters, maybe even tougher as most entry level jobs pay low wages. Find a job that offers tuition reimbursement if anything.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[secund2nun]

That's what I was afraid of about not finding a job with a masters degree. Most job listings require experience, so it's pretty hard. Even getting an internship is very hard.

[secund2nun]

That's what I was afraid of about not finding a job with a masters degree. Most job listings require experience, so it's pretty hard. Even getting an internship is very hard.

[mla1169]

It's a tough market out there. I have a masters, a CPA license and 21 years experience. I'm currently working f/t but desperate to get away from an insane boss. I've been looking for 7 months. Keep at it, get out at least 8 resumes per day and you will find something in less time than a MACC program. Then if a masters is just a personal goal let your employer pay for it.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

Replies