[DTXCPA]

I’ve been looking up some stats for MBA and CPA. I am currently working as a staff accountant in industry and we have CPAs with 4-5 years of experience working as senior accountants making $65k. On the other hand I have been looking up stats of good MBA programs in my state, Texas (UT Austin, UT Dallas, SMU, Texas A&M) and all of their stats show that their MBAs make starting salaries of 100-120k plus signing bonuses of $15k-20k. I do understand that these aren’t technically ‘starting’ salaries since these folks already have 3-5 years of experience, but still 65k vs 110k? Isn’t the gap too wide? Is an MBA from a good business school actually worth more than a CPA or am I missing something? I understand that comparing MBA and CPA is not fair since one is a degree and the other a license, but I’m talking just in terms of salary.

AUD - 80
BEC - 80
FAR - 78
REG - 80

DONE!!

[Ivy]

@Ne'O

If I have put a LOL there, would you still think I grabbed the wrong end? I am only making fun of myself.

I am a fate believer, when there is a good chance or opportunity passing by, one has to be ready, see it and grab it, life might be changed forever.

By preparing this exam, I basically cannot start anything which I know will distract me constantly. So lot of things put on hold. That is the cons or cost I was thinking about. When I realize this will take longer than I allowed for myself. Even it is still within the planed time frame.

[cantpassagain1]

I wouldnt think about getting an MBA unless 1) I wanted a career shift 2) My employer was paying for it. If I wanted a career shift I would only go to a top 10-15 school depending on how badly I wanted out of CPA. I think you have to drastically separate the kind of work. An MBA is going to be focused on value added activities. A CPA, while we do give value, are most of the time external parties in a different position than management.

Ive got freinds in decent MBA programs (UNC) and Macc programs and coming out of school the Macc was more of a badge of honor than the MBA (even at a good school). Why? Because we give a service that people dont understand but absolutely need. Why is it valued less? Well, I think on average its actually not fresh out of school. Id love to meet an MBA out of school making 110K from a top 15-50 school.

[Dwill2nd]

First and foremost you need to decide what your career goals are and what it is that you want to do. Is your only motivation money? Do you know the type of work you enjoy and would excel doing? Are you looking to work stable hours or do you want to travel and are willing to work constant long hour days? These are all questions that needs answering before choosing the route to help you get to that goal.

I know both CPA’s and MBA’s and I am also a CPA but soon to be MBA also. Are you looking to do a full time or working professional MBA? Doing a full time MBA from an acceptable program you will come out making more money as long as you are performing, networking, and being scrappy during your program. Most top grads will go into consulting type roles where you will doing a lot of travel and have high work demands. You also would have given up two years of income so it will still take a few years before you make up for that lost income. I would advise against going to any second tier Full time MBA program as most (not all) grads will still go into regular entry level positions not close to 100K a year salary. So you’ve given up money, salary, and potential career growth.

Certain Texas schools have great working professional programs are their graduates are graduates of the main school. They have good network and recruiting base so going this route you can work while still earning an MBA. It will however be harder to make certain connections and you will not have any internships. I would only recommend this if you are not looking for a career change and you were already in industry and middle management or high performing contributor.

CPA opens a lot of doors to multiple positions and will allow you to quickly grow based on your work contributions without a ceiling (Some companies will not promote up to certain positions without a CPA). The cost of obtaining is also much much lower than a MBA for a quality school that would have significant impact. With a CPA you can also choose to work a more stable job that is pretty routine in terms of expectations, financial close, and analysis, audit ect. While the starting salary is lower, if you are a high performer with the right mindset you will see growth in your compensation.

Long story short the answer is different for anyone. Be honest with yourself, know your goals, and know what you are willing to do. You can get CPA, MBA, or whatever certification and title but it only opens doors. If you don’t do all the other things necessary and don’t work for it the title alone will not get you anything. I’ve seen too many people fail and get frustrated because they have expectations when they get a title but have not done everything else needed to achieve those expectations.

AUD - 98
BEC - 84
FAR - 94
REG - 86

No more procrastinating!

AUD - 98 - 3.9.17
BEC - 84 - 6.8.16
FAR - 94 - 2.22.17
REG - 86 - 5.23.17

August 2017 - Official CPA?!!!!!

Bec, 6/8/2016 - 84!
Far, 7/12/2016
Reg,
Aud,

[Ndom1]

MBA's are a dime a dozen now. Anyone and their mom can get one.

I have an MBA and am I the process of doing my CPA. Only reason I did the MBA was to put me over the 150 credit hour mark.

With and MBA there is a much more wide array of areas you can work in (management, marketing, etc.)

But to put it simply, CPA is greater than MBA 10 out of 10 times. Those salary figures you got with signing bonus's and what not is pure B.S. What are your sources? 3-5 years experience for MBA is $110k salary and $20k signing bonus? That sounds outrageously inflated.

Anything an MBA can do, a CPA (with good relevant public experience) can do better.

AUD - 86
BEC - 79
FAR - 87
REG - 78

G

[Dwill2nd]

@Ndom1 to say CPA is greater 10 out of 10 times is not true for all MBA's and everyone's situations. To say MBA's are a dime a dozen gives no thought to the fact all MBA's are not equal. You can't compare an MBA from a top 10 MBA school to one from a mid tier or bottom level MBA program or to some of these online programs. MBA's from certain intuitions are not a dime a dozen.

Also as my post above stated an MBA is not always best for each individual. Someone who want's to get into investment banking and strategy could benefit more from a top MBA program versus a CPA for their career path. With my CPA I could easily continue my fast track to controller, however I decided along the way I wanted to develop skills that will take me to more of a strategic operations SVP role. The best path to add the knowledge base for that is a solid MBA program. For pure accountants who wants an accounting driven career path CPA is usually better but there are cases an MBA can be more beneficial.

We have to stop giving blanket advice and give advice based on specific goals and situations.

AUD - 98
BEC - 84
FAR - 94
REG - 86

No more procrastinating!

AUD - 98 - 3.9.17
BEC - 84 - 6.8.16
FAR - 94 - 2.22.17
REG - 86 - 5.23.17

August 2017 - Official CPA?!!!!!

Bec, 6/8/2016 - 84!
Far, 7/12/2016
Reg,
Aud,

[DTXCPA]

@Ndom1 I got these numbers from these university's websites.

@Dwill2nd I agree with you. Most of these MBAs end up in management consulting and investing banking and their salaries are high. I mean if we look at one of the big 3 consulting firms, McKinsey, for example, their Management Consultants make 162k average. I don't think Accounting pays that much in general untless you work in public for many years.

AUD - 80
BEC - 80
FAR - 78
REG - 80

DONE!!

[Superdude3000]

@DTXCPA
Just to add to your last point, I've also met an ex-senior manager who left public for a CFO position and makes well in to the 6 figures. I really think it's more about the individual and them seeking out opportunities and less about the titles behind the name.

REG - 92 (1/17)

BEC - 82 (2/17)

AUD - 89 (5/17)

FAR - 94 (9/17)

Rogers Elite + Becker mcqs/sims for all 4 exams

WA State Ethics Exam - 83, 83, 90 (9/17)

AICPA Ethics Exam - 95 (9/17)

1-year of work - complete (11/18)

Licensed WA State CPA

[DTXCPA]

Agreed. In Accounting one can make a lot of money as a Controller, CFO, CAO etc. But that requires at least 10 years of good experience either in audit or at a big corporation.

AUD - 80
BEC - 80
FAR - 78
REG - 80

DONE!!

[Ivy]

@Ne'O

Great insight from the other side’ perspective, appreciated it!

[Ne’O]

I know this thread is old, but to follow up on Bricknell and other questions:

We are a “hedge fund”, “family office”, or whatever you want to call us nowadays.
Basically the structure is that of a hedgefund- a partnership managed by a GP that is outsourced to an LLC for max legal protection.
We're managing the wealth and to some degree the affairs of a small set of wealthy individuals who have made their money in all sorts of legal ways from venture capital, construction, to govt contractors, greeting card industry execs, and a pair of former senior partners at one of the ‘Big 4'.

We've got all the frontend operations nice and fine. The backend is the nag–
Even though the prime brokers do most of it anyway, the auditors want the broken out trade reconciliations. They also want walked through rather simple financials.
The new CPA auditor last year required us to get one of the prime brokers online and explain to him what a ‘Put' option was, and a ‘Call' option was in our reconciliations {inventory}
because he had trouble grasping what a ‘put' and ‘call' are and how we might actively buy and sell blocks of them. I had doubts he was even a CPA, but confirmed it with his state.

I have the greatest respect for modern era CPAs. I'd throw $100,000 easy per year at someone who would take this over for us, since the reconciliation is such a low brain power time sink.
Having done most of it for years, it is only about an avg of 20 hrs of work per week, for about 6 months of the year. Our ‘CPA' wouldn't quite be a CFO for various reasons, but needs be a CPA to get the stamp of approval from the CPAs to whom we outsource K-1s and various other things that we shouldn't prepare in house. Frankly an in house CPA probably would also provide us a cost saving of $10,000 to $25,000 in certain things we outsource.

And I couldn't find a competent one here in retiree wealthy town FL. The huge crop of them here are all older CPAs who want to do taxes, or introduce you to their wealth retirement wing… only to find out that is what we do and do much better.
I got so fed up, that I began the CPA track myself.

After I get this wrapped up [if ever, but hopefully soon]… any of you young CPAs in Cali, Texas, or elsewhere unable to find a job- I'll have you send me your resume / CV and feed it to the regional accounting firms here. Heaven knows there is a gross need for them here.
…and experience is also that the number of Auditors available to smaller firms like ours is drying up drastically. The guy from last year rubbed us the wrong way so much that I'm tempted to shout out on Another71 to find a decent auditor for this year….

There- rant over. I hope it helped some of you.
We're each double alumni from some of the top Ivy Leagues. We can field MBA resumes all day, as alumni plugged into our Career Services departments. We have no need for them… none. But find me a decent CPA and I would have thrown money at them for the last 5 years. Now it is getting a bit too late as I may finally finish the CPA myself and just handle it.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[AccountantPinkHair]

I didn't read all the posts, so IDK if this has been established… Sr. Accountants that are CPAs making 65k is very underpaid especially if it's an urban area. The rural area that might be appropriate.

BEC 60, 71, 71, 73, 81
AUD 72, 81
REG 60, 78
FAR 71, 78

Licensed CPA in Texas

AUD - 72, 81
FAR - 71, 78
REG - 60, 78
BEC - 60, 71, 71

IF I FALL, I WILL GET BACK UP. IF I AM BEATEN, I WILL RETURN.

[Anonymous]

Interesting Ne'O. I would imagine a good screening and training process could help. But then again, if the CPAs aren't out there, then you would unfortunately have to settle so I see the dilemma.

I see you mentioned Florida. I am in Florida and have a fairly large network in both Central and South Florida. If you want to keep in touch, I can introduce you to some talent. I have a director role with my accounting association so I get to meet all sorts of professionals. Just let me know how to get a hold of you if interested.

Also have you tried recruiting through Robert Half?

[OnmywaytoCPA]

I was informed a few months ago that I would be getting a raise to $90,000 starting January 1, 2018. This is definitely not due to my MBA, my job could care less. It's based soley on the fact that my state board issued my license as a CPA in February of this year. Our bank was not going to give our corporation a line of credit unless we had a compilation from a CPA Firm, but when they found out that I had an active CPA License, they changed their mind and granted us the line of credit based soley on the fact that a CPA was internally creating/compiling the financial statements. The bank did not care about my MBA.

I get way more respect for my CPA License than my MBA. The president of our corporation loves bragging about how his controller has a CPA License. Hopefully, later on down the road when I'm in a different role (maybe CFO) or at a larger corporation, my MBA will finally pay off.

AUD - 83
BEC - 79
FAR - 77
REG - 90

CMA Part 1 - 360 (Barely made it but I made it)
CMA Part 2 - 360 (Made it by the skin of my teeth)

REG - 74, Retook 6/10/16, scored a 72 (Hate this exam)
BEC - 69, 79, 8/1/15
AUD - 83, 4/4/15
FAR - 77, 2/27/16

[Ne’O]

Hi BrickellCPA-

That would be much appreciated. We are in Sarasota.

Another71 doesn't seem to have a direct PM function. How do I best reach out to you?
If necessary, I can post an email address. That isn't wise, but not sure how else to connect.

Ne'O

-Yes it's Ne'O.

AUD:  72, 89

FAR:  71, 80

BEC:  83

REG: 82

Newbie CPA Candidate

[Ivy]

Hello Ne'O

I had securities license for about one year many years ago, did not have the stomach trading other people’ money, don’t have the guts trading my own money either when comes to option.

Would like to hear your advice on trading options after you done this exam!

[Author]

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