Business School Majors

Accounting

The role of the accountant is two-pronged. On the one hand, accountants represent the historian in a firm. They collect data, gather and file it for others to access and analyze. On occasion, they may be asked to provide their opinion, idea and feedback on an initiative, department, firm or industry. The discipline has been tarred by scandals of late, with the implosion of Enron. The largest corporate bankruptcy shocked most stakeholders because auditors at Arthur Andersen repeatedly said that all was well at the Texas-based company.

In terms of career planning, accountants are risk averse and are willing to put up with long hours in exchange for a predictable career path. After you complete your Bachelor's degree, expect to put in overtime if you wish to get serious and earn the title of Chartered Accountant. This and other like designations grant you considerable authority and power, and turn accountants into auditors.

With the mandate to control and monitor operations and finances, comes the expertise to consult companies on better financial and information systems and optimal operational processes. It is this, more lucrative consulting business that has driven the bottom line of many accounting firms. All major firms have spent considerable resources building a consulting division. Arthur Andersen even endured a much-ballyhooed divorce from its consulting business, Andersen Consulting (which renamed itself Accenture). Subsequently, Arthur Andersen's blurred judgment cost employees, shareholders and taxpayers billions.

The problem with these two incestuous revenue streams is that conflict of interest is bound to happen. Accountants often lose sight of the fact that they are there to critique procedures and systems; prepare financials as well as to give them their seal of approval through audit's checks and balances. Accounting firms became nonchalant auditors in the hope of securing more lucrative consulting accounts.

If you wish to go into accounting, keep two things in mind: this is a very conservative and established industry that operates based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The tragedy is that GAAP is outdated; it is practically irrelevant in our complex and interconnected global economy. The principle that serves as the foundation of GAAP is the accrual basis (instead of the cash basis), a utopian approach to reporting so flawed that it makes one wonder how shaky the bricks, windows and roof of the Accounting establishment really are. Ironically, the more loopholes you can find in GAAP, the longer your career, as clients will seek your expertise.

Moreover, the industry is largely self-regulated and this leads to monstrous conflicts of interest. The more problems you find with the system though, the more you will be seen as a troublemaker. The worse you do your job, the higher the likelihood that your client gets into trouble.

Other Majors include:

Accounting

Decision Sciences

Entrepreneurship

Finance

Human Resources, Management & Organizational Behavior

Management of Information Systems

Marketing

International Business

And of course, don't forget your electives.