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certification, grad school or ???

I need the shortest easiest route to improve my situation. The CPA exam is hard and takes a long time to study for. EAs often only work during tax season. CMAs are becoming obsolete as we move towards a service-orientated economy. The CFA exam is way too hard. I don't know what to think of the CFP. Should I be trying to get into graduate school?

Here's my situation:

I worked for five years as a bookkeeper while working on my bachelor's degree, which took me a long time to complete. Two of the jobs I stayed at for 2 years apiece, the second 9 months and the last for 3 months. I didn't take the positions seriously, as I was a student and felt I would do a lot better after I graduated.

After graduating, I worked 6 months in a CPA firm during tax season and was laid off. I was unemployed for about a year and for the last six months, I've been working as a cashier in a gas station.

I've got two big gaps on my resume and three short jobs. The first gap was due to me just going to school full-time after my last bookkeeping job and the last was not being able to find a job. I think this situation may be permanent.

Even if certification isn't the answer at least it will keep my mind from turning to mush as I count change.

Anyone with any advice?

Reply to
Chinvat
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i reccomend a phd in accounting. it is free and you can just study part time. when you graduate, as a phd, you qualify for high paying jobs on wall street for phds.

Reply to
bird flu shot

The first gap really isn't a gap, as you can show that you were going to school full-time. The second, well everyone has a gap after getting laid off... some longer than others.

Sounds like you have 5 years bookkeeping experience along with a Bachelor's degree. Is that 5 solid years or part-time experience?

It is somewhat problematic that you didn't stay with any one employer for very long, future employers will ask you why that happened. There has to be a reason other than you not taking the positions seriously.

Tax work is seasonal unless you are high up on the feeding chain. As well, you can break down a difficult task (achieving a designation) into small chunks that make it more manageable.

View it one step at a time, one day at a time. If you were in Canada I'd suggest starting down the path for a CGA, particulary since you already have the degree requirement accomplished.

Reply to
Joe Canuck

CMA -- Certified Management Accountant? Don't managers in service-oriented businesses need to collect and interpret financial information, too?

Reply to
Gregory L. Hansen

You can't go wrong with a CPA. A graduate degree (MBA??) would only make sense once you've made some progress in your career. CMAs are worthless. CFA and CFP; not before you're CPA. Note, however, that most states have experience requirements so you'll not be a CPA just because you pass the exam. There are states that have no experience requirements, and will simply certify you upon passing the exam, but you have to take the exam in their state. I believe Delaware is one of them.

Reply to
Matthew Pomeroy

i recommend a law degree, JD.

Reply to
bird flu shot

I'm leaning towards grad school, a MBA with a concentration in Accounting. I haven't seen many schools which offer a MS in Accounting. Even though a MBA is supposed to be for managers, when you look at the curriculum of most schools, they don't contain many management courses. They usually offer a year of general business and a year of concentration courses.

I figure, with a year of advanced accounting under my belt. I won't even have to study for the CPA exam. The MBA should prove that I know a lot about accounting. Plus, I might be able to attribute some of my unemployment to time in spent in school and just say I took extra classes or something. Also, I'm making so little money now, that I might be able to get more money from financial aid than I can earn now.

I don't really think I have the self-discipline to study for the CPA exam. I've tried to study for it, but haven't been able to push myself. I thought I lost my ability to study, until I started taking a tax course and have been doing fine. It is a lot easier to study x amount of material when you have a test on Friday, than study x^9 for a test 6 months from now. How long does it take most people to study for the exam anyway?

With all that said, I'm still hoping to find a faster and easier way.

As far as there being something wrong with me and that being the root of my problems, this may be true. I often hear in interviews that I have the right skill set, or that my skills are a perfect match for the position but I don't quite fit in, or something similar. I blame HR which I believe is a sham based on pseudo-science and I doubt there is any credible evidence which links personality to job performance anyway. Of course, this doesn't help me much, as I still have to get those people on my side.

Reply to
Chinvat

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