Can't take all courses required for CPA qualification? (1 Viewer)

[Riachain]

My questions are actually quite a bit more complicated than the thread's title makes it out to be. There are two very important points that I have to say before I get to them.

1) I'm doing 3522 - Commerce/Arts. I just realized that I can't take all of the courses required for a CPA qualification unless I take summer school. For my program, for the Commerce side, 48 UOC = core courses, 48 UOC = major. No room (breadth component) to take the additional courses required for a CPA qualification, unless I take summer school. (And as you can imagine, there's no room for any minor either.)

2) I want to do an Accounting major, but I'm reluctant to get any type of postgraduate Accounting qualification (CPA, CA, etc.) because I don't know if I want to work in the Accounting field in the future.

So here are my questions: Is it worth even doing an Accounting major if I have no plans to acquire any type of postgraduate Accounting qualification? If it is worth doing, would you suggest for me to take those summer courses, or is there some other way to make up for those courses through the CPA Program?

If it isn't worth doing, humor me on this. What major should I go for: International Business, Marketing, or Information Systems?

I don't know if this changes your answer, but for the Arts side, I'm thinking of one of these options:

1) Majoring in a language and minoring in another language.
2) Majoring in a language and minoring in something like International Business or HRM. <-- is this even possible?

Thanks for your replies, and sorry for all the questions and the long post! I just really don't want to spend that extra money and time if it's all fruitless labor, so I'd really appreciate all your help.

 

[KidDang]

If you simply want to do accounting to broaden your knowledge, have no interest in pursuing an accounting career, or just want a entry accounting job for the time being then just do whats required for the accounting major without the extra subjects.

But hey it is always wise is to leave doors open. What if in future you realise a higher level accounting career is for you but you have done too less subjects and have to go back to uni for 4subjects+.
Good news with that is If it really can't fit I recommended you do them all except two because;
There's a change to CPA's curriculum namely you don't have to do Auditing and Tax. In future simply apply for a non-award or do it through CPA. This also goes for any of your other accounting subjects, if you can't fit it now leave 1 or two out and do it in your spare time after graduation.
Then you won't need to do summer school and still finish in 4 years.

Well in regards to your optional majors, its up to each individual
Marketing:
Do you like a career in market research, sales, communicating with people, reading statistical surveys, advertising- are you A-OK with essays? Are you fine with the negative hype surrounding marketing majors?

IT/IS: Not really an IT guy so someone should really step in here but, Do you like technology, Do you like coding, Do you enjoy applying completed software to boost the company's performance?

International Business: I'm quite bias on this one, to me its an inflated management major mostly for people that will run their parents business after graduation. Why? because all majors have an international perspective in it, a major in Intl Business will not straight away land you in Wall Street. Though a minor in it sounds good, you can tell employers some fancy lines in interviews.

2. Language major and Intl business minor is possible.

 

[4025808]

Imo, spend extra time in uni, or go to summer school and do the subjects. Don't overload unless if you're confident that you will do well.

I have a friend doing an international business major, and he says the teaching for the subjects required at UNSW are horrible, just how horrible management is. However, it's probably the best you can get in Australia. He says the reason why its horrible is because that there is rarely any application and the fact that it is all theoretical, with an exception of a few courses.

I could say the same for HRM, since a lot of International business and HRM courses overlap. Though then again, UNSW's ASB is the best business school in NSW after all.

Not exactly sure about marketing though.

 

[Riachain]

If you simply want to do accounting to broaden your knowledge, have no interest in pursuing an accounting career, or just want a entry accounting job for the time being then just do whats required for the accounting major without the extra subjects.

But hey it is always wise is to leave doors open. What if in future you realise a higher level accounting career is for you but you have done too less subjects and have to go back to uni for 4subjects+.
Good news with that is If it really can't fit I recommended you do them all except two because;
There's a change to CPA's curriculum namely you don't have to do Auditing and Tax. In future simply apply for a non-award or do it through CPA. This also goes for any of your other accounting subjects, if you can't fit it now leave 1 or two out and do it in your spare time after graduation.
Then you won't need to do summer school and still finish in 4 years.

Well in regards to your optional majors, its up to each individual
Marketing:
Do you like a career in market research, sales, communicating with people, reading statistical surveys, advertising- are you A-OK with essays? Are you fine with the negative hype surrounding marketing majors?

IT/IS: Not really an IT guy so someone should really step in here but, Do you like technology, Do you like coding, Do you enjoy applying completed software to boost the company's performance?

International Business: I'm quite bias on this one, to me its an inflated management major mostly for people that will run their parents business after graduation. Why? because all majors have an international perspective in it, a major in Intl Business will not straight away land you in Wall Street. Though a minor in it sounds good, you can tell employers some fancy lines in interviews.

2. Language major and Intl business minor is possible.

Phew, that's good then. (That I can leaving the Auditing and Tax courses out and finish everything else on schedule.)

Do you know if I would be able to leave FINS1613 out and complete it in the CPA Program, or would I have to complete it while studying at UNSW?

Also, I heard that Info Systems doesn't really require you to know how to code. If jobs that people in that major take require you to know how to code, however, looks like I'm giving that one a miss. As for Marketing and International Business, I don't mind the negative hype on them. They're backups in case it turns out that I absolutely detest Accounting. That's all.

Imo, spend extra time in uni, or go to summer school and do the subjects. Don't overload unless if you're confident that you will do well.

I have a friend doing an international business major, and he says the teaching for the subjects required at UNSW are horrible, just how horrible management is. However, it's probably the best you can get in Australia. He says the reason why its horrible is because that there is rarely any application and the fact that it is all theoretical, with an exception of a few courses.

I could say the same for HRM, since a lot of International business and HRM courses overlap. Though then again, UNSW's ASB is the best business school in NSW after all.

Not exactly sure about marketing though.

Alright then, change of plans, looks like I'm giving International Business a miss, haha. Avoid MGMT courses at all costs, I guess. As for overloading - don't worry, I don't plan on overloading at all.

 

[Hagaren]

language majors are seriously time consuming.

 

[seremify007]

I never understood why someone would want a uni degree to say that someone majored in a language though- you don't need a degree or a uni qualification to be able to say you can speak <insert language> on a resume or job application. All it does it look bad on your transcript (unless you are EPIC- but I know many people who thought they were good at Chinese and did not end up doing so well). The only time I think it would really matter is if you needed to do a job directly involved with language e.g. translating, but even then from my experience most organisations/companies simply give you a simple test and interview in the respective language regardless of whether you studied the language at uni, tafe, community college or just learnt it at home.

As for accounting, I personally would do the prereqs just so you don't need to come back in the future- it's not a race to see who can finish their degree as early as possible or on time. WAM is more important than how fast you finish your degree from an employer's perspective. That being said if you are dead set sure you won't be pursuing accounting at all as a career (because graduate accounting jobs without professional qualifications are quite limiting) then don't worry about doing it- but if it were me I would given how much time you're spending on finishing the major in the first place.

 

[Riachain]

I never understood why someone would want a uni degree to say that someone majored in a language though- you don't need a degree or a uni qualification to be able to say you can speak <insert language> on a resume or job application. All it does it look bad on your transcript (unless you are EPIC- but I know many people who thought they were good at Chinese and did not end up doing so well). The only time I think it would really matter is if you needed to do a job directly involved with language e.g. translating, but even then from my experience most organisations/companies simply give you a simple test and interview in the respective language regardless of whether you studied the language at uni, tafe, community college or just learnt it at home.

As for accounting, I personally would do the prereqs just so you don't need to come back in the future- it's not a race to see who can finish their degree as early as possible or on time. WAM is more important than how fast you finish your degree from an employer's perspective. That being said if you are dead set sure you won't be pursuing accounting at all as a career (because graduate accounting jobs without professional qualifications are quite limiting) then don't worry about doing it- but if it were me I would given how much time you're spending on finishing the major in the first place.

Still not 100% set on the language thing though. I just found out yesterday that any courses taught at the School of International Studies are pretty good, so I might make a language my minor and go for something like Asian Studies instead. I'll see...

And hmm, alright. General consensus here seems to be to finish as many prerequisites as I can, even if I'm not going to pursue accounting at all. So I'll go ahead and do just that, but will avoid Auditing and Tax (if it turns out that I do have to avoid them to successfully finish in four years), since I can't really afford to stay in university for longer than four years. (International student, tuition is expensive.)

Just curious, seremify007, I can see that you got your CA/are working on your CA now? Would you recommend someone to get a CA or a CPA?

 

[KidDang]

You can skip any 2 accounting course or more including finance as long as you complete the core courses of your accounting major. Only downside is if its not auditing/tax you need to do it as a non-award in uni not through CPA.

In the prestige side CA is more highly regarded than CPA in the industry. For people that doesn't know much about accounting they wouldn't care less if its CA or IPA.
To me there really isn't much of a difference between CA or CPA but the course structure of CPA seems to be more flexible with much more electives and more populated by people with private practice, whilst CA seems more focused and relatively harder. Though majority of large companies prefer the CA and would even pay you to complete it after sometime.

I would believe Seremify is a professionally certified Accountant now, but I'll leave that to him.

 

[Hagaren]

I never understood why someone would want a uni degree to say that someone majored in a language though- you don't need a degree or a uni qualification to be able to say you can speak <insert language> on a resume or job application. All it does it look bad on your transcript (unless you are EPIC- but I know many people who thought they were good at Chinese and did not end up doing so well). The only time I think it would really matter is if you needed to do a job directly involved with language e.g. translating, but even then from my experience most organisations/companies simply give you a simple test and interview in the respective language regardless of whether you studied the language at uni, tafe, community college or just learnt it at home.

As for accounting, I personally would do the prereqs just so you don't need to come back in the future- it's not a race to see who can finish their degree as early as possible or on time. WAM is more important than how fast you finish your degree from an employer's perspective. That being said if you are dead set sure you won't be pursuing accounting at all as a career (because graduate accounting jobs without professional qualifications are quite limiting) then don't worry about doing it- but if it were me I would given how much time you're spending on finishing the major in the first place.

This is pretty much true, I started out doing a B.A and moved into a B.Comm first year of languages isn't to bad but it royally fucks you in the final years, especially when you do Japanese and Mandarin :/

 

[seremify007]

Still not 100% set on the language thing though. I just found out yesterday that any courses taught at the School of International Studies are pretty good, so I might make a language my minor and go for something like Asian Studies instead. I'll see...

And hmm, alright. General consensus here seems to be to finish as many prerequisites as I can, even if I'm not going to pursue accounting at all. So I'll go ahead and do just that, but will avoid Auditing and Tax (if it turns out that I do have to avoid them to successfully finish in four years), since I can't really afford to stay in university for longer than four years. (International student, tuition is expensive.)

Just curious, seremify007, I can see that you got your CA/are working on your CA now? Would you recommend someone to get a CA or a CPA?

If you're an international student, wouldn't it make more sense to prep for a qualification where you intend to work in the future?

And I'm a qualified CA. CA vs CPA debate really comes down to what you want to actually do. I'd say CA opens up more opportunities from both local (chartered firms) and an international perspective (a lot of int'l partnerships), but it really depends on your future and where you see yourself.

 

[Riachain]

You can skip any 2 accounting course or more including finance as long as you complete the core courses of your accounting major. Only downside is if its not auditing/tax you need to do it as a non-award in uni not through CPA.

In the prestige side CA is more highly regarded than CPA in the industry. For people that doesn't know much about accounting they wouldn't care less if its CA or IPA.
To me there really isn't much of a difference between CA or CPA but the course structure of CPA seems to be more flexible with much more electives and more populated by people with private practice, whilst CA seems more focused and relatively harder. Though majority of large companies prefer the CA and would even pay you to complete it after sometime.

I would believe Seremify is a professionally certified Accountant now, but I'll leave that to him.

Alright then. Looks like I'll just have to suck it up and get Finance over with during university. Thanks.

This is pretty much true, I started out doing a B.A and moved into a B.Comm first year of languages isn't to bad but it royally fucks you in the final years, especially when you do Japanese and Mandarin :/

I've always enjoyed learning Japanese, so I shouldn't have too much of a problem learning languages. Been studying Japanese for around six years now. The tutor taught only in Japanese. All our materials were only in Japanese too, including all of our tests, even when we were learning the basics. Since I'm only entering the intermediate level, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine, even at the higher level courses. (Though of course, I'll have no idea until I start my first Intermediate Japanese course next semester.)

If you're an international student, wouldn't it make more sense to prep for a qualification where you intend to work in the future?

And I'm a qualified CA. CA vs CPA debate really comes down to what you want to actually do. I'd say CA opens up more opportunities from both local (chartered firms) and an international perspective (a lot of int'l partnerships), but it really depends on your future and where you see yourself.

Thing is, I have no idea what I want to do in the future. I know that I want to, and am suitable for an office job. What kind of office job, I don't know. That's where my knowledge on my future career pretty much ends. My parents pretty much banned me from working before studying or studying at someplace cheap for a few years and then going to an overseas university when I discover what I want to do with my life, so I'm pretty much just trying to major in something that I do fairly well in that will open the doors to a pretty stable career. *shrug*

And I think I see myself moving overseas after a few years of working in Australia, so just in case, I might as well decide to become a qualified CA. (Should I choose to become an accountant, of course.)

By the way, just wanted to say, thanks for all your help, everyone.

 

[4025808]

Well it's just FINS1613 that you have to do anyway, so it's all good if you pass

 

[seremify007]

Well it's just FINS1613 that you have to do anyway, so it's all good if you pass

What about the various LEGT subjects?

 

[4025808]

What about the various LEGT subjects?

No I meant regarding the FINS courses required to enter CPA or CA.

I know that you'll have to take 3 LEGT courses.

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/faculties/2012/comm/ProfRecognitionUG.html