I enrolled in TUI's MBA program a while ago and they "accepted" some of the TUI MS-ITM classes. I have taken one finance class with them (FIN501 - Strategic Corporate Finance) and plan to take a few more to have the 18 credits to be eligable to teach finance classes. Maybe one day I will complete the MBA. Anyway, as part of my company development plan I have elected to become more knowledgeable about accounting. I have a few options but am considering taking ACC501 – Accounting for Decision Making. The questions is, will that count toward 18 graduate credits to teach finance? I already have: FIN501 - Strategic Corporate Finance - 4 credits HCA5012 - Heath Care Financial Management - 3 credits MGT5005 - Management Finance and Control - 3 credits so I could add the ACC501 - 4 credits plus FIN502 - International Finance - 4 credits to round out the 18 credits. Well, how does it look? And I realize that the 18 credits is the minimum and an MS in Finance will always win unless I have a CPA or....blah, blah, blah.
Hi Randell, As my specialty that is MIS is not so high demand nowadays; I decided to expand my options with accounting. In my case, I decided to get a CMA and am working towards a CPA. The CMA worked to get some adjunct gigs and I'm getting more offers. It seems that many schools value more an accounting designation like CMA or CPA than courses in your transcripts. The CMA is perhaps the fastest designation to get but the CPA is in more demand. I don't think it matters much if you don't have the 18 credits thing as long as you have an accounting designation.
Do you believe that the CMA exam is somewhat easier than the CPA exam or harder? I also frequent a couple of accounting discussion boards. It has been said that the hardest CMA question is as hard as the easiest CPA question. I have seen others post that they think the CMA exam is more difficult than the CPA exam. What's your take on this?
While technically this probably won't work due to accreditation issues, there really is a lot of overlap between accounting and finance.
I forgot to mention that I did the Australian CMA. The program requires 6 exams if you have a non accounting degree but if you have an MBA can be given credit for up to 4 exams depending on your background. I was given credit for 3 exams due to my MBA so only wrote 3 exams; financial modeling, cost analysis and business analysis. The exams were challenging but you have to take a preparation course that is given on site during 7 days that prepares you well for the exam. The designation helped to get some adjunct online work and getting more offers. The Australian Option can be better for those with an MBA in Finance or Accounting as you are given credit for this contrary to the US option that does not require a business degree and does not give credit for any accounting class taken. I haven't attempted any CPA exam yet but they seem to be challenging as well.
