Accounting :: Andrews University

Do you love solving puzzles and revel in details?

Put that love of order to good use and become part of the glue that holds businesses together with a degree in accounting.

An Internship can be an excellent way to get experience as well as a foot in the door to a potential future employer. Internships help you put into practice the information and knowledge you are taught here in the class room.

At the College of Professions, we have many of these opportunities for you. Our students have gotten internships at places like Adventist Health Systems, Kettering Health Network, JP Morgan, Whirlpool and Crowe Horwath (plus many more).

Accounting students have the opportunity through Crowe Horwath’s “Crowe on Campus” program, to get an internship on campus, getting class credit, and getting paid! That’s right… Getting paid $15.50/hour. From here, a lot of these interns will be offered full time positions working for Crowe Horwath.

These internship opportunities are what help transition you from a College of Professions student to a business professional. We can help you find the right place to make this transition!

Accountants and auditors monitor, record and hold organizations accountable to themselves and to the investing public for the way they obtain and use their resources. They prepare accurate financial statements, assess the finances of the organization, and propose ways to help businesses run more efficiently and effectively.

As an Andrews University accounting student, you can broaden your accounting experience by volunteering to help community members file their taxes through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program coordinated by ENACTUS, or you can join our Accounting Club to meet and network with professionals in the field and build camaraderie with your accounting peers. As a freshman, you can profit from our free accounting tutoring assistance for your Principles of Accounting courses, and as an upperclassman, you can consider becoming an accounting tutor yourself! Our top accounting students have also landed part-time internships and accounting positions during their studies at Andrews with Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting, consulting and technology firms in the country. A position like this, in addition to summer internships, tutoring and volunteer work, offers you the opportunity to graduate with extensive accounting experience already on your resume!

Many accounting students also eventually wish to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Your BBA in accounting from Andrews University will qualify you to sit for the Certified Public Accounting exam in Michigan as soon as you graduate. CPA requirements vary from state to state (click here to view CPA exam requirements in your state), but most states require you to take 150 credits before your CPA license may be issued (although you may sit for the CPA exam with fewer credits), of which a certain number must be accounting credits. Your accounting degree requires 124 credits only, but 150 credits are easy to obtain by taking a few additional undergraduate courses, double majoring, or completing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Andrews. While you are here, we will prepare you for the CPA exam by:

• helping you to determine which state is best for you to take the test in
• showing you how to apply
• teaching you what material to study
• ensuring you register for the courses that will best prepare you for the test

Whether you intend to take the CPA exam or not, your BBA in accounting from Andrews University will set you up for a rewarding and lifelong career with endless possibilities for personal and professional growth and development as an integral, essential part of any organization.

Starting job titles of recent AU accounting grads: Financial Analyst, Staff Auditor

Possible careers in Accounting

• Tax Lawyer
• Controller
• Certified Public Accountant
• Budget Analyst
• Payroll Manager
• Financial Analyst
• Cost Estimator
• Tax Examiner
• Financial Manager
• Inventory Control Specialist
• Internal Auditor
• Treasurer
• Government Accountant

Average salary

65,940 per year for Accountants and Auditors, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2014 data Salaries for accounting graduates depending on the industry, profit versus non-profit, location, experience, and job position.

*The salary listed above is average depends on experience (not be expected for entry-level positions).

•Entry-level salary range - $37,140 (careeronestop.org)

•Job outlook - 11% Faster than average – OOH 2014

"I really enjoyed intermediate accounting, which gave me a deeper understanding of the accounting world. It gave me the foundation I needed to be able to start analyzing companies’ 10Ks and see the vast amount of options companies have to record depreciation, the ways to properly record investments, and the differences between a lease and a capital lease, just to name a few."

"I really love how there are so many different areas of accounting that you can go into. You can pick a field based on your personality and how interactive you want to be with people. If you want to sit at a desk all day and do journal entries, you can. If you want to be out in the field talking with various people and meeting new people, you can. There really are no limits to accounting."

"I've been a bit of a perfectionist. The reason why I fell in love with accounting is that everything has to be perfect in order to balance. I'm continually fascinated by the fact that numbers can tell you a story. You can learn so much from numbers if you know where and how to look. Throughout my years here at Andrews, I've been gaining the knowledge on how to do that and I absolutely love it! "