SimuLord said:
ENKC said:
SimuLord said:
My answers: Dual major in accounting and finance, planning on a pair of master's degrees (an MBA and a Master of Accountancy), but I might someday get a doctorate in business administration just because being able to call myself "Doctor" would be cool.
Funnily enough I'll be doing my Master of Commerce (Accounting) starting next year. I won't bore you with the convoluted details of how Australia's National Institute of Accountants runs their program, but I'm following that. I currently have something called an "Advanced Diploma", which makes me totally more awesomer than people with plain old Diplomas.
Sir, I absolutely geek out harder than an otaku at a cosplay anime convention when it comes to accounting esoterica. Lay it on me!
The fact that I even know what 'esoterica' means without looking it up tells you I'm the right sort of person for this field.
Basically in Australia there are three professional bodies recognised by law. CPA, ICAA (Chartered Accountants) and NIA. NIA is technically the oldest by a couple of years if you trace it far enough back along the family tree, but it doesn't have the same public profile as the others since most of the money gets spent on member services as opposed to the fancy pants advertising campaigns favoured by the others. Heck, my main lecturer was a CPA and he bitched about how much they charged him for bugger all (American translation: sweet FA) benefit.
Here in Aus we have essentially two levels of tertiary education. One is usually called TAFE (technical and further education), except that in our state they've decided to rename all of them this year so they can spend millions of dollars on pretty new signs and stationery. Basically it's a combined technical and community college type of deal. You know, from aircraft engineering to short courses in underwater yoga.
The other level is of course plain old universities (yes, we do spend enough time not wrestling crocodiles to have those). Now, under the 'NIA Program', you either get an Advanced Diploma from college or a Bachelors from a uni, at which point you can become an 'Associate' (ANIA). From there, you can undertake a 2-stage program by distance from the University of New England in New South Wales (yes, that is in Australia despite the confusing names).
The first part is a 'Graduate Certificate' and the second is a 'Master of Commerce' (same thing as an MBA - both terms are used in this country). With a GradCert and three years industry experience you can become a 'Member' (MNIA). This is equivalent by law to a CPA or CA. With an MCOM and seven years experience you can become a 'Professional National Accountant' (PNA). Above that there's Fellow (FPNA), which is mostly honorary.
Come to think of it, I enjoyed talking about that. It's not exactly every day someone sounds genuinely interested in such minutiae. I could happily babble on about my personal experiences in the industry for a while longer, but that would be venturing well into 'off topic' land.
