Associate Degree in Accounting

One of the reasons accounting is such a sought after degree is because of the job opportunities it provides. Many students leave their business schools and end up having to settle for a job in sales. An associate degree in accounting allows graduating students to get jobs outside of the sales world (I never understood why it was necessary to get a degree to do a sales job).

With an associates degree in accounting you will develop practical skills that will set you apart from your fellow business colleagues. They may have a more enjoyable time in college as they talk about nebulous concepts, but they won’t know how to handle accounts receivable or reconcile the general ledger at the end of the year.

Most associate in accounting programs will teach the following skills: basic taxation, managerial accounting, and financial accounting. The programs are usually very hands-on and teach students accounting skills that will be useful right away.

Depending on location, starting salaries with an associate degree in accounting are usually around $33,000. However, salaries usually increase quickly for those who stick with accounting. After a few years of experience, accountants can be making closer to $50,000 or $60,000. If you are really ambitious and put a lot of time and effort into your career, you can continue to make more and more in accounting. Controllers, CFO’s, and Partners with accounting degrees make a lot of money (some make more than a million dollars per annum).

Some people wonder whether they can obtain the more prestigious jobs if they only have an associate degree in accounting as opposed to a bachelors or a masters degree. This really depends on the situation. A lot of employers would rather hire someone with 3 years of experience and an associates degree, than someone with a bachelors degree straight out of college. The reason is because everyone is performing the same function and someone with 3 years of experience will know how to perform the function much better than someone who was in college for a couple more years.

That being said, the higher up the professional accounting ladder you get, the more likely employers will start looking at your degree. If someone with a masters degree in accounting has 10 years of experience and someone with an associates degree has the same amount of experience, then the masters degree might give him/her an edge. At the end of the day, the degree is only one consideration in how high you can fly. Other factors such as personality, work habits, and overall intelligence will also play a key role.

Receiving an associates degree in accounting usually takes 1-2 years of courses. This will depend on the school. Note that the school you attend may force you to take other courses not related to accounting in order to graduate. These extracurricular courses may make it take longer to graduate.

Receiving an associate degree in accounting may be a great way to go for people interested in getting a job with a lot of upward potential that doesn’t require them to make sales.