What Is Accounting?

What can be done with an accounting degree besides accounting?

• I've been in and out of college for 6 years, always being afraid to settle on a degree and be restricted to it. Accounting has great prospects, but what if I decide after being an accountant to venture into other areas of business? What else would I be able to do with my accounting degree?

• Answer:

  You might be able to be a trouble-shooter for small businesses just starting up. My sister Janine began working out of her home teaching new business owners how to set up their own accounting systems (and how to budget for marketing...poor marketing in the first two years can doom a business to failure), and also training a person of the business owner's choice to keep the financial records while simultaneously showing the owner how to read or keep the books as a backup system. One type of job I sort of created or designed from my own needs as a poor negotiator would be a person who knows the rules of financing (like for homes or cars) and accompanies someone like me to the dealer as an "agent" of sorts. Whenever their finance person tries to add things to the cost of the house or car purchase, this agent would ask the right questions (which I always fail to do because I'm afraid I'll be turned down if I say no), just as "How much will this cost?" (writing down the amount stated), just accumulating the costs of all the unnecessary items or scams they attempt to add to the original price. In addition, this agent could actually push for a better price than what is offered (I tend to bargain UPWARD instead of downward...lol). Then the agent takes a percentage of the money saved by turning these things down---keeping the consumer from getting SOAKED by the dealer, in other words.