Accounting or Architecture? (1 Viewer)

dan_viper88

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Just a general question. What's Accounting like?. I'm thinking about transferring from a B Arts in Architecture to a B Business with a major in (Accounting) at UTS and I just wanted to know people's opinions on it.
I come from a mathematical and design background from school, but im thinking of changing because im a bit fed up with the artsiness of the architecture course?

Also, job prospects and money wise what do you thinks better?
 

SSaint

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I don't know about the job propescts with architecture, but accounting can become very rewarding, and theres a very high employment rate for grads.
 

dan_viper88

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COME ON GUYS! More responses would be greatly Appreciated! PLEASE!



P.s. Thankyou for the one respondent who took time to lend a helping hand :)
 

blackfriday

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accounting: easy as shit at uni, boring as hell at work (but you earn decent money)

architecture: large workload at uni, very rewarding and interesting work
 

turtleface

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blackfriday said:
accounting: easy as shit at uni, boring as hell at work (but you earn decent money)

architecture: large workload at uni, very rewarding and interesting work
omg more accounting baggers...on what basis can you say that?

until you have worked as an auditor, liquidator, management accountant, chief financial officer, financial accountant, forensic accountant, systems accountant, treasury accountant, financial analyst and so on....you have no right to say accounting is as boring as hell in the workplace

as for easy as shit at uni...have you even done accounting? if so i challenge you to put your marks up to prove it was as easy as shit
 

blackfriday

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well man whatever rocks your boat i guess. people get off on being pissed on or having whips stuck up their arse so yeh, you're right, i shouldnt judge. and as for accounting at uni...hahahahaha.
 

turtleface

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people get off on being pissed on or having whips stuck up their arse so yeh, you're right, i shouldnt judge.
given that there are more CEOs and Company Directors who are from accounting backgrounds than from any other profession i'm not sure where you get that impression from
 

turtleface

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blackfriday

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no because my friend who's doing an cadetship reckons the answers are wrong, and i reckon so too. but if anyone found a way through i'd like to hear it.
 

blackfriday

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turtleface said:
given that there are more CEOs and Company Directors who are from accounting backgrounds than from any other profession i'm not sure where you get that impression from
erm, engineers mate, engineers.
 

turtleface

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blackfriday said:
erm, engineers mate, engineers.
???? huh?
the only ceo of a top100 company i can think of who is a former engineer is wal king of leighton...and maybe a couple of mining companies. Compare that top 100 companies like bhp billiton, coles myer, fosters, qbe insurance, virgin blue, tattersalls etc whose CEOs who all former accountants
 

blackfriday

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that means i get bad information from the derivative structurer who lives next door
 

turtleface

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that means i get bad information from the derivative structurer who lives next door
nah don't be too hard on him/her. Maybe he works in the Engineering/Industrials industry so he/she probably gets to see more engineers than the rest of us. Or maybe its cause dev structurers only really get to see the capital raising side of business, and not the operations side.
 

ioniser

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turtleface said:
???? huh?
the only ceo of a top100 company i can think of who is a former engineer is wal king of leighton...and maybe a couple of mining companies. Compare that top 100 companies like bhp billiton, coles myer, fosters, qbe insurance, virgin blue, tattersalls etc whose CEOs who all former accountants

your only thinking in australia( its not a couple of "ceo s" are headed by former engineers but pretty much all in mining ,most mining companies only take ceo's who would have started off as mining,mechanical,electrical engineers in the mining sector or either have a mining background),but in general on a global stage most ceo 's are from an engineering background in the top 100

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_industrial_engineers

you also find on this page most of the ceo s either have no background and some of the large compaines like vodafone are headed by former engineers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_executive_officers
 
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ioniser

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SSaint said:
I don't know about the job propescts with architecture, but accounting can become very rewarding, and theres a very high employment rate for grads.


yeah its rewarding because it requires so much work,no wonder why accountants have the biggest bachelor rate in australia at 60 percent.............(that is a big figure)
 

turtleface

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ioniser said:
your only thinking in australia( its not a couple of "ceo s" are headed by former engineers but pretty much all in mining ,most mining companies only take ceo's who would have started off as mining,mechanical,electrical engineers in the mining sector or either have a mining background),but in general on a global stage most ceo 's are from an engineering background in the top 100

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_industrial_engineers

you also find on this page most of the ceo s either have no background and some of the large compaines like vodafone are headed by former engineers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chief_executive_officers
um...I'm not sure you are correct about engineers dominating CEO positions internationally. For starters the links show no evidence to support your assertion.

Secondly, you have to realise that very rarely are top Accountants called "Accountants". They usually work in other positions such as "business analyst" or "treasurer" or "Finance Manager" etc. I see a lot of those names on the links you have listed.

Thirdly, EVEN if you are correct when you say engineers dominate, you are comparing the a whole field of study (engineering) (including civil, chemical, IT, electronic, mechatronic, mining etc...all vastly different areas) to a portion of the field of business (accounting...even though it too has many areas of specialisation, they are all compulsory study and one cannot specialise in Uni like engineers can), so that comparison is inappropriate anyway.

Similarly, just earning a degree in Engineering is not enough to say "oh they were engineers". u have to agree that a vast majority of ceo's in the USA have MBAs. Given that Accounting studies are compulsory in MBA courses, can you then say that "oh they were accountants"?

However, I do acknowledge that the source from which I made my earlier assertion that there are more CEOs who are from accounting backgrounds than any other is from a biased source (CPA Australia). However, based on evidence I do believe it.
 

ioniser

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turtleface said:
Secondly, you have to realise that very rarely are top Accountants called "Accountants". They usually work in other positions such as "business analyst" or "treasurer" or "Finance Manager" etc. I see a lot of those names on the links you have listed.

yeah engineers work in those areas as well and has been more commmon recently due to investment banks poaching them for some reason

turtleface said:
Thirdly, EVEN if you are correct when you say engineers dominate, you are comparing the a whole field of study (engineering) (including civil, chemical, IT, electronic, mechatronic, mining etc...all vastly different areas) to a portion of the field of business (accounting...even though it too has many areas of specialisation, they are all compulsory study and one cannot specialise in Uni like engineers can), so that comparison is inappropriate anyway.
well if you compare the the ceo's background to the organisation they are working in you will find that the disclipline that the engineers studied in relates back to their job of ceo in controlling the company as they have an idea of the production processes example (chemical engineers =ceo of some chemical company,software engineers=ceo of some it company............etc Most former accountants would head the corporate giants.In all there are more production based companies than corporate organisations




turtleface said:
Similarly, just earning a degree in Engineering is not enough to say "oh they were engineers". u have to agree that a vast majority of ceo's in the USA have MBAs. Given that Accounting studies are compulsory in MBA courses, can you then say that "oh they were accountants"?
yeah true that(but you are sought of making it more broad now ,some engineering degrees offer accounting subjects in them as well)
well you have to agree that most ceo's come from an engineering back ground overall and whether theses companies appear in top 100 depends on the economy, example at the moment you can agree that most of the mining companies are up there
 

turtleface

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Ok fair point, I realise I'm wrong because I originally did not specify I meant the ASX 200 companies in Australia.

True, there are so many mining, chemical, construction companies out there with engineer ceo's that I'm probably wrong when I say:
given that there are more CEOs and Company Directors who are from accounting backgrounds than from any other profession i'm not sure where you get that impression from
My assertion is at least true for ASX 200 (the 200 largest australian listed companies, based on market capitalisation) companies in Australia though. But I was incorrect to generalise it to the entire business world.

ioniser said:
yeah engineers work in those areas as well and has been more commmon recently due to investment banks poaching them for some reason
er...no. In aus, Finance managers, CFOs and business analysts (internal, not the stock analyst types) are almost always qualified accountants.
 
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yvonne.cheng

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Well, I'm only in yr 10, and i'm thinking of studing architure when i reach Yr 12 and university. although i'm worried about not being able to pass the requirements and marks. I'm coming first in Grpahics tech which is related to Archiecture in a way ... just worrying ...
 

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