Wow–I can’t believe it’s already mid-November. This semester has flown by! I am still wondering where the cold weather is, though. Hopefully it’s here by December, or else I’ll have no incentive to stay inside and study for finals. Instead, I’ll keep enjoying these beautiful 70-degree days outdoors and not getting near as much work done as I should.

Austin really is great this time of year. If you visit during the scorching days of late spring or early fall, don’t judge. It’s not always 100 degrees around here. You’ll realize it’s worth it when you’re wearing a fleece in January and all your friends up north are barely making it to class without getting frostbitten. Although–as a native Texan–this may only be a good thing from my perspective. Like the cold? Well, there are a few weeks down in the teens and 20’s that I don’t handle very well.

My northern friends seem to get a kick out of this story: My freshman year, the university shut down for the first two days of spring semester because there was 1/4-inch of ice on the ground. Apparently, this never happens in Austin, so most Austin businesses were shut down as well. The city was basically in freak-out mode because Central Texans don’t know how to handle the cold. So if you’re coming here from somewhere that sees winter weather, please bear with us as we struggle to understand the notion of ice and snow.

Enough about the weather. As a student who has just recently found her direction in accounting, I want to touch on a class that is specific to integrated MPA students. It’s called the Accounting Careers Exploration class, and all students in their first year of the integrated approach take the course in the fall.

I came into the MPA program having no idea what I wanted to do with an accounting major, career-wise. In fact, six months prior to accepting my admission to the program, I had little interest in being an accounting major, much less knew which area of accounting I’d be interested in. (This summer, a certain experience spurred my interest in accounting. I’ll discuss this in a later post–stay tuned!)

So, it’s safe to say that I began this semester pretty stressed out. I was stressed because it seemed that most third-year MPAs already knew what accounting track they were considering, and I was stressed because we are required to have our chosen track listed on our resumes by November. However, most of my anxiety has since waned. The MPA program does a fantastic job of introducing the various areas of accounting to students during our first semester, and I have finally decided on a track–at least for now.

The most visible way the MPA program does this is through the Accounting Careers Exploration (ACE) class. This is a once-a-week seminar in which a different employer speaks about the different areas in accounting each week. And let me just say, who knew there are so many realms of business and government where accounting is relevant! The forensic accounting presentation is among my favorites so far. Also, the tax presentation helped me confirm that tax is an area in which I’m not interested.

Each week is beneficial to all students because it helps us sort through which areas we’d like to look into and which ones we’d rather leave alone. Another benefit to the seminar is that often the visiting company brings employees who are recent graduates (often of UT’s MPA program). Since we are in the exact position that they were three to five years prior, their perspectives are invaluable to us.

My actual three-hour accounting courses are also helpful in introducing the different accounting tracks. This semester, I’m taking Introduction to Taxation (ACC 355) and Financial Accounting Concepts and Research (ACC 356). My tax class has helped me to understand what the world of tax is like, and I’m told that ACC 356 is closely related to audit. These courses help give insight not only through the class material but also through the professors.  

Dr. Seidman, my tax professor, set aside two class periods this semester to get away from learning material and instead talk to us about tax accounting in the real world. During one of the classes, she told us about what her life as an accounting professor consists of. During the other class, she asked us to submit questions about her experience as a tax accountant in a Big 4 firm. She candidly answered all of the many questions that were submitted; her responses were very insightful and helpful. Even though I’m only in my first semester as an MPA, I can already appreciate how much the MPA professors seem to care about helping students. Dr. Seidman is a perfect example of that.

Here’s a link to information about the different accounting tracks offered, in case you’re interested.