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Employment, Feature, Melissa, Recruiting

Cities (Probably) Overlooked During Recruiting: Part 2

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Beautiful Boston Skyline

Greetings from Red Sox Nation, home of the Boston Tea Party, Beantown or whatever you like to call it. Clearly Boston is a city full of life (and United States History).

As I said before, Austin is a city with many accolades, but we should consider all the alternatives during recruiting. All Big 4 have offices in Boston!

The Skyline is beautiful especially at night. I’m sure many of you would argue that it holds no candle to the skyline of Austin, but I’m still a big fan.

Apart from the skyline, Boston has a lot of other great sites to see.

1. Fenway Park: I may have mentioned before that I am not the biggest sports fan (other than the Longhorns, of course.) But nothing beats the atmosphere and camaraderie of Fenway Park.  The park opened in 1912 and is considered one of the most iconic sports venues in the world. If you get the chance to intern in the city, I definitely recommend you check out a Red Sox game. And if you can, sit on the Green Monster!

My cousin and I on the Green Monster at Fenway

2. North End: Akin to New York City’s “Little Italy,” the North End is a historic neighborhood in Massachusetts that has been inhabited since the 1600s. The neighborhood is rich in Italian culture and DELICIOUS food. If you visit the North End, be sure to check out Mike’s Pastry- best pastries and cookies you will ever have! Continue reading Cities (Probably) Overlooked During Recruiting: Part 2 →

Career, Employment, Feature, Melissa, Recruiting

Cities (Probably) Overlooked During Recruiting: Part 1

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Dinner in San Fran with my brother and cousin

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you all survived finals. I know it can be a rough time of year.

This is the first MPA blog from California!
If not, my apologies to the MPA blogger of the past for stealing your thunder.

Spring recruiting is coming up for us third-years, and I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite cities that I will be visiting over the holidays.  Don’t be afraid to recruit for an internship in a city that isn’t Austin. Of course, Austin is one of the best cities in the world, but let’s not forget the other contenders.

First stop, San Francisco!

I’m here in San Francisco visiting some family and am reminded of my love for the city. There is just so much to do and see.

Disclaimer: All Big 4 firms have offices in San Fran, as well as tons of midcap and boutique firms. Could be a good life for an accountant!

There are lots of great things to do in and around the city, as well. Some of my favorite spots are: 

1. Exploratorium: This famous science museum in San Fran is fun for everyone. I have always been a nerd, and I proudly embrace it. Thus, my first time at the Exploratorium I was wide-eyed and grinning the whole time. And to this day, it is still an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. If we are being honest, when I visit the Exploratorium today, I probably still sport the same cheesy grin I did when I was a kid. Continue reading Cities (Probably) Overlooked During Recruiting: Part 1 →

Career, Feature, Student Life, Xinmiao

Fiction & Accounting Venn-Diagram

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In honor of both my accounting finals being over AND my internship at American Short Fiction coming to a wrap, I am dedicating this post to accounting & fiction. Think of a venn-diagram – “fiction” written into one circle and “accounting” written into the other.  Here are just a few names that might reside in that overlap. I’m pretty excited about this attempt…

1) David Foster Wallace, a terrific and ground breaking fiction writer and essayist known for his ginormous book Infinite Jest. His last book was, you guessed it, about accounting. Searching around the NYT for a bit, I found this: “David Foster Wallace and the Literary Tax Accountant”.  According to the article, Wallace “pursued tax arcana with an exuberantly obsessive relish.” After enrolling in accounting courses and corresponding with a handful of I.R.S. agents and CPAs, Wallace came up with the world and characters of his posthumously published novel, the Pale King. A plus: his exchanges with various accountants (the brunt of his research) are housed here at the University of Texas at the Harry Ransom Center. Class field trip?

I think that Wallace’s interest in tax accounting /research was genuine. He studied tax accounting with a philosophical interest in system logic and ultimately built his book around the premise that “tax work may be the gateway to transcendent ecstasy.” A bit far fetched and absurd, yes, but let’s think: essentially, within our tax structure lies the minutiae, collective compartments, and number-coded ecosystems of our lives, no? Hmm…

Continue reading Fiction & Accounting Venn-Diagram →

Academics, Alexandria, Career, Employment, Feature

Accountants: Unexpected Heroes of the World

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As the semester has gotten harder, a good number of my peers have considered if all of this work is truly worth it. Some of the people I’ve spoken to are thinking of trying to find a more rewarding profession, such as nonprofit work, or helping people in some way or another.  As much as they love accounting, sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture of why accounting is such rewarding work and how it can change people’s life. I took these sentiments personally because I feel accounting can be one of the most rewarding professions in helping others, and decided to do some research.

 

The first article I found was by Brenda Lee Tang of the Trinidad Express from November of last year called “Why accountants are the new heroes”.  In this article she says that accounting is “important work to be done on an ethical level.” Accountants are committed to the public good and are taught in ethical practices. We are an independent voice that stakeholders can trust. My personal favorite part of the article was the following paragraph:

“The impact of accountants’ professionalism will be most keenly felt in developing economies. Aided by their integrity and commitment to sustainability, accountants will be able to help create sustainable economic infrastructure, regulatory mechanisms, and codes of governance in places where there were none before. Most importantly of all, they will be vital to the development of the educational infrastructure that will equip the next generation of accountants.” – Brenda Lee Tang

Some people might think that accountants as “heroes” might be too strong a statement. However, I personally use Christopher Reeve’s definition of a hero:
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
I think it’s interesting that it is so hard to find articles that praise the work accountants and auditors do. Especially recently, it seems like every article about accountants is describing audit failures. There are hundreds of front page articles about alleged auditing mistakes, but none about  all the audits that are completed every year without any issues. Continue reading Accountants: Unexpected Heroes of the World →

Academics, Austin, Career, Feature, Karen, Student Life

Sentiments of a Fifth-Year MPA Student

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Karen celebrates birthday with MPA friends.

Wow! I never thought I would get this far. Being a fifth-year Integrated MPA student still feels surreal to me. My years of hardwork as a college student will finally come to a close. It surely feels bittersweet.

What does a fifth-year student’s schedule look like?  After going through my recruiting and internship semesters, I have just been focusing on my remaining courses and enjoying Austin as much as I can.

I have a couple of undergraduate classes left to satisfy my BBA degree and three remaining graduate courses. Group projects, midterms, and deadlines are still the main highlights of my semester.

Even though this is my last year here at UT, I still strive to maintain my grades. while also making room to take fun classes that are non-accounting related, such as theatre and music.

I have also been preparing for the CPA Exam, which I am taking in April 2012. Testing under out-of-state requirements can be challenging, but I am very fortunate to have very helpful academic advisors that walk me through the process. I have also looked at Becker CPA Review courses to prepare for the exams. The AICPA website provides a good overview of the exam components and requirements for candidates. Continue reading Sentiments of a Fifth-Year MPA Student →