what is the best college to become a tax accountant, financial planner, and a stock broker?
I’m going to take over my Father’s buisness and he owns a tax servise. He took classes by USC and I want to know the best college to become a tax accountant, financial planner, and a stock broker. It doesn’t matter where it is or how much it cost.
July 11th, 2010 at 5:37 am
In my 35 years of experiences as a CPA, I have never heard of a good tax accountant being a stockbroker. There are tax accountants who are licensed to sell securities, but they do not work as stockbrokers. A tax accountant, by necessity, is a thinker, while a stockbroker is a salesman, and usually avoids thinking about things that may conflict with the sale. Being a good tax accountant usually means being a CPA and having experience in the tax department of a large CPA firm, usually regional or national. The experience part is the necessary part. Colleges or universities do not teach practical application, and can’t give you experience in witnessing how complicated tax planning is put together.
I assume that your father is not a CPA, prepares personal tax returns, tries to sell tax advantaged investments to clients, and may or not do bookkeeping for small businesses. You shouldn’t get your experience by working for your father, because you are then limited by his knowledge. For that reason, I wouldn’t let my son work for me. Working at a tax service is much different than what people would consider a “tax accountant”.
As for schools, it depends on where you live. It is best to go to the best school in your state because of the contacts you will make, because the experience after school is the thing that will help you most in your career. If you live in SoCal, go to USC or UCLA. If you live in NoCal, go to Stanford or Berkley. I live in Orlando, and here the best schools are U of Florida, Florida State, or a local school Univ. of Central Florida, which happens to be 7th nationally in amount of students. If you want to aim high, go to Univ. of Michigan, MIT or Penn. For financial planning, find a school that offers the “CFP” designation.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:22 am
If you’re a California resident, don’t you get free tuition at the U of Cal system (UCLA, UCSD, UC Berkeley, etc.)?
You’ll need to visit the California State Board of Accountancy website for educational requirements for the CPA exam. I can’t see you getting any business without a license, especially considering the growing demand for accountants, and the growing educational requirements to meet them.
July 11th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Well, it doesn’t hurt to study all three, because the more knowledgeable you are, the better advantage you will have over highly educated people of today! Basically, you study all three, and you progress into the one that suits you the best!! And yes, experience is probably the best teacher of all !
And I have heard, many, many, times, that the finance schools in the state of Virginia are the tops, check it out, also !