Choosing Accounting as a Major

I took a number of aptitude tests at Boston University during my senior year in high school.
The result was an aptitude for accounting, meteorology and pharmacy. Accounting seemed like a logical choice because I liked the idea of working in business and the science and mathematics involved in the other two seemed beyond my academic capabilities. I was good in math and science, but not that good.

Success came easy once I really understood debits and credits. I studied for exams, was near the top of my class, and was please with my choice.

Upon graduating from Marietta College, I got a job teaching accounting for a small junior college.
By November I was enrolled in an evening MBA program which I completed in three years. An MBA/CPA seemed like a good idea so I got a part time job working for a local CPA. It didn’t take me long to realize accounting was not for me.

Why? I was not methodical. The idea of putting a double line at the bottom of a completed column of numbers always seemed like a waste of time. So did dollar signs at the top of columns. What were they, Rubles! After a few twenty-hour weeks the CPA I was working for said my experiment was not working out. I was so happy. One of the worst thing in the world is to works at something you don’t like. My dad tells the story about an engineer he worked with for many years who hated his job so much he would go to the Men’s room and barf each morning before starting work. Not me!

Being an accounting major worked out well though as it improved my problem solving skills and it provided the knowledge needed for me to be a basic accounting teacher for thirty-five years.