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May 10, 2016 by Eric Butts Leave a Comment

Do You Choose Your Favorite Calculator or Does it Choose You…Like a Lightsaber?

financial calculators used by the pros

I asked a bunch of accountants about their favorite financial calculator and this is what they said*: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accounting Tagged With: accountant, accounting, calculators, cpa

December 28, 2015 by Eric Butts 19 Comments

Masters in Accounting Not The Sweet Treat Some Students Think

 

Should I pursue masters in accounting

Getting a Masters in Accounting (MSA) is a waste of money, but aspiring accountants everywhere continue to struggle with whether or not to pursue this advanced degree. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accounting Tagged With: accountant, accounting, cpa, cpa exam, Education, MBA

January 18, 2015 by Eric Butts 9 Comments

One Thing You Should Never Do On LinkedIn

A few days ago I got an email notification that a person invited me to connect on LinkedIn (If you’re not active there, you should be. Read why here.). It had the default message, so I decided to hit reply and ask how the person found me and what prompted the interest in connecting with me on LinkedIn. This was the message I got back.

Hello Eric,

I am current pursuing my CPA and live in Chicago. I have completed BEC already and planning to give the other three in next three months. I was randomly searching for CPAs in Chicago to connect ith them in order to learn more about the opportunities available for professionals in the accounting field. Also in case you know about any job openings or opportunities for me please do let me know as I am looking for a job. For any further questions feel free to contact me at any time.

You notice anything wrong with it? The email was nicely written but falls short on a couple of things. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Career Advice Tagged With: #linkedinchat, accounting, cpa, LinkedIn, social media

December 26, 2014 by Eric Butts 14 Comments

Handling Double Standards In The Workplace

How to beat double standards in the workplaceA reader on my post about why there are so few black CPAs recently left a comment saying he thought accounting degrees for black students weren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. That line of thinking led to an even broader argument about the value of ANY college degree for black students.

The reasoning behind this? Prior experience interviewing  for an accounting role and feeling some sort of prejudice because he’s black. He then went on to share a link highlighting how black students with an Associate’s degree have the same chance to land a job as white students with a high school diploma, and black students with some college have the same odds as white high school drop-outs.

No doubt these figures are enough to make your stomach lurch, but the argument the reader made conveniently overlooked a huge takeaway [Read more…]

Filed Under: Career Advice Tagged With: ambition, cpa, double standards, prejudice, ricky bobby

November 9, 2014 by Eric Butts 6 Comments

3 Reasons Average Students Should Have Confidence They Can Become Good Accountants

bad student can become great accountant

 

Do you believe an average student can become a good accountant?

That was all the message I received this morning said. No context, no nothing. I ignored it at first and then considered writing an equally short response of “it depends,” but thought there are probably other people questioning if they can go from “average” student to rockstar accountant. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Accounting Tagged With: accounting, career, college major, cpa

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