MBA Schools That Teach Accounting

[Hungary Jack]

I realize that this rant is probably going to be foreign to most here, but for now GRB is the nearest almost-animate object.

MBA programs almost universally require that their students take a course in basic accounting. By basic, I mean a course that teaches double-entry bookkeeping, debits, credits, t-accounts, etc.

This is utterly absurd for several reasons.

1. MBA schools are (in theory) training future general managers and CEO's, not CPA's. Transactional accounting knowledge is irrelevant for CEO's. CPA's who work for CEO's are highly trained to do this thanks to accounting majors and certification programs.

2. We have computer systems that can handle these transactional things. Aspiring managers need be more concerned with the financial data that results from the transactions, such as Enron's need to wipe $2B in assets off its Balance Sheet.

3. Most MBA programs have 10-12 courses. Each course is precious. Why waste one on debits and credits? It would be much more beneficial to teach students how to analyze a Balance Sheet and Income Statement rather than know how to put one together.

I tutor MBA students part-time on financial stuff, and have had more than one student who took the required accounting course early in the sequence and got really freaked out because they could not understand debits and credits (many sane people cannot). I have had to talk more than one high achiever off the ledge because of a stupid, irrelevant accounting course.

So there. Memo to the B-School Dean: [expletive] the accounting course and replace it with something worthwhile.

Carry on good people.

[G. Keenan]

Well maybe it's in there to give the thousands of people who get an MBA but don't end up as a CEO something to hang their hat on.

[Leroy]

You diss accounting, you diss Leroy.

Perhaps reconsider.

[Hungary Jack]

Well maybe it's in there to give the thousands of people who get an MBA but don't end up as a CEO something to hang their hat on.

I was thinking more job security for crusty old accounting profs.

[AdmiralKird]

If there is only one person in the whole firm that should know basic Accounting, its the CEO.

[Hungary Jack]

If there is only one person in the whole firm that should know basic Accounting, its the CEO.

Depends on how you define it. The CEO should not care about debits and credits and how to make the perfect double-entry. He/she should care about the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow (this is the most important). If he/she works for a public company, then he/she had better darned well be able to explain the impacts of the company's accounting policies on things like depreciation, revenue recognition, and pretty much every liability that shows up on the Balance Sheet.

[Hungary Jack]

You diss accounting, you diss Leroy.

Perhaps reconsider.

And did you learn accounting in an MBA program?

Of course not. You probably studied it as an undergraduate, or maybe through OJT. You probably are a CPA.

There is nothing wrong with accounting. In fact, there is a lot right with it. Point is you don't go to b-school to learn it.

[heyzeus]

In my undergrad accounting class, which was a joint class with the MBA program at the Jones School at Rice, we started off with the basics of debits/credits/T accounts and then moved into issues of accounting - how it's used by businesses, and corporate structuring stuff. I think that would be useful for any MBA, especially in the wake of Enron and Worldcom.

[Hungary Jack]

In my undergrad accounting class, which was a joint class with the MBA program at the Jones School at Rice, we started off with the basics of debits/credits/T accounts and then moved into issues of accounting - how it's used by businesses, and corporate structuring stuff. I think that would be useful for any MBA, especially in the wake of Enron and Worldcom.

Exactly. The programs would be much better off dedicating class time to studying how accrual accounting and other policy discretions impact the Balance Sheet and Income Statement. Enron-esque accounting fraud is neverf a matter of debits and credits, but whether you can exploit loopholes in FASB to overstate your revenue, understate expenses, or inflate the value of assets.

[ThatGuy]

You diss accounting, you diss Leroy.

Perhaps reconsider.

Can you give me a quick rundown of other ways to diss Leroy? It's not for any purpose in particular.