Major & Requirements

	Requirements for Major in Accounting Information & Management

Upon graduation, few Kellogg School students go to work for accounting firms, so why consider a major in accounting? There are several reasons, but most have to do with how accounting complements a second major selected by students. Most finance professionals recognize that they can never know too much accounting. They find it easier, and more insightful, to learn accounting while at the Kellogg School rather than having to learn it haphazardly on the job. Most brand managers realize that much of their job involves evaluating the performance of their products in quantitative terms, and having a thorough understanding of accounting improves their performance as brand managers. And so on.

Moreover, many consulting careers have a strong accounting component to them; consultants who evaluate the performance systems of their clients are performing accounting analyses. So are consultants who seek to evaluate how successful a firm’s change in strategy is, or where most of the costs are tied up in the firm’s value chain, etc.

There are two fundamental tracks for an accounting major, a financial accounting track and a managerial accounting track. The financial track is more suitable for students who expect to take careers involving the evaluation of other firms’ published financial data; the managerial track is more suitable for students who are interesting in evaluating, or improving, the accounting processes (such as budgeting, transfer pricing, or overhead allocation) internal to a firm.