Why the MBA Alone is not Enough

There was a time when simply achieving a Master’s in Business Administration would be enough to prepare someone for a launch into the executive role and C-suite. Today, even with an MBA from a top school, many are finding that specialization is essential, particularly for those who need to have a solid grip on the financial side and how the accounting records are generated.

While the role of an executive may not require one to have all the credentials of a certified public accountant, having a solid understanding of how accounting systems work and data is generated has become a bread and butter condition for anyone in a role that involves a budget and considerable company assets, as well as related decision-making. And as companies continue to move into enterprise systems where metrics are fed and re-utilized across disciplines, anything that is feeding into the accounting system as a measurement should be better understood by the manager whose program it affects.

Traditionally, accountants who want to win promotions and go higher in their organization than just a report supervisor or payables manager see the MBA as a natural stepping-stone level to achieve. However, for those coming from other disciplines such as sales or operations management, accounting may never have been a primary need at the time. Yet once they reach the executive level, everyone has to be familiar and versed in the income statements, cash flow reports, and balance sheets. It becomes the bread and butter of financial conversation in the company at the decision-making level. The standard MBA provides some training, but it doesn’t really expand on the accounting aspects with enough detail to really say one is versed in the field. The accounting concentration solves this problem effectively.

Where the typical MBA program will cover a summary of accounting, some attention to indirect cost accounting, and financial portfolio management, the MBA with an accounting concentration goes much further. It practically combines many of the key aspects of an accounting degree with an MBA, preparing the executive to not just be able to understand financial records and their generation fluently, but to also be able to oversee an accounting shop in a pinch if needed. For those who are going to be managing financial IT systems and related databases, the accounting concentration provides key details and aspects of how financial activity occurs and gets tracked, something that will never be obtained through a standard IT training path.

The added aspects of accounting training enhance one’s sense of ethics as well. When exposed to multiple classes and topics that focus on how compliance is provided, examined, and reported, a student walks away with an inherent understanding and sensitivity to staying on the right track, even when challenged to push the edges of the envelope in operational conditions. Upper-level managers and executives come out of an enhanced MBA program with a keen understanding of how to behave financially as well as what to avoid that can get them into serious trouble, both internally as well as with external regulatory controls where they operate, including international environments as well.

Students on the Masters of Business Administration accounting concentration path will also enjoy added specialization aspects also typically not available in other MBA programs. These topics include fraud examination, the marriage of accounting with information systems, government accounting, advanced auditing, and even non-profit organizational accounting, a key area of employment that is often overlooked but spans the country with opportunities in every city and state. No surprise, graduates find themselves easily starting in entry positions for high-level finance, and when married with database management they end up becoming key players in some of the latest financial activities today, such as data visualization and management dashboard design work.

Again, there are plenty of MBA programs to train one to be an executive in general, but the Master’s of Business Administration accounting concentration matches today’s demands far better, especially when it comes to understanding the finance that allows programs and businesses to operate and grow.