The number of Americans pursuing advanced degrees increases year after year. Today, over 13 percent of U.S. adults hold an advanced degree, including a master’s, doctorate, or another professional degree. While the reasons why people pursue advanced degrees vary, one thing remains the same: earning a professional degree or master’s can open up a variety of career opportunities.
Whether you’re vying for a promotion or dreaming of landing a better position at another company, an advanced degree is one tool you can use to increase your chances of success.
Here are a few ways how earning an advanced degree can help you to advance your career:
Increase Your Technical Knowledge
One of the most important ways that earning an MBA in accounting can help to further your career is through the technical knowledge you’ll gain in the classroom. Developing your accounting skills — and learning how to apply them in corporate-level positions — is key if you want to pursue a promotion or another position in the field.
Through real-world situations, you’ll learn how to handle tough problems that you may experience in the future and practice what you would do to navigate them. You will learn how to hone your problem-solving skills and learn how to lead teams of accountants successfully. You’ll also study the latest trends in accounting and stay up to date with the latest technology and advancements.
Improve Your Soft Skills
Earning an MBA in accounting may help to advance your technical knowledge of the profession, but it can also help you to develop skills that aren’t directly related to your chosen career path.
According to studies from various Ivy League research centers, soft skills count for 85 percent of people’s success in their chosen careers, compared to technical knowledge accounting for just 15 percent of that success. A big part of earning an MBA is developing and honing the soft skills you’ll be putting to work to succeed in your career, including:
- Communication
- Leadership
- Problem-solving
- Interpersonal skills
These soft skills are important for working cooperatively amongst teams, succeeding in a demanding position, and staying organized. Of course, you’ll learn many of these same skills in pursuit of your bachelor’s degree, but earning an MBA is a great way to practice them as they relate to advancing in your career. For instance, you might learn how to better communicate with a team you’re leading or how to problem-solve when common accounting problems arise.
Prep for Real-World Career Situations
While learning from a textbook is important to success, it won’t always necessarily prepare you for handling real-world situations as they unfold. For this, you need problem-solving exercises that use real-world and accurate scenarios. These will help you to learn various options for dealing with issues and equip you with the skills for navigating them.
Better Prepare for Your Career by Earning an Advanced Degree
Earning an advanced degree, such as an MBA in accounting, is a great way to increase your chances of growing your current career or equip you with the right tools and skills to launch a new one. An online MBA makes it possible to advance your career while also working full time or handling other responsibilities, because you can create a schedule based around your lifestyle and future goals.
This content is a joint venture between our publication and our partner. We do not endorse any product or service in the article.
