Accounting

In attempts to relay a little bit of what it's like to sit in class all day, here are some observations from inside one of my classes. Accounting, known as the "language of business' is one of my most difficult courses. In my class (section) of 68 people there are a decent percentage that have wither worked directly as accountants or are CPAs (Certified Public Accountants). These folks are sitting pretty in this class. Imagine a caculus expert taking a class in multiplication, or a Spanish speaker sitting in Spanish 101. For the rest of us we struggle to absorb this new language.

Class generally starts with a discussion of basics (posting journal entries) and then we quickly move to more complex discussions. Duscussion topics range from managerial (internal) to financial (external) accounting topics fairly fluidly and I struggle to keep up some days. Ironically, this class is the most mechanical and least confusing by nature, especially for an engineer, but it moves at a cheetah-like pace. I often find myself thinking "how did they get that number on line 5?" meanwhile by the time I figure it out the discussion has moved to line 10. Damn!

The good news is that I'm not alone and there is plenty of opportunity to find support from classmates, learning team members and/or professors. As long as I continue to keep up my enthusiasm for debits and credits I'll be soon speaking accounting-ese.