Macros

This semester in advanced accounting we had to do many projects using Macros in Microsoft Excel. Before this semester I had never heard of a Macro before. It is something that is set up in excel with already set formulas. Our teacher would assign us to do these so we could learn how a consolidation worksheet is calculated. It is interesting to see how the numbers relate to each other and how they move through the statement.

ACL

In my financial auditing class here at SJSU, we just finished a project using ACL. ACL is a data analysis, audit and reporting software. Luckily we had step by step instructions or I would have never been able to figure out how to use it. We were instructed to import data and then we had to analyze it. Some of the things we had to do were: adjust the columns to a certain width, see if there were duplicates in the data, and figure out what the total sales were. The software was not easy to use. I hear that if students go into auditing as their career in a big firm, they will more than likely see this program.

a comment to another student

This is a blog from my fellow classmate Hilary Anger:

Use of technology in the classroom
"I noticed today for the first time how management classes use more technological advanced mediums than other majors. My fiance is going to school to get his teaching credential and all of his classes and assignments are out of textbooks, nothing is online. My classes on the other hand all have online slides, activities and group work. I wonder if that is because teachers are trained to use common means for teaching whereas managers are taught to exercise the use of technology as they will in the workplace. Organizations are at the forefront of technological advances and as future managers we must be prepared to use them. Without technology, managers would not be able to effectively manage their companies."

My comment:
I'm an accounting major and my accounting information systems class made me appreciate technology so much! We were assigned a project where we had to do the whole accounting system manually. The whole process was very time-consuming and I would have never wanted to be an accountant if we didn't have the software we have now. I agree that business majors use more technology at home and in the classroom than other majors at SJSU. So much technology and computer work used to be overwhelming, but I think most students are used to it now.

Excel

I have had to use Excel in a lot of my classes for different projects. Many of my teachers just assumed that we knew how to use it when giving an assignment. I have had to get help from outside sources in the past because I didn't really know how to use Excel very well. Luckily my boss is really good at it so I have gotten help from him. I have learned to make graphs and use a lot of functions that I would have never been able to learn on my own. Excel is really good for making things look neat. I just finished a forensic accounting project today and I used excel to calculate the ratios that I needed. It is simple to copy and paste a chart into a Word document.

Tax Classes In School

I work in the tax business at a local CPA firm. At our firm we use a program called Lacerte and it is the most popular tax program around right now. I think that we should be exposed to it in the classroom. In my tax classes at SJSU, we only had to use software once. It would be nice to learn a little bit about the Lacerte software, especially for those who will have never seen it until they get into their career. At SJSU they should offer a tax class where students would deal with real life situations and do data entry. This way, students could see how the numbers are calculated within the program.

Accounting Has Been A Hard Major

I took an accounting class "for fun" in my senior year of high school. It was very interesting to me. We would have to do group projects where we would create a company and figure out how much everything would cost. We would use PowerPoint slides and present our company to the class. In this accounting class was the first time I had ever used the terms debit and credit. Most assignments that we did for this class were by hand in our workbook. I remember one time my teacher said "If any of you decide to pursue an accounting degree, you will always have a job, and you will most likely make a lot of money." This is why I chose my major. In my senior year of highschool, if I would have known how much work this accounting college major would entail, I probably would have been turned off by it.