For many, Accounting and Finance are intimidating subjects, and the MBA is a good time to face your fears.
If you are an “artsie” (i.e. you did things like “Fine Art”, “History”, or “Sociology” at school), or even an engineer, there is a fair to good chance that you will be intimidated by Accounting and Finance when you start your MBA program. Thick books, charts, numbers, formulas – all written in a language you don’t seem to fully understand, even though it looks awfully like English. And, of course, since you don’t understand it, you are afraid of it.
A good MBA program leaves you no other choice but to face your fears, including your fear of Accounting and Finance. A great MBA program will provide faculty that will not only dissolve your fear but may very well make you fall in love with these oh-so-scary disciplines.
When my classmates walked into their first Accounting class, I saw nervous anticipation. There are traditionally three kinds of people in a classroom: those who have never done it before and are afraid to drown, those who have never done it but are thinking “how difficult can this be?”, and finally those who have done it before and are curious whether they will actually learn something new. Before the day was over, I looked at the faces again and saw satisfaction and confidence, albeit a cautious one.
In one day, we moved from having no clue to building forecasts and constructing our own income statements. I have spoken to a classmate who told me: “I studied Accounting before. But I really wish I was taught the way were taught today”. We were excited and ready to charge ahead.
Of course, people will tell you that this is just the beginning and we just have to wait until “the real work” begins… But let us have this moment! It is not every day you get to experience and observe transformation like this. They say that an MBA is a year that will change your life. It seems that this big change we all seek comes from many small transformations. Every day learning keeps going. It does not stop, and every day offers us another chance to transform ourselves from what we were to what we can be.
