Watch the video and enroll to receive your Bachelors in Accounting
Owen Simonar’s passion for numbers and his dad’s small business led him to choose the budget-friendly Accounting Program at UW-Green Bay. He shares his college journey and highlights his hands-on learning in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program to supportive faculty and work while you learn collaborative opportunities in the Green Bay business community.
[Note to reader: this video includes information about UW-Green Bay’s Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting]
Transcript: I chose Accounting for my career path because in high school I took an accounting class and really enjoyed it and my dad owned a small business and I started doing bookkeeping for him and I really enjoyed it and after taking my first accounting class here at UWGB, I knew that was a path I wanted to take. And I come from a long line of small business owners and I realized that they’re the people that need the most help and I feel like me getting my Accounting degree will definitely help most small businesses succeed and I want to be a part of that. My favorite core Accounting class is honestly Financial Accounting which is the first class you take here at UW-Green Bay. It really gives you the fundamentals and the foundation of Accounting which I think is the most fascinating and important aspect of Accounting. I love doing the nitty-gritty stuff, what people do every day and that’s why Financial Accounting was my favorite accounting class to take. I think the thing that I’ve enjoyed most about the Accounting program is how much it pushes you. In my case I do want to become a Certified Public Accountant and the CPA exam is a very rigorous exam. And the professors, they do push you to know what you’re doing. They don’t want you to memorize things. They want you to learn what you’re doing. And I think that’s the greatest part, is they really push you to learn your content and I think that’s a huge part when you actually get into the workforce you know what you’re doing instead of being able just to memorize things for a week. Here at UW-Green Bay, we have something called the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program also known as VITA. Accounting students go into downtown Green Bay and do tax assisting for people who cannot afford to go to a public accountant. This is great hands-on learning for the Accounting students because they’re able to do tax returns and get them reviewed by a professional and they’re able to learn from that. So, while I’m earning my degree here at UW-Green Bay in Accounting, I’m also working at a public accounting firm in the local area. At this job, I’m able to do the hands-on things that I’ve learned in school. I do the bookkeeping for some companies. I do their payroll. I also do their tax returns. So, after I graduate from UW-Green Bay, I plan on going to take the CPA exam, and after I do that I hope to work for a small CPA firm somewhere in the area. After a couple years of doing public accounting, I like to go into the private industry and become a controller or some sort of CFO, CEO for a company. And then after that when I would plan on retiring, I hope to own a small bait shop in northern Wisconsin where I can relax and be a business owner of my own.
