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Jonathan Kim had a career in restaurant management when he realized he had a knack for another business practice: cost accounting. 

Kim enjoyed giving managers advice and discussing improved cost control methods. Talking with his father, an accountant in New Orleans, made Kim realize it could be time for a career change. 

The 30-year-old is now progressing in his professional and academic career with the network built as an undergraduate accounting student and the advanced skills gained in the UL ��˾��������'s Master of Science in Accounting online. 

Professional Network

Kim left the restaurant industry in 2016 to pursue his bachelor’s degree full time at the ��˾��������.

Getting involved with groups like Beta Alpha Psi, an honor organization for financial information students and professionals, fast-tracked Kim’s career. 

“I actually met a lot of accounting professionals here in ��˾��������. Through that kind of networking, I secured an accounting internship in the summer of 2019,” Kim says. “As soon as I graduated, they offered me a full-time position.”

As Kim began his full-time role, he took another leap by enrolling in the M.S. in Accounting online. 

Kim says a graduate degree seemed “unfathomable,” when he first enrolled — but in talking with Master Instructor in Accounting Pam Meyer about his goal to become a CPA, he realized the program would be a great fit. 

“It would provide me with the remaining 30 hours I need to qualify for the exam, and a graduate degree has a lot of prestige, so if I decided to switch to private accounting it can help leverage me into a leadership role faster than if I just had a bachelor's degree,” says Kim. 

“It made a lot of sense to me as the best way to not only promote my own future, but to satisfy the requirements to become a CPA. It just seemed like a win-win-win to me.”

Also in the win column was the opportunity to work full time while earning his master’s degree in only 12 months, with supportive professors. 

“I found balancing my course work with my professional work to be a lot easier than it was for undergraduate,” he says. 

“One of the greatest components of my success was understanding the professors. They knew we all, or at least the majority of us, are working professionals. That really helped with providing some flexibility.”

Practical Knowledge

The online accounting program gave Kim a chance to take a deep dive into concepts like data analytics, theory, and managerial cost accounting. 

“I'm learning so many things about various topics I'm interested in,” he says. “One of the things I really enjoyed was the analysis techniques we were learning in the classroom, I was able to apply that immediately at work. I felt like that really gave me a leg up above some of my peers who did not have the same graduate degree as I had.”

Six months into the program, Kim had distinguished himself enough that when one of the partners at his office decided to start his own firm, he tapped Kim to join. 

“He said, even as a first-year staff accountant, the things I consider and the techniques I use, has put me ahead,” Kim says. 

“I can definitely credit most of what I'm practicing on a day-to-day basis to things I've learned in the graduate program.”

Kim says his next step is to sit for the CPA exam, but before that, he’ll be celebrating the end of his academic marathon. 

“I am taking so much time off. It has been quite a year,” Kim says. “After working full time, dealing with the pandemic, and trying to balance school with life, I've never been so tired in my life. My employer and girlfriend both insist I take as much time as I need. So, I'm really looking forward to it, even if it's just sitting on the couch and catching up on TV shows I haven't seen in the last year and a half.” 

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