Jennifer, I fully agree with Deb. I came to the museum field after 12 years as a stockbroker (BA in Business Administration, MA in History) and I have found my business training to be very helpful to my museum career. Being able to put things in "business terms" has helped me deal successfully with my museum's administration, our controlling agency (we are county owned) and potential donors. Many times the things we learn seem useless, and yet, in the long run, turn out to invaluable. Also, remember you may not be in the museum field for your entire career. So good luck with the accounting (I found it boring as well) and try to keep in mind that you never know what will come in handy during the course of your life. Tim Bottoms Registrar Cape Fear Museum Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]>@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> on 09/14/2000 10:59:09 AM Please respond to Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> Sent by: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] cc: Subject: Re: Question for those in education departments Accounting will be valuable to you no matter what career you choose. All managers have to deal with budgets and if you work in museums, this becomes a particularily sensitive issue as you don't have any money to waste. PLus it also helps when you are looking to get more funding or trying to increase your own budget. For example, my bf has an MBA and owns his own small company. He's currently taking a business accounting certification course not so much to be an accountant but to be able to better understand what his accountants do. It will also help him make budget projections, understand the business taxes and better manage finances. Plus it makes you look much more in control over your work esp. when talking to potenial donors or investors. If you can give people hard numbers about what you have and what you need, they will have more confidence in you and give you more money. If you go out with an attitude of "we're poor, we need money because we're a museum," people aren't going to have confidence that you know what you are doing with your money and be less likely to give it to you. I wish I'd taken an account class, as much as I would have utterly hated it but it would have been very beneficial in the long run. deb In a message dated Thu, 14 Sep 2000 8:26:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Jennifer Lynn <[log in to unmask]> writes: << I am hoping to one day work in an education department of a children's or sc= ience museum, and I have a question for all those who work in education depa= rtments. I am a college student currently taking an accounting class and I w= as wondering, what use will this particular class be to me in my chosen care= er path? I don't understand why I have to take it, because I am going into=20= museum education, not any type of management. Could someone please enlighten= me? Jennifer Lynn Tusculum College Class of 2001 Go Pioneers! ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).