How to prepare for a career in Finance and Accounting?

I%26#039;m only a freshmen in college right now and I%26#039;m double majoring in finance and accounting. I was wondering how I can better prepare myself for a career in that field. Should I read some books or try to get hands on experienced. I%26#039;m looking to be a CPA or an Investment/Financial Analyst so how do I prepare for that. Any information you guys can give will help. Thanks a lot in advance.|||Hands on experience is the best way to go. Here are some ideas:





*Try and get a part time job in the accounting department of a local business. This will help you build on your accounting knowledge.


*Join Beta Alpha Psi (accounting fraternity) or other accounting societies. It looks great on the resume and it is a good way to meet individuals that work in the Accounting Field because they usually come to the meetings and give presentations about their firms or different accounting topics


*Do an internship with a CPA firm. This is more of something to keep in mind in a year or two. But this is a great way to see if working in public accounting is what you want to do. Generally CPA firms hirer people to do internships the summer after their junior year.





I don%26#039;t know what school you go to but most accounting departments will hold recruiting events, such as %26quot;meet the firms%26quot; where CPA firms come to the school to meet students. So this is a great way for you to meet people at the different firms and determine which one is the right fit for you. These are generally geared towards Juniors and Seniors but it is never to early to go and start meeting contacts.





Hope this helps!