Management Information System

I’m a rising junior in college and since I couldn’t find a job over the summer, I thought I would take some classes. I decided to take introductory accounting because I figured the skill would be useful and it could look good on a resume, although I don’t think it’s interesting. However, I’m not an accounting or business related major and I’m not sure if I will even go into business any time soon – I actually might do volunteer and humanitarian work after graduation (that’s in two years) so I wondered if I would even be able to retain this information. Is introductory accounting basic enough that I could still remember it some years down the line or is this class a waste of my summer? Is merely having this class good for a resume and will it actually help me later if I don’t go corporate or own a business?

The course description is as follows, please let me know if these are useful accounting skills for non-accountants:

This course introduces the basics of financial accounting with emphasis on accounting as an information system which aids in the decision-making process. The focus is on the analysis and classifying of accounting information necessary for the preparation of external general-purpose financial statements. Topics include transaction analysis, development of financial reports, the accounting cycle, accruals and deferrals, receivables, payables, payroll, promissory notes, inventory costing, plant assets and depreciation methods, corporate equity concepts, bonds payable, and present value.

Im an accounting major, so my answer might be a little bias, but I believe that a beginning accounting class would be very helpful for you in the long run. You may not remember everything, but I think you will be able to apply some of the concepts to just about any job.