Oak Brook couple pursues new careers in accounting together at COD

Atul and Minu Garg had no shortage of accomplishments before they both decided to earn the Advanced Accounting certificate at College of DuPage in preparation for the Certified Public Accountant exam.

"I have an engineering degree from one of the premier schools in India, and so does she," Atul said. "The first company we worked at, we worked together. We worked on the technology side of technology consulting. We were working for the first company that started the concept of outsourcing for Fortune 100 clients across the world."

After six years of traveling back and forth between India and the U.S., the couple moved to the U.S. to focus on their American clientele. They eventually married.

Atul received his MBA in management consulting from Northwestern University and began working with several startups. The couple later moved to Hong Kong to work in financial technology. Minu, unable to work due to visa issues, took the opportunity to get her MBA from a Northwestern-partnered school in the area.

The couple eventually moved back to the U.S., raising their family, developing startups and running their own companies.

With successful careers in their fields and their children now grown, Atul and Minu began thinking about the benefits of developing a more evergreen skillset, feeling that the soft skills learned from their MBAs were nearing the end of their shelf life.

Given their previous experience and interests, they found accounting to be the best path, and after some research, they found COD's Accounting program and contacted Accounting Professor Maureen McBeth.

"Maureen has been phenomenal," Minu said. "All the professors were fantastic and very, very supportive, as we often travel because of our jobs."

McBeth laid out a plan and helped the couple identify some applicable credits from their respective MBA programs.

Though they gravitated to COD primarily because they lived in DuPage County, the couple was so blown away by the response and support from the school.

"We just didn't know what we were going to do and what was the path to do this, so their feedback and their response was so great that we almost didn't think about it," Minu said. "Right away we said, OK, we're joining the class. It didn't give us a chance to think or mull it over much, but we are absolutely loving the experience."

Earlier in the semester the couple visited their son in San Francisco, only to realize that they had an accounting exam that weekend, just before their flight home. After visiting with their son for the week, they stuck to studying in their hotel room on Saturday until the exam the next day.

"I was like, 'oh my god, what have I gotten into?'," said Minu, humorously. "But it's all part of the fun, you know. It's like reliving college days in a different way ... we're just in this mess together."

The couple also spoke highly of their experiences taking Federal Taxation with Professor Mark Yahoudy and taking Auditing with Professor Diondra Whiteside.

While getting to the CPA exam is a goal, the couple are mainly focused on finishing their credits. "That's a pending conversation with Maureen as to whether we need any more credits or we should just jump into the prep." Atul said. "We will probably start that early next year."

COD's Accounting program provides fundamental, advanced education and practice in accounting principles in areas of business, technology and taxation. Accountancy courses consist of bookkeeping, payroll, QuickBooks, income tax return preparation, auditing and more.

Certificate and occupational accounting programs are designed for students who plan to join the workforce immediately after college as accounting clerks, bookkeepers, junior accountants, bank tellers, credit analysts, auditing clerks and tax preparers. The program is also designed for students who are considering changing careers or interested in becoming a CPA.

Students can also earn an Associate in Arts in accounting or an Associate in Applied Science degree in accounting. Learn more by visiting: cod.edu/accounting.