One decision I had to make that would be relatable to this area would be the decision I made to
change jobs. I had been working in accounting, and finance for a mom-and-pop shop near home
and had begun managing a large amount of their business and 50 + employees. I noticed with the
more responsibility that came, I was not seeing wage increases for myself and when I did it was
nearly nothing. This job also offered very poor to no benefits to me. I found that I would wait this
out, and try to scrape by and see if that would change. Upon waiting a bit, I noticed that this was
not going to be the case so in the months leading up to my exit I applied for other low level
accounting jobs. I accepted an offer from a company that offered 401k and full benefits right off the
bat where my salary was also higher than my previous job significantly. I enjoyed being more of a
high-level figure, and switching to bottom of the pole concerned me. I found though that the
quantitative, and qualitative factors with my new job far outweighed my previous one. I have a
steady workload and extensive training to make me an effective employee. Both the quality of work
and quantity of pay at my new job turned out to be far better.
A time in my life when I needed to make a personal decision that had different opportunity cost
was when I came to a cross roads for college jobs. During my first year of college, I found a job
working with a general contractor in the area I was attending college full time. This was a line of
work I had been in before and I was excited to be able to do something I already knew about and
make a decent hourly wage while in college. However, the owner of the company was not very
agreeable and very hard to work with sometimes and I ended up dreading going to work. The next
year of school I found a job opportunity working for an auto mechanic that paid less put offered
more flexibility and a more enjoyable work environment, but at a lesser salary. c This created the
need for a decision between my two opportunities, to stay where I was working or move on. The
difference in revenue made between the two companies based on hourly pay was enough to make
me must stop and weigh my options. However, the greater revenue from the contracting job did
not out weight the costs of the mental and physical energy being drained from working the job and
dreading arrival to work. While my income lessened working the auto mechanic, the costs of the job
significantly decreased and made the switch to a different job worth it and a greater benefit to
myself.
A decision that I have had to make was whether or not to go back to school. I have been running a
small business for the last decade and prior to 2020 (covid) it was doing well. When everything was
shut down I, and many other small business owners that I have met through the years, found
ourselves having to find a new way. Many of us found that not having in person functions available
was hugely detrimental. At the end of 2020 I had to start thinking what route I wanted to take for
the future. The choices were to stay with my business and try to get it back to where it once was
(knowing it could take years and would be like starting over), use my previous work experience to
try and find a job (in a industry that I was very unhappy in) or go back to school to get a second
degree to work in a field that I have wanted to get in for years. I knew that the second option was
not one I was wanting to take and I started looking for programs that I could enter that allowed me
the time to continue running my business, that I could afford, and that would not take me many
years to complete.
The decision-making process that I went through was much like that described in the book. I knew
that there was some uncertainty ahead in my business (step 1). I researched about the different
options available moving forward, and thought about how each option could affect my future (steps
2 &3). In the end a made a choice and enrolled in school (steps 4&5).
The opportunity cost of my decision is the potential success and re-growth in my business. Because
of the time I am investing in school I have cut back my "growth efforts" in my business and have
been running at a slower pace. Choosing less sales opportunities and instead focusing on the next
steps in my life.
When making my decision there were certainly qualitative factors involved, especially in choosing
not to return to an industry that I was highly unhappy in. However, the quantitative factors were
ultimately the deciding factors. If the option to return to school was not financially feasible, I would
have had to take a different route. Being able to find the right program and the right price was the
ultimate deciding factor.
Datar, S. M., & Rajan, M. V. (2018). Horngren's cost accounting: A managerial emphasis, global
edition, 16/E 12. PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITED.
