What is the primary difference between an accounting and finance degree?
While Accounting might be part of Finance, the latter has a broader scope and tends to be more complex.
A bachelor’s in Accounting will teach you how to record transactions, as well as enable you to analyze financial statements so that you can deduce the financial health of the company you end up working for.
Pursuing a degree in Finance allows you to learn more about long-term financial planning as well as how to maintain budgets. Finance courses will show you how companies reach their financial goals. You will also learn how companies raise funds and gather cash flow from their accounting departments in order to make accurate financial predictions.
The term ‘Finance’ is typically associated with managing money and acquiring funds. This includes budgeting, saving, investing, forecasting and borrowing. A finance degree is an ideal starting point for careers in financial services ranging across banking, business and consultancy sectors. Finance careers can also be more lucrative as they focus on the management of present and future numbers of an organization, as opposed to only focusing on the past and present incomes and expenditure.
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The Finance industry consists of three sub-categories;
Personal Finance: this involves financial planning for an individual and can include long-term financial plans such as retirement, mortgages and banking.
Corporate Finance: unlike personal finance, this will involve planning and overseeing the financial activities for organizations, as well as investment strategies and budgeting.
Public or Government Finance: this category mainly focuses on taxes, spending and other policies that relate to government-allocated resources.
Careers in finance may include jobs such as:
Those who work in finance often work with others outside their own organizations, such as banks, investment firms, stockholders and government agencies. Professionals will evaluate or control monetary funds, assets and investments while focusing on profitability.
Traditional Finance
As a traditional finance professional, you will be required to have a strong command of economics and finance. You are required to thoroughly know and understand global markets and investment decisions. You will also be depended on for expertise on your company or organization’s financial health.
Financial Planning
Financial planning is ideal for those graduates who aren’t fond of the details that are needed to do corporate planning. Your job will have you meeting with people who need financial help - in a way, you will be a financial advisor. As an advisor, you will help people with their income, investments, taxes and insurance. Using your knowledge on the matter, you can create investment or financial plans for clients that can help them achieve their goals. A financial advisor also helps people pick the right assets in the current stock market in order to plan ahead for said goals.
Types of qualifications in Finance include:
Professional accreditations that can be obtained from a Finance degree are:
Accounting involves identifying and recording a company’s economic results. Accounting itself is a vital function for every business, with accounting professionals measuring business activities for reports to submit to decision-makers.
An accounting degree provides the basis and foundation for specialized accounting careers. Careers in the accounting field will involve analyzing financial information so that you can evaluate a company’s financial position. This would include anything from bookkeeping to managing income statements and balance sheets. Accounting careers will typically focus largely on previous records as well as current reports.
A career in accounting can be pursued with only a bachelor’s degree, but if you’re looking for more specialized knowledge and experience, it is recommended to pursue postgraduate education. To become a chartered accountant, for example, you will need external professional qualifications that need to be specific to the country you are looking to work in.
The areas of specialization in Accounting include:
Financial Accounting: this will typically include generating financial statements involving balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements. These will be used by investors, taxing authorities and creditors.
Managerial Accounting: this is similar to financial accounting, but is used by stakeholders to make financial decisions concerning business operations.
Cost Accounting: this area of accounting involves determining costs associated with manufacturing products and will help businesses decide if it is feasible to do so, as well as what the product should cost in the market.
Careers in accounting may include:
Public Accounting
Public accounting typically involves preparing and maintaining records as well as financial statements. This is ideal for those students who can pay attention to detail and those who won’t mind continuously preparing detailed statements on a regular basis.
Tax Accounting
This career path will have candidates diving into tax planning and tax consulting services. This specialization will require a lot of research and you will eventually be counted on to file documents correctly as well as be able to help clients save money on tax breaks.
Auditing
As an auditor, you will most likely spend the majority of your time reviewing financial records. It will be your duty to ensure that all records are correct. You will also be tasked with auditing other people’s work.
Types of qualifications in Accounting include:
Professional accreditations that can be obtained from an Accounting degree are:
In order to study finance or accounting at the undergraduate level, you will be asked to prove your numerical proficiency, as well as showcase your interest in each sector. Many universities will not ask to see previous work experience or past academic qualifications during the application process. You may submit your high school qualifications in subjects such as mathematics, business, economics, computer science, along with other science and technology-based subjects.
However, when applying for a postgraduate program, whether it is in accounting or finance, you may be asked to show proof of having completed a related undergraduate program, as well as a number of years of work experience in related fields. You can also prove your analytical abilities by taking a GMAT or GRE exam.
To become a qualified accountant, it is mandatory for you to obtain a professional accountancy qualification. Certificates can be obtained through notable programs including the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). If you study at the postgraduate level, you may not need to obtain these qualifications.
Practical experience is also helpful in terms of helping students understand better the world of accounting and finance, and helps them prepare for professional roles in the future. At the undergraduate level, a more theoretical approach is taken for research-based programs and there is more opportunity to gain practical experience while studying.
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