According to Carton Frisk, “It’s not what you achieve, it’s what you overcome. That’s what defines your career.”
Although it is a very perplexing factor, taking a correct decision regarding a better career option is a tough call. It is not an idea that can be taken within a day or two. This choice of subject selection is an important resolution which has to be taken with numerous researches and through correct guidance. You have to see all the present and future aspects to make your mind.
Now if my words are striking your mind, you might be definitely interested to know how to select a better career option. To relieve you of your inquisitiveness, read the following aspects which can help you make your mind.
7 Aspects to see before you choose a better career option
- Zone out the specializations
If you are one of those students who is confused between which subjects to take, it is better to check thespecialisationof both the subjects. Looking for their specialisation will help you to understand the subject’s respective fields. If you wish to step forward in the direction of accounting, the specialised topic areas include risk assessment, international accounting, management accounting, and auditing tax.
You can also choose this subject if you are fascinated towards forensic accounting. This topic is related to the accountancy processes which are used within legal proceedings. Theseare based on real life cases relatedto corporate ethics, insurance claims, fraud, bankruptcy, and electronic crime. After taking a degree if you wish to study further you can also take a post-graduation degree at PhD or MRes level.
For the students who find finance more suitable than accounts, degree level specialisation includesbehavioral finance, capital markets, financial modelling. Someother study areas also include quantitative finance, financial reporting and regulation, econometrics, financial evaluation and much more. At theundergraduatelevel, you may have read these sub-topics under an individual program, but you can take any one of these sub-topics as a complete course at postgraduate level.
- Self-realization regarding the subjects
According to certain surveys held at thegraduate level, it has been found out that there has been an increase of 25% of student count combining finance and accounts degrees in FAME related programs. This result shows that both the subjects are of equal importance in study field. You need to have your priorities clear about which subject to choose from.
- Know the job opportunities
Whichever subjects we choose in the present, it finalises our future goals. It is one of the most confounding factors when it comes to deciding between a degree in finance or accounts base on job opportunities.
Both of these subjects have similar job titles. Through a job analysis software used in real-time calculated for a year, it has been found that 385,000 plus job openings for finance and accounts have these job titles.
MajorJob titles in the field of Finance
- Applications Developer
- Credit Manager
- Financial Analyst
- Quantitative Analyst
- Risk Manager
MajorJob titles in the field of Accounts
- Accounting Manager
- Accountant
- Financial Analyst
- Staff Accountant
- Tax Manager
- Research about career growth options of
Both the subjects you may have your own reason to select a subject. But the two main agendas of everyone related to career opportunityremain the same. They are,
- A progressive career growth
- Earning a substantial salary with a certain percentage of hikes every year.
Apart from these two factors, a proper research work also includes job security. As both of the subjects are a great motivator for earning degrees, you need to understand which of the areas have a promising career result.
According to a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), by 2022 an estimated surge of 13% job increase has been forecasted for accounting jobs. Through the same BLS survey, there has been an estimate of 16% hike in finance jobs by 2022.
- Are you ready with your skills?
The previous point highlighted the demand of employers but the actual requirement to take up any one of the subjects requires specialisation in certain skills. To get an idea of the respective subject skills, they are listed below for your ease.
Highly demanded Finance Skills in the current professional market
- Accounting
- Economics
- Financial modeling
- Financial planning & analysis
- Financial reporting
- Financial statements
- Forecasting
- SAP
- Variance analysis
Highly demanded Accounts Skills in the current professional market
- Account reconciliation
- Accounting
- Accounting management
- Accounts payable & receivable
- Balance sheet
- Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
- General ledger
- Public accounting
You may have already interacted with these aspects while studying in your undergraduate class so you will have a clear understanding of your strength in which subject.
- Educational requirements to go for a subject
Before you take a leap in any of the subject direction, you should have knowledgeabout which professional qualification to obtain to nurture your professional goal.
If you go through various analyses, you can see that prominent companies prefer employees to have bachelor’s degree as a minimum education requirement.The percentage preference is 97% of accounting students and 99% of finance students.
So whichever subject you choose, this educational criterion needs to be fulfilled by every student.
- Look before you leap – Salary Market
From an analysis of NACE (the National Association of Colleges and Employers), a reported started salary range for accounting major students is from US$ 51,000 per annum. From the same analysis, you can expect US$ 53,000 per annum for finance major students.
This gap in salary structure widens at postgraduate level. You can expect an average income of US$72,000 per year if you take up finance as your subject. A contrasting comparison can be seen in salary structure if you choose accounts as a subject. On an average of US$62,500 can be estimated as a per year salary amount.
Well, the final verdict would be to choose what your heart desires. You can only benefit from a subject if you love it. If you want to know more aspects for a choosing one of the subjects, you can take the help of professional academic websites which can give more useful insights of these subjects. Now as you have some the aspects of accounts and finance, what is stopping you from choosing a subject?