<p>Can someone give me some insight on the difference between an accounting degree and finance degree?</p>
<p>Also can someone compare and contrast accounting vs actuary?</p>
<p>I feel like an accounting degree is more changeable than a degree in finance, and have an easier transition from accounting to finance instead of the opposite.</p>
<p>Accounting has clear rules you need to know and for most good jobs a license you need to get. In many states you need 24-30 credit hours of accounting and 150 hours overall of college credit(i.e. 5 years). If you are a Finance major with just a bachelor’s degree you can’t really make a very good career out of accounting because you won’t be able to get your CPA license. Sure there are other certifications but they are less well known and if you don’t even have a degree in accounting I don’t see why anyone would give you a job in accounting, seeing as how there is no shortage of CPA eligible kids coming out of Master of Accountancy programs. </p>
<p>The reverse isn’t totally true but I wouldn’t try applying to financial analyst jobs without at LEAST a finance minor. There is more difficult math in finance, almost none in accounting(except arithmetic). </p>
<p>An actuary needs to have excellent math skills and pass a series of very difficult exams. Pretty much no relationship to accounting really, although they need to share information in order to deal with things like pension liabilities.</p>
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<p>Accountant: Tons of jobs (but many times more people applying to them), virtually no math, you need a strong GPA.</p>
<p>Actuary: A small fraction of jobs compared to accounting. All math, all the time. </p>
<p>Aside from starting with the same letter, these two jobs have nothing to do with each other.</p>
<p>Accounting is a major in learning a set of rules (GAAP). It is also the “language” of business. You learn how companies represent their business on the financial statements. You can become a CPA if you take the required classes, pass 4 tests, and have 2 years of experience under a CPA. Accounting majors can do what finance majors do, but the reverse in not always true. I have already completed 90% of my accounting major (and 0% of my finance major) and have a finance internship right now.</p>
<p>Finance is more specific. You are going to work at some form of a bank (the term is used here very loosely), money manager, corporate finance, or in one of few government jobs that need finance majors. If you know this is what you want to do go for it. You can become a CFA holder if you pass 3 tests and some easy education/work requirements. Each test requires 200-300 hours of studying.</p>
<p>It is pretty common (and relatively easy) at most schools to double major in accounting and finance. </p>
<p>Actuarial science is a whole different field. You are crunching numbers for an insurance company and predicting how many insurance claims of one sort or another will be filed and when those claims will occur. You salary is closely correlated with how many exams you have passed. I have talked with some actuaries and they said for each hour the test lasts, you should study 100 hours. There are a total of 9 tests (10 if you count the 2 parts of one test as separate tests). Not many actuaries end up passing or even taking all 9 tests. Actuaries have a very specialized skill that is not easily transferable.</p>
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<p>Insurance: Job Options</p>
<p>Actuary
Actuaries use their analytical skills to predict the risk of writing insurance policies on property, businesses and people’s lives and health. Why does automobile cost so much more if you under the age of 25? Because an actuary somewhere found that the risk of insuring automobiles is highly age-dependent. Actuaries are a crucial part of the insurance process because they use statistical and mathematical analysis to determine the risk of providing coverage. To perform effectively, actuaries must be informed about general societal trends and legislative developments which may affect risk. Actuaries can work either within insurance companies or for government, pension planning org anizations or third-party advisors.</p>
<p>@maxellis - you said you have completed 90% of your accounting majors and none in finance. Well, finance has advanced math, so won’t it be hard to work in finance related jobs? Im asking this since accounting has barely any math whereas finance has loads of calculus etc…</p>
<p>This thread is very old.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the average undergraduate finance courses really require “advanced math”. Just because financial theories are based on calculus doesn’t mean you need to know anything all that advanced in order to major in it as an undergrad. Obviously the people getting MFE’s and going to Wall Street need to know a lot more…but everyone else? I don’t think so. Somebody needed calculus to figure out the Force = Mass * Acceleration. You don’t because Newton figured that out for you 400 years ago. I’m pretty sure the same is true for undergraduate finance…</p>
<p>BTW, the finance major at my school doesn’t require any more calculus than any other business major, and the same seems to be the case for the finance program at UTexas. I think some people on this board are confusing quants and other high-end Wall Street traders with the tens of thousands of “financial analysts” who spend all their time using spreadsheets building models.</p>
<p>But the math in finance is way more advanced compared to that in accounting right? so how does an accounting major cover up on the math a finance major studies? I’m in my senior year and my undergraduate applications will start in sometime. After doing accounting i want to do my CPA but the only thing that worries me is that I read of rumours that in future the prerequisite requirements are gonna go up. And incase i want a career shift to finance, i dont want to be at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Your state sets the CPA requirements, typically well in advance. You’ll have plenty of time to make sure you get the right classes. </p>
<p>From the finance I have done, it requires some math that some people find hard but isn’t that sophisticated. For example, calculating the beta of a stock portfolio when each stock has a different beta and might be held in different weights. Sure it’s some math, and you’ve got to do some statistical work in various classes I’m sure, but at most business schools everyone has to take a stats course regardless of major. </p>
<p>I could keep typing but it’d be a lot more efficient for you to just go to the websites of the schools you are applying to and look at the degree plans and course descriptions for the finance majors at those schools. If you see math classes listed as required courses or pre-reqs for required courses that are beyond those required for accountants…then that might be an issue for you. I don’t think you’ll find that, though.</p>