<p>Such as Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Management, Marketing, Supply Chain, and all the other ones that I forgot.</p>
<p>Accounting deals mostly with the financial records of the firm and reporting income and expenses. Finance is generally more forward looking and deals with capital spending, financing the firm, buying and selling of firm assets or investing in the firms.</p>
<p>Generally, "business administration" breaks down to these categories, and their "usual" general theories:
* Finance/Economics - how to maximize $$$, reduce losses, and manage money/capital
* Human Resource - managing people effectively, hiring the right kinds of people and firing the dolts
* Marketing - penetrate markets, sell useful/less stuff to just about anyone, guage market share with competitors
* Operations Management - optimize business functions and create efficient processes
* Information Systems - data is integral in business, I.S. people learn to manage, utilize, and integrate technology in its business
* Accounting - the IRS/SEC requires it
* Law (there are classes on business law, but usually not as a "Business Law" major) - litigation and ethics </p>
<p>*an excerpt from a site,studentsreview</p>
<p>Here are them all. Please explain.</p>
<ol>
<li>Accounting</li>
<li>Entrepreneurship</li>
<li>Finance</li>
<li>Insurance</li>
<li>International Business</li>
<li>Management</li>
<li>Managment Information Systems</li>
<li>Marketing</li>
<li>Productions/Operation Management</li>
<li>Quantitative Analysis</li>
<li>Real Estate</li>
<li>Supply Chain Managment/Logistics</li>
</ol>
<p>Ok (I am a sucker for these questions) :)</p>
<ol>
<li>Accounting - bean counter</li>
<li>Entrepreneurship - start your own business (could be a hot dog stand, could be Microsoft)</li>
<li>Finance - Broad category; companies raise money by selling stock, issuing debt, private placements. You help them do all that. Corporate finance, public finance, even municipal finance (cities raise money too)</li>
<li>Insurance - you know, life insurance, homeowners insurance, auto insurance. Somebody has to sell it! There is also the arcane profession of actuarial that attempts to measure the risk of various events to price insurance correctly.</li>
<li>International Business - Another broad category. You are either here dealing with foreign companies or you are over there (living the expat life)</li>
<li>Management - Broad, but usually means managing people which is very similar to being a kindergarten teacher. Lots of whining and crying. There's a line for your 4 and 5 yr old kids: "If I wanted to listen to all this whining and crying I would have stayed at work!!"</li>
<li>Managment Information Systems - computers (gross oversimplification!)
<ol>
<li>Marketing - Selling the product. You think customers just line up to buy all this junk? It has to be packaged and presented, demand has to be created (includes advertising)</li>
</ol></li>
<li>Productions/Operation Management - running a factory. For a manufacturing firm, somebody has to figure out how to make this stuff. Lots of complicated computer controlled robots used today... or else it's a sweatshop in Asia.</li>
<li>Quantitative Analysis - Heavy duty number crunching. Often fruitless</li>
<li>Real Estate - Broad category which includes most of the items above as subcategories. You have to build, finance, manage, and market real estate. Buildings that is. raw land, residential - single family, multifamily (apartments), commercial - office, shopping center, hotel, etc. etc.</li>
<li>Supply Chain Managment/Logistics - ?? Honestly don't know, but it sounds like running a supermarket. Arranging for trucks to bring vegetables to market. Could be a euphemism for foreign outsourcing! </li>
</ol>
<p>so, which flavor are you?</p>
<p>Accounting= bean counter? Gee, I am a CPA and have neither counted any beans or just worried only about SEC/IRS stuff? Accounting opens more doors than almost any other major in business. We can do the heavy number crunching of operations research and finance. We learn to understand, prepare and analyze financial statements as well as or better than most finance majors. We must have a basic understanding of entrepreneurship. Many accountants must have a good understand of computers and various business related software for consulting engagements and financial statement preparation. We need to understand both tax laws and learn about SEC requrirements and much more.</p>
<p>However, simply being a "bean counter" is NOT a correct euphanism for what modern accountants do today.</p>
<p>Umm taxguy...no offense to your profession...but accounting is not the best major...especially today, so many people are getting CPAs and working as accountants, its really not a big deal...</p>
<p>I would suggest finance. If you're interested in it, real estate and international business are pretty interesting. Also, look into economics at a liberal arts college. A good economics program at, say, the University of Chicago, or NYU will open up enough doors for you to get good jobs in investment banking and consulting while at the same time giving you, in my personal opinion, a more interesting and broad-based education.</p>
<p>I started out singlemindedly pursuing business majors...now i'm coming around to the realization that economics provides better opportunities. And if you want to go for an MBA, your undergraduate major does not even matter...honestly, check the enrollment stats at top MBA programs...</p>
<p>hope that helped...there a lot of information out there about undergrad business and what majors to have/ routes to take...its complicated...if you want more info, send me a PM, i'll be glad to help.</p>
<p>Here's my informal definition of each emphasis within Business Admin:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Accounting - Probably the most useful business emphasis because you understand the all-important idea of "cash flow". This involves keeping financial records of transactions made by a business. As an accountant you are financially recording the assets and liabilities for a company. Naive people will say that accountants are "bean counters", but really there are different types of accountants. Some accountants will be couped up in the corner of a office crunching numbers while other accountants are out dealing with clients and are among the most active people in the corporate world. </p></li>
<li><p>Entrepreneurship - My personal emphasis :). This involves growing business ventures. You learn how to conceptually create new businesses, test if they are feasible or not, and then implement the necessary steps to actually build the business. It is a risky emphasis but extremely fun and one with an almost endless ceiling. </p></li>
<li><p>Finance - This is probably the most popular emphasis. There are many different types of finance you can study like corporate finance, investment finance, real estate finance etc. but usually it centers around the idea of managing money. </p></li>
<li><p>Insurance - You are dealing with, well, insuring a person or their property. You are assessing risk and issuing policies that will protect a person. For example you might sell life insurance at a big company like Northwestern Mutual, and you would most likely deal with clients and convince them why life insurance is important, etc. It's a tough line of work but one that can be very lucrative. </p></li>
<li><p>International Business - This major is a culmination of many different emphases, but what is unique to this emphasis is that you are creating business internationally. Here you study everything from International law to things like tariffs, etc. When you graduate, the job market tends to be a bit more expansive than other emphases. </p></li>
<li><p>Management - A very important emphasis and often overlooked. Management involves studying how to operate and manage a company. Your responsibility is to be a leader and to be able to oversee and efficienty run a company. This is a great choice for a 2nd emphasis (i'm doing it myself ;)) because employers like to see those leadership qualities. </p></li>
<li><p>Managment Information Systems - This is a relatively new emphasis which basically involves the things you learn in management but applied to technology. Once again usually you are not going into depth technically but rather how to manage it. </p></li>
<li><p>Marketing - Another popular emphasis but usually the lowest paying. People often associate Marketing with advertising but there are many different forms of marketing like product & brand management, global marketing, sales strategy, etc. Marketing is integral because you have to expose a product or service to the end user. It is a very fun emphasis but once again low paying, but usually you can work your way up pretty fast and catch up in terms of pay. </p></li>
<li><p>Productions/Operation Management - This usually falls under management. This involves overseeing a company and ensuring the efficiency of the production process and the operations of a company. You hone your consulting and leadership skills in this emphasis.</p></li>
<li><p>Quantitative Analysis - I'm not really familiar with this emphasis but I believe it involves measuring value in securities. I'd assume the job market would particulary be in the securities industry like at a particular firm or even the SEC. </p></li>
<li><p>Real Estate - There's different types of real estate emphases. You can work in Real Estate finance or development, and others. You are learning about finance but in the world of real estate. You learn about real estate law, property management, equity, etc. You can come out as a real estate broker, appraiser, or deal with investments even. </p></li>
<li><p>Supply Chain Managment/Logistics - Very important emphasis. You learn about how to manage the supply chain. For example, if I set up a company that sells socks and hired you as a Supply Chain/Logistic Manager, you'd be in charge of ensuring that the socks travel through each intermediary efficienty; that means you make sure the socks leave the manufacturer, get to the wholesaler (if I have one), and finally to the retailer without any problems. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know those aren't formal definitions, but hope it helps.</p>