<p>Which major is in higher demand by employers right now? What are the main differences between the two majors? and Which is the most rewarding/promising? I'm currently majoring in finance, what do I need to do to secure a job in four years in finance? and should I switch to accounting?</p>
<p>I've asked many people these questions and most people either don't know or when they do give me an answer it doesn't help much, but for some reason people on CC can always give good feedback so fire away and leave me some good replies to read.</p>
<p>Accounting is the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information so a user of the information may make informed economic judgments and decisions based on it.</p>
<p>The field of finance refers to the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated</p>
<p>In simple terms accounting is bookkeeping and finance is investments.</p>
<p>Accounting is the most marketable business concentration.</p>
<p>Finance is a good concentration also. You can make huge amounts of money if you invest right.</p>
<p>A lot of students double concentrate in finance and accounting.</p>
<p>Also, you will learn a good deal of finance in accounting. They do cover in detail the concepts of present and future value, corporate finance etc.</p>
<p>The accounting profession seems to almost be recession-proof (unlike finance). In finance you will probably make a lot more money, but being an accountant, especially with a C.P.A., will provide you with a solid job and very nice income.</p>
<p>Depends on the program... At my university I believe you only take 1 actual finance course in the accounting program. I took this course and trust me, it only gives very basic principles, not enough info to say you know finance.</p>
<p>Same thing. They don't teach much finance/investing in accounting courses. It seems common sense that there is a direct correlation to the amount of courses one takes in a particular field and their knowledge in that field.</p>
<p>Not quite. Finance is not an unique specialty. People coming from a diverse set of majors do very well in finance: math, engineering, economics, accounting. Accounting students regularly work with ratio and statement analysis, FV/PV and other subjects relevant to finance in all their classes.
From what I understand, finance itself doesn't prepare its students to just step in as there's a lot of on-the-job learning and each firm has their own set of financial models. The benefit of majoring in finance brings you is recruiting. Firms know those students want to work for them and they pick off the best of them.</p>
<p>In my university students had a minor in economics after doing the finance course. Along with 27 semester units of accounting there are 9 units of advance finance with the accounting degree. The accounting students also have to take an extra law class like the human resource students (business law and employment law) along with tax law. I heard the tax laws keep on changing so it is annoying.</p>
<p>you seem to think that because there is on the job training, that just anyone can step into a finance related career. But, just with everything else, it depends on the job and the person.</p>
<p>The battle between accounting and finance will always rage on. I just much prefer finance because it is more interesting and applicable to so many things. Being more general doesnt make it a worser degree than accounting. It just requires the student to choose a field within finance. Such fields include banking, financial advising, financial analyst, hedge fund manager, portfolio manager, risk management, real estate, real estate valuation and many other careers.</p>
<p>Not just anyone, a qualified candidate with the assets employers want and they are able to train to perform and advance in their companies: strong math, great at networking, analytic mind. Finance is not the only major that teaches those skills, or subjects like PV/FV, statement analysis, financial modeling.</p>
<p>I think it's great you picked a major you are interested in. That's what you should do. But realize you're going to be in competition with people who preferred to major in math, engineering and accounting. You may even find yourself against a history major from Harvard.</p>