I am at that point where I can no longer delay my decision on a major. I am almost certain that I would love majoring in finance based on the research I have done, but unfortunately my college does not offer a finance major. The only business majors are BBA in Management and BBA in Accounting. My school also offers Econ, which I am considering as a minor. As of right now, though, I am planning to do the BBA Accounting major. I hope to be able to go work after graduation until I can get into an MBA program where I would then try to focus on finance.
I do not want to be a personal accountant or anything like that. I would much rather be involved with the financial planning of a business and that kind of thing, which I have read is a lot more related to a finance degree, but the BBA Accounting major is all I have to work with. Like I said, I hope to be able to use that degree and work experience to get into an MBA program where I could focus on finance and then go work in that field. My ultimate goal would definitely be to own my own business of any kind, but I would particularly enjoy owning my own financial services business one day if I am ever that lucky, but I think the BBA in Accounting and my MBA would provide me with a pretty decent background to do that.
So does this plan sound plausible? Would it be difficult to major in BBA Accounting and then try to earn an MBA with a finance focus? I really do not want get a BBA Accounting degree and then end up sort of stuck in that field that I do not really want to go into.
I think a BBA in accounting is a fine degree to have, but if your school has economics, have you considered majoring in that instead? Perhaps with a minor or double major in statistics or data analysis? That’s the sort of background a quantitative analyst would have and that’s an integral part of finance in this computerized world.
ALSO, alternatively to a MBA, you can always look into MSF and MFE programs if you’re into finance.
I should have mentioned that I go to a rather small college, but it is considered to be one of the best schools in my state. It is usually ranked between 3rd and 5th among all universities and colleges on the popular ranking lists. That being said, the business-related majors are fairly limited and I have already taken a number of business-related classes that would only apply to three majors for me at this point. Those are a business administration degree with a focus in management, a business administration degree with a focus in accounting, and an economics degree. After posting my original post I did more research about the required courses at my school for the majors and found out a lot of the courses for the econ major overlap with courses for the BA management major. I do not know if there is an overlap limit, but I plan to speak to my advisor soon and find out. If there is not, I was considering the idea of double majoring in econ and BA with the management focus. I know many people would probably say the accounting focus would be better with econ, but I do not really like accounting and was only considering it as a possible platform to get to an MBA program where I could focus on finance. Also, considering my dream is to run my own business I would think that management would be more of what I would like to do.
Accounting fits nicely in financial planning since most models start with actual financial statements and an analysis of the trends and goals. I would do accounting with an Econ minor, or Econ and Mgt minors if possible. I always recommend sitting for the CPA. Depending on your grad school, some of these classes may count toward your MBA.
I would say though, if you have zero interest in sitting fr the CPA, then I think econ or mgmt major with econ minor would be more interesting but equally as valuable.
Like I said, I do not really have any interest in being an accountant. I am certain that a major in finance is right for me based on my interests and career goals, but my school does not offer that. That’s why I was basically trying to figure out if I could start with econ and/or accounting and then try to go to an MBA program at another school that would allow me to focus on finance and then be able to work the types of jobs that a regular finance student can after graduation.
There’s a lot of positions that will ask for you to have some sort of financial background. Normally that’s Econ, Accounting, Business admin, Finance, etc. You could get a MBA after getting either econ/accounting. Or you can get a MSF
So just to be clear, you are saying that it would not be too difficult to get into a career that is more related to the typical finance degree as long as the degree I do have is a finance-related degree? Like I said, I am almost certain that a finance degree would really help me with where I want to go career wise but I am wondering if other degrees will as well since I do not have that option. If there is an actual job title for what it is I want to do, I do not know what it is. I am personally interested in the entire operations of a business, all the way from marketing to management and finances. I love marketing and the idea of coming up with great business names, logos, slogans, and advertisements. I have been doing stand-up comedy since I was 14 and have had some pretty decent success, and I believe that my skills related to that could be very beneficial for things related to marketing. And I also do not think that my lifelong experience as an art student would be detrimental to the marketing side of business either. Like I said, though, I enjoy all of the operations of a business which includes the numbers side as well, and I like to think I have had a small glimpse into what that is like.
Recently, I have been working with the management of a small local movie theater since before starting business and have continued to work with them since. I like to think that I am a business-minded person and because of that I have been able to be somewhat helpful to them, especially for someone my age with really no business experience. I even helped them set price points for concessions and had to explain to them why a number of decisions that they made were wrong, including the offering of three different drink sizes at different prices all with free refills. The second I realized this was the case, I immediately had to explain that they should be only offering refills on the largest size drink so that the customer would be more likely to purchase the size that made the most profit for the theater. Another example was their plan to have one concessions counter with a worker on a register in the middle and two workers to fill the orders on opposite sides of the register with the capacity to only fill one order at a time. Again, immediately I thought explain it should be changed to two registers on each end which would result in smaller and quicker lines, and the two people serving could work the register and then the theater would have to only pay two workers instead of three. And I know that is a completely irrelevant story, but the point is that I really enjoy working to help optimize the business and profits. I am somewhat hesitant about using the word, but all of it is fun to me, from the marketing to the strategizing to the numbers side of things and I guess I am just trying to figure out the best way for me to get to a career that would hopefully allow me to work with at least some, if not all of those areas of business.
I also forgot to mention that I said that I believed finance was right for me because of the research I have done. Based on what I have read, my understanding is that a finance degree is more related to the future financial projections as well as the present financial standing of the business and how that can be incorporated into a business strategy which is a lot of what I am interested in. Also, I have read that the growth potential in that field is projected to be very good over the next several years and that is always a plus.
When you say typical finance job what do you mean?
Are there many Finance electives you can take so that you emphasize Finance?