If you enjoy working with financial figures, choosing a career in accounting or finance could be a great decision for you. But, you may be unsure about which degree to earn, as the fields overlap. Therefore, it’s essential to pause your program hunt and ask yourself some crucial questions.
Finance vs. Accounting: The Basics
While there are many similarities between accounting and finance, they are two distinct disciplines. The main difference between them is that those who work in finance typically focus on planning and directing the financial transactions for an organization, while those who work in accounting focus on recording and reporting on those transactions. Put another way, accounting is the organization and management of financial information, whereas finance is the management of money.
What is Finance?
Finance is a broad term associated with managing money and acquiring needed funds, including budgeting, forecasting, lending, saving, investing and borrowing. Financial concepts and principles, such as the time value of money and intrinsic value, are based on microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. According to Investopedia, the finance industry consists of three sub-categories:
- Personal finance involves financial planning for individuals. This can include long-term financial management plans, such as retirement, purchasing of financial products, such as mortgages, and banking.
- Corporate finance involves the financial activities for running an organization, which can include investment strategy and budgeting.
- Public (government) finance includes the tax, spending, budgeting and other policies that relate to how the government allocates resources.
Careers in Finance
Finance is a broad field involving the management of money that can encompass anything from corporate finance to personal financial planning. Careers in finance may include jobs such as:
- Investment banker
- Financial broker
- Financial manager or planner
- Financial advisor
- Financial analyst
Those who work in finance often deal with others outside the organization, such as government agencies, banks, investment firms and services, stockholders and suppliers.
Finance professionals often evaluate, control or govern the monetary resources, investments and assets of an organization with a focus on profitability. They may also be involved in the early stages of expansions and acquisitions and often play a key role in helping an organization respond to trends in the marketplace to either capitalize on upturns or help the organization withstand downturns.
Finance Required Skills
According to staffing agency Robert Half, soft skills are just as critical for finance professionals as technical knowledge. In a 2018 article on their blog, interpersonal skills, communication ability and problem-solving skills are listed as essential skills for a career in finance, along with financial reporting, analytical expertise and business acumen.
What is Accounting?
Accounting is the identifying, recording and communicating of an organization’s economic results. A vital function for any business, accounting measures business activities, processes the information into reports and communicates the results to decision-makers.
There are different areas of specialization in accounting, according to Investopedia:
- Financial accounting includes the generation of financial statements that typically involve a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. This information is used by external decision-makers, such as investors, creditors and taxing authorities.
- Managerial accounting often involves the same data as financial accounting, but it used by internal stakeholders to make decisions on business operations. This can also include forecasting, budgeting and other financial analysis tools.
- Cost accounting involves determining the cost associated with producing a product and helps businesses decide if they should produce the product and what the product should cost.
Careers in Accounting
Many people consider accounting to be a subset of finance, while others refer to it as the “language of business.” In the business world, those who work in accounting use a standard set of rules and principles, known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), to track and report on the financial transactions of a business and often manage the general ledger, cash flow and tax obligations.
They typically work with journal entries, bank reconciliations, invoicing and similar processes that relate to the daily operation of a business. They may also create quarterly and annual financial reports, analyze profitability, manage debt, audit internal transactions and report earnings.
Careers in accounting include:
- Financial reporting accountant
- Auditor
- Bookkeeper
- Cost accounting manager
- Accounts receivable clerk
- Accounts payable clerk
- Controller
- Treasurer
- Technical accounting manager
- Tax accountant
Required Skills for Accounting
Similar to pursuing a career in finance, aspiring accounting professionals need to have a combination of accounting expertise, general business knowledge and soft skills to be successful. According to a 2016 Robert Half survey, over half of CFOs valued hard and soft skills equally when filling positions.
Robert Half states that hard skills in demand for accountants include expertise in technology and software systems, including Excel, ERP experience, SQL, Microsoft Visual Basic and business intelligence software. Soft skills include communication, leadership and customer service.
Accounting vs. Finance Coursework
Although there is some overlap in coursework for accounting and finance degrees, the curriculum for a finance degree tends to be more mathematics-intensive and focused on financial markets, portfolio and investment management theory, financial management, investments and security analysis and valuation. Courses for finance degrees are often more evaluative and analytical than accounting courses.
Accounting degrees include more coursework on quantitative analysis, internal auditing, income taxation and accounting practices and methods. Accounting tends to be more process-oriented and many degree programs offer fewer electives than finance degrees since there are more required classes for accounting majors. A degree in accounting and a degree in finance prepare students for different career opportunities, and prospective students should explore both fields carefully before deciding upon either course of study.
Finance vs. Accounting: Salary Expectations and Job Outlook
Both finance and accounting fall under the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) business and financial occupations category, which projects a faster than average demand for occupations from 2018 to 20281. The median salary in this category was $68,350 as of May 2018.
The BLS2 states that accountants and auditors will be in high demand from 2018 to 2028 and had a median annual salary of $70,500 in 2018. In comparison, financial analysts commanded a median annual salary of $85,660 in May 2018.3
Combine Your Accounting and Finance Career
A good thing to keep in mind is that despite their differences, accounting and finance are complementary fields and many students choose to major in one and minor in the other or opt for a double major. By fully understanding the differences and similarities between accounting and finance, you’ll be better able to select the educational path that best matches your skills, interests and career goals.
Learn more about Florida Tech’s 100% online accounting and finance degrees!
1Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Business and Financial Occupations, on the internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/home.htm (visited November 26, 2019).
2Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accounting and Auditor Occupations, on the internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm (visited November 20, 2019).
3Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Business and Financial Occupations, on the internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm (visited November 20, 2019).
National long-term projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions, and do not guarantee actual job growth. Degree and/or certificate program options do not guarantee career or salary outcomes. Students should conduct independent research for specific employment information.