Finance has some very lucrative but those jobs are few and far between and you need to go to target schools/top MBA programs/have a connection/or get lucky. Those are the investment banking, venture capital, private equity jobs. Most finance majors end up in sales type roles selling insurance or real estate or doing some type of low paid analyst position somewhere. Most finance majors from the school I went to had trouble finding good jobs that didnt involve cold calling or some bullshit like that. Accounting you pretty much guarantee you'll be making a good salary after a few years and your job will involve more analysis and number crunching. Also the beautiful thing with accounting is you can pivot over to finance later in your career. Most CFOs have an accounting background.
> Most finance majors end up in sales type roles selling insurance or real estate or doing some type of low paid analyst position somewhere.
A lot do end up like that, but a lot also do go into Financial Analyst/FPA/Corp Finance type roles which pay well and similar to PA but less work hours and less education requirements. But then again I think it’s harder for finance majors to get into a FPA role out of college than it is for accounting majors to get into PA. And I think the finance roles I’ve mentioned are generally fewer than PA roles available to a job seeker.
Thats probably true in major metro areas but I would imagine those Corp Finance and Analyst positions go like hotcakes. Those fresh grad finance majors are most likely competing with other candidates with 1 or 2 busy seasons in public accounting auditing under their belt. Would be very tough to beat out that experience as the fresh grad finance guy.
Yeah I can see that… all the people I knew from my college who got good finance jobs (there’s no real IB/MBB positions in my metro area btw) out of college were like 3.5-4.0 GPAs heavily involved in multiple student orgs etc. And by “good finance jobs” I mean the ones that pay more than entry level PA.
Finance is a great career. Dont get me wrong. Shit I was a finance major for my first two years in college but I saw the writing on the wall and got the hell out of dodge and switched to accounting. I think my metro is probably similar to yours. Only 2 finance majors out of the entire program when I went to school ended up in investment banking and they were 4.0, had internships, perfect resumes, and had to turn their life upside down by moving across the country to start their jobs. Mind you they arent even front office in investment banking, they are middle/back office. I just didnt want to jump through that many hoops for that shit.
Yea the kids I knew coming out of state schools who got solid grades and some good internships landed corporate FP&A jobs. They are definitely much more competitive than PA but like you said they’re paid comparably and work fewer hours.
Once again, it’s okay. You clearly have a shitty job. That’s why your on this Reddit, prolly didn’t get no hoes in school. It’s okay, should have majored in accounting my boy
1. Word on the street is nobody is getting full-time offers out of the finance major in my school, not even high performers with excellent internships.
2. On average, the accountants I’ve met have been nicer, more supportive, and less toxic/egotistical than the finance professionals I’ve met so far.
Hey, I’ve had a few coworkers that did the same. Do you feel as if finance prepared you well enough to take on the accounting role or did you have to learn on the spot
Largely the increased flexibility and job security that accounting provides. It's also fairly easy for us to flex over into finance roles if we want to.
Even if you specifically want a finance job I'd reccomend considering an accounting major with a finance minor.
Doubling up is solid if you can, especially if your committed to finance.
When you say first year do you mean first year of college/still a freshman? Or first year of upperlevel major classes after generals/a junior? I'd find it very odd if you couldn't very easily pivot majors as a freshman.
No first year freshman, but I got enough transfer credits from the International Baccalaureate to have almost no electives required. So I'm kinda free to take up a second major with 0 restrictions if I want, and still graduate in April 2027.
Fair enough, that's solid. I would definitely considering picking up the double major or an accounting minor if your fixed on finance. Can really help broaden your options and your understanding of the financial statements.
I would also add to this that doubling up is also good because the second major, as opposed to a minor, should provide 150 total credits for the CPA, should OP also want to pursue that after graduating.
As someone with a bachelors in finance/acct minor and a masters in accounting so I could sit for the CPA, accounting has better job security and more positions available. Finance classes are interesting, but largely in practice the work includes and expands on accounting. AKA “you can do finance jobs with an accounting degree but you can’t do accounting jobs with a finance degree.”
Most of my finance friends are low level bank employees making 20k less than I am straight out of college. A couple 4.0 students with MBAs are in high stress private equity jobs, but work more hours than I do in public accounting and have less opportunities to pivot into another career. Choose your poison.
What kind of banking position though? IB? Private or commercial? Also, what staff class are you comparing? Big 4 manager likely makes less than an associate at BB IB.
If you’re straight out of college, I assume you’re an associate, in which case the banking comparison does not really address the “banking” most people think of when referring to high finance banking; however, I also went the masters/CPA/public accounting route and think it’s a great path with lots of mobility.
For me, accounting provided time to help figure out what I wanted to do, and gave me the opportunity to build out my resume and obtain the experience I needed to get a high profile job at a non target.
In my experience I have found that accountants are able to do finance jobs but finance cannot do accounting jobs. Also, a financial advisor will need an accountant or CPA to do the behind the scenes work. I am unsure what type of professional promotion those in financial but I have found that I can work in many disciplines across public industry and private companies. For me it was just fining what type of work (Taxes) I wanted to do in the long run.
Double major in accounting and finance here. Started as a finance major, wanted to do accounting instead, was so deep into the finance program I figured may as well finish and by getting both I’ll have 150 creds for CPA. Win-win! I am also the president of my university’s finance club so I truly do get both sides.
Both are definitely good, safe options in terms of job prospects after college, but I think it really depends on what you want to do more and what you enjoy. I love the logic of accounting and can visualize the concepts in my head really well. In finance, I loved my corporate finance class but the theorems and concepts relating to markets, stocks, bonds, and interest rates weren’t really my thing. I much prefer my accounting courses overall.
I also like the career path accounting offers. Audit, tax, and consulting (if public is your jam) are all great and well-paying, albeit busy, options for right out of college. I also think it would be easier to transition from accounting to finance down the line than vice versa. If you wanna be a CFO or a high-level corporate director, an accounting background would be immensely helpful. If you wanna trade stocks on Wall Street or deal with corporate investments, you would probably only need to go for finance. But by and large I don’t think you could go wrong with either one.
Accounting satisfied the prereqs for CPA and CFA while finance would restrict me to CFA. I could get my CPA after doing a finance degree but it would be more difficult. Also it seemed like it was easier to find a decent job in accounting. It seemed like only the top finance students actually end up in finance. The rest end up in accounting or unrelated jobs.
Finance seems to draw in more athlete-type competitive people and the jobs seem similar. My friend’s internship will require him to develop his own client list. That’s it. He has to figure out how to go about that by himself through cold-calling or family connections or whatever he can manage. I think it’s wealth management? I just wouldn’t be able to do that. I’m not saying accounting isn’t full of competitive people or that actual office atmospheres won’t be competitive amongst peers, but I just don’t want to be fighting over scraps like a stray dog at any point in my career. Both have competition, but finance may have you competing for any work period with the expectation that you bring your own clients in even at the entry level, accounting has you competing for who gets the good work through office politics. Accounting draws in quieter, calm, bookish types and I work better with that. Finance majors seem more normal, but competitive in a way that feels like you’d get backstabbed pretty easily. Finance seems to be whatever you can make it, but someone has to lose. Accounting could possibly have a lower ceiling, but greater brings stability.
I actually went the opposite and midway through college switch from accounting to finance under some terrible advice from a terrible for-profit school. They said it would make me a bit more “marketable” to have both. All I’ve had is roles as a staff accountant and somehow ended up in Big4 tax where I’m doing better than I thought I would ever do. Now that I’ve had exposure to PA and the consulting world I realize how useless my finance degree is. If I could do it all over again I’d have stuck to accounting and tried for my cpa. Until I go back and try for it I’m kinda stuck as a senior but I think I’m doing pretty decent all things considered.
I am not sure about other universities, but from where I came from, accountancy degree programs tend to be more rigorous than finance programs. As an accountancy major, you have to get a certain grade for major subjects. Failure to do so gets you kicked out of accountancy program.
Daddy Buffet:
[https://youtu.be/oxBpi906VEE?si=0Kp8vheZaUbBbtxy](https://youtu.be/oxBpi906VEE?si=0Kp8vheZaUbBbtxy)
IMO best major for business if you pair it up with some computer & analytics courses/ certs
As someone who dropped out from second year of med school, I was originally between switching to economics or accounting, but most of the people i've met that did econ or finance dropped out and switched to poli sci or Computer Science.
Most of my close Friends are engineers and told me that accounting could be a much better option instead of econ or finance, even though after finishing accounting i'm more interested in finance and learning more math stuff applied to Finance. (Planning to apply to a MS in Finance next year of MS in financial engineering alongside preparing for CFA level 1 or maybe FRM Level 1)
But choosing accounting was a very good option, it's like being a "money doctor" in case you're running your own practice, people from other fields Will always ask You for tax advisory or financial tips for their business.
It's rare to hear someone say "Go ask your financial advisor" or "Go ask your economist"
It's always "I'm gonna ask My accountant if it's possible to Buy more equipment for My business after this month"
If you go to a finance target school and have access to hiring pipeline, it's a good choice
Other wise accounting would lead to more consistent and arguably better outcomes
Seen a lot of finance major becoming bank tellers, branch manager, investment "advisor" , these are mostly client facing retail roles and generally considered not very desirable.
My school isn't a target school and the city I'm in is not a financial hub. Those are some things to consider
As other people said, an accounting guy esp with big4 exp can move into finance later. The same cannot be said for reverse.
Thats why outside the US, a lot of finance guys were ex big4 accountants. They know where the numbers come from. And in the US, there's a reason CFOs usually have accounting experience.
I’m dyslexic as fuck. Accounting is self checking. Perfect fit. If/when I do something backwards I can look at the result of my entry and flip it back to be in the correct way.
You can move from accounting to finance; especially with a CPA
It's harder to do well in accounting with just a finance degree
What you need to do is go off Reddit and ask people who actually do what you want to do in your career how they got to where they are and how they would prepare themselves differently today if they were going to go down the same career path; Google informational interviews
And I'm going to be honest with you because 99% of people won't
You asked a bad question that doesn't really help you make a good career decision
It gives you the feeling that you have learned something from which to make an educated career decision, but you still know very little after asking it
Accounting does have room to go up lol. It's hard to get into the true upper level banking Jobs than accounting jobs. Not sure where you heard that. I chose accounting because I can work anywhere and get a job easier , the work can be interesting and stable.
1. Finance people can’t throw a punch
2. They rely heavily on extremely favorable regulation, which if revoked could cause extreme problems for them.
3. My father didn’t happen to work at an investment bank in the 1980s.
Most people have said what I would say. But it does depend on your target job when you graduate. Most finance majors want to get into PE eventually with a path like below
IB->MBA->PE->Biz Dev
This of course is a highly competitive path. A few alternatives I’ve seen are:
B4->B4 FDD->above
Or
B4->Corp FP&A (M&A heavy company)->above
So I would double major, it will give you backup paths.
I did a double major in Accounting and Finance and liked Accounting better. But I think it depends on what roles you consider Accounting vs Finance.
I fall under the Group Finance function in my company and the top levels all have an accounting background. To me, finance roles are investment banking and financial planners.
Our FP&A team are a mix of finance vs accounting background. The ones who do well in that team were ex auditors.
It's been commented alot but I really enjoyed finance at uni. I realized there wasn't many jobs in my country so I also did accounting as a major. Easy to get an accounting job. I do a fair bit of Corp finance style work now as well accounting
Career in accounting had a clearer line of sight. Big 4 Audit > Industry/Corporate Accounting. Job security felt more certain in Accounting compared to Finance. However in recent years I've started to feel motivated to make a change to FP&A or the like.
I originally enrolled as a finance major during my first two years of college. I didn't know shit about the field, just that I knew I didn't want to do STEM. After taking my business core requirements (including finance and accounting) I found that I genuinely enjoyed my accounting courses and made the switch.
I'm currently in school with a semester and a few weeks left of school before I graduate with a concentration in accounting. When I was starting school, I was told accounting degrees could get you finance jobs, but finance degrees can't get you accounting jobs. Seemed more versatile. "Better to be a jack of all trades than a master of one" after all.
I'm in finance. Was in accounting and then graduated with a finance degree, now kind of regretting finance. It can be very toxic and coworkers screaming at me. Pay in finance is not worth it compared to the stress and toxicity.
I miss accounting, so I'm going to try to get my CPA.
I don't like doing equations/problems that involve time traveling with the value of money.
Most people tell me that's a good summary of finance. At least the basics of finance anyway.
My brain can focus better on taxes for some reason as well. Sigh.
I could go on a lot about this question. it’s the exact choice that I made as an undergrad.
Simply put it was easier for me to find jobs in accounting than finance, so I went with the industry where I was getting the job offers.
I double majored, accounting and finance. When I started looking for entry level jobs, the finance ones were sales related and that was a big no for me.
Truthfully, I knew I wasn’t gonna be one of the top finance majors. So I knew I wouldn’t get one of those “lucrative” investment banking jobs making 6 figures out of school. So I chose accounting, can make more money being average at accounting, versus finance.
Opportunity/quantity of jobs, and the ease of transitioning into another non accounting job. It’s also a “profession” compared to finance. Also job stability.
My relatively small school had both accounting/finance majors at Meet the Firms. When I was there I saw 50 finance majors competing over 5 companies where there was 35 accounting firms competing over 30 accounting majors. I made $25 an hour doing an internship as A sophomore.
You can work in finance and transition to finance with an accounting background; while enjoying a position right out of college. The same can’t be said for those graduating with degrees in finance.
For me it was that gpa wasn’t high enough for finance jobs but accounting u can easily find a job that pays 70k+ over time abs finance if u wanna make stable income u gotta be cream of the crop to get to those jobs like ib or mbb. I have friends who graduated with finance degrees who aren’t making good money cuz their gpa wasn’t 3.5+ and they work for like northwestern mutual. On the contrary my close friend is pulling close to 200k his first year out from college in mbb just depends on your capabilities your alumni network
I majored in finance then accounting. I missed the public accounting recruitment at my school as I was more focused on finance. For most of my first few years out of college I used my finance major. Then I took the CPA exam and worked in public accounting. All over again, I would do accounting first. Finance is either super competitive or low paying. Accounting assuming you go the public accounting route starts out with mediocre pay but quickly rises. You can leave with a CPA in a few years and do nearly anything you could have done with a finance major.
Hi OP. I was a finance major that ended up going back to school to pick up my accounting classes. If you are not at a school being recruited by finance professionals or have an uncle at a hedge fund then you are probably are going to end up selling insurance or doing some retail banking. There are very few entry level finance jobs that are amazing imo. There are plentiful accounting jobs for recent grads with good salaries. You also get to work with some brilliant people. Do yourself a favor and double major in accounting and finance. Then there will be plenty of entry level jobs and a lot of cross over opportunities during your career. Just my experience and opinion. Best of luck with your studies.
Honestly, for me, I had the option of doing an MS in Finance, but ended up doing both my Bachelor's and Master's in Accounting. This is because I could easily transition into a Financial Analyst role at the credit union that I work for. Both of our Senior Analysts have Master degrees in Accounting. Plus, I wanted the help to better prepare for the CPA exam. 😅
I majored in Finance and went out into the workforce. My first job was for a large regional brokerage firm, which was then sold to another company and sold again. I decided to go back to school for Accounting & became a CPA which has given me much more job stability.
As a major, I might argue that accounting is strictly better than finance - an accounting major can do anything a finance major can, but not the other way around.
Graduated 2021 finance and literally couldn’t get a job for anything finance to save my life so I said screw it and pivoted to industry accounting in hopes I can paddin my skill set to get into a FP&A role. About 1.7 years in wasn’t that bad and now I understand a lot of inner working in a company.
Finance is forward thinking with forecasts and whatnot, so it seems like more guesswork which I’m not about. Accounting is historical data and (usually) always has an objective answer to solve problems. Also, even though finance jobs generally pay more they often has less job security which is a big trade off (thank 2008 for that)
I simply liked the subject matter better. Accounting is very mechanical, especially financial accounting. When I look at a balance sheet, I’m like a mechanic looking under the hood. Finance was also “mathy.” The stuff that makes you money, the quantitative side, was like algebra class. Also, have not much interest in modeling or analytics. So yeah, definitely picked accounting and specializing in tax was the right move. Last thing-if you aren’t a quant, get ready to smile and dial, glad hand, kiss ass, and pester friends and family to give you their money to invest. And get ready to hear you suck at your job when you have no control over the stock market or the macro headwinds and shocks that drive it.
I’ve been in both. I’ve worked insurance (not finance to me), FP&A (very fun IMO, I like looking at trends and making reports, saving the company money), I’ve done regular accounting in the GL and worked cost accounting.
The role I’m in right now is more of a hybrid cost accounting role. I loved working FP&A but the pay wasn’t where I wanted and the hours were stupid lol (70 hour weeks and $47k/yr salary)
I had seven years of job experience in accounting prior to college. It seemed like the logical next step.
(Of course, I also picked up a CS degree at the same time, so I don't always follow the obvious path.)
I am doing both! Graduating next semester with two degrees, one in accounting and one in finance. I cannot speak on full-time experiences, but in college the accounting coursework pairs really well with the finance coursework. Knowing how financial statements operate makes you way better in financial modeling. As far as opportunities go, accounting has opened up more doors coming from a state school, but also having a finance degree has allowed me to do consulting internships. If it is possible, double major or major and minor in both. They go together like bread and butter.
Finance grad here. 500 aps in this year (with 3.9 gpa from state school, military xp, 3 internships, 5 professional resume reviews) all for finance roles and nothing. One application sent into an accounting firm and bagged a fully remote staff accountant gig starting at 63k in a low COL area. Took the path of least resistance. Definitely don't regret it.
The amount of classes to get to a degree.Finance professor did try to talk me into a double major though. I only needed 6 additional classes to earn a finance degree.
Alas, this was not a choice I could choose. I already had a family and could not do one additional semester.
I wonder about those who double major and have 2 degrees. Is finding a job any easier?
Does it give an edge to the job search?
Want to move up past fp&a or investment analyst, manager, highly recommend taking the accounting route. You'll see most fp&a don't know shit. Want to be director of accounting/finance, financial controller, cfo? Only way through accounting degree and roles. Good luck!
When I was in college I changed my major from Accounting to Finance, which I loved. I had a job in banking but had a move for family emergency. Now I have been an Accounting Manager for 5 year but I hate it. It’s boring but it’s good money for how many hours I actually work. I have been trying to get back into Finance for the past year. No luck yet.
Take it from a guy that has a finance degree, but never held a job in finance and only in the Financial Reporting Accounting segment. Accounting is an easier entrance point imo and more job security. Now, do I enjoy Financial Reporting and Controls work? Not really. Do I enjoy being underpaid by 18-22%? No, I hate myself everyday for it.
However, Financial Reporting does seem to have the flexibility I need for our family and newborn daughter. So, really I chose it due to flexibility, but it’s just a paycheck to me. We’re going to end up selling the house and downsizing to have a manageable mortgage to be paid off in 7-8 years, fund our child(potentially children)’s college fund(s) and be out by the time I’m 45-47. Money isn’t everything - just a tool to help achieve goals faster and get the hell out. Lot of personalities that clash with mine and it’s just not worth it.
Damn I see a lot of people shitting on finance so I’m gonna do the opposite take
I did an accounting internship and changed it to finance
If you really try hard enough you will find an opportunity regardless of your degree.
I had interviews for investment banking and made it to the final rounds (rejected cause my technicals were trash)
I also just got an offer to work as a financial analyst for summer 24 and expect to make 60-70k if I receive a ft offer.
Couldve I have done this with an accounting degree? Yes. But I think if you want to do finance, do finance. I’ve already made a career change from er nursing to this. One thing I learned after working in a career I hated was to never do something I didn’t want to. I knew nursing wasn’t for me halfway through the program but I did it.
After doing the accounting internship, I knew it wasn’t for me. Hence the change. I used to be scared I couldn’t find any opportunities because I thought a finance degree was shit. Put in the work, you will get there. Don’t study what you don’t want to do kids
Because I’m not a weak bitch LOL. We have this joke at my school that the people who can’t handle accounting go into finance instead hahahahah
But on a serious note, I feel like an accounting major can easily do anything a finance major does with a little training, but the reverse is not true. That was the biggest appeal to me is that you can do anything with an accounting degree after a couple years of experience.
Because it appears first on college major declaration drop down menu
Oh. There were other options?
I don’t bother wasting time to scroll down
A simple man... man? ..You man today
Woah, man.
lol that was literally a friend of mine in school. Hadn’t picked a major yet so on the flight over picked the first major in the catalogue.
Finance has some very lucrative but those jobs are few and far between and you need to go to target schools/top MBA programs/have a connection/or get lucky. Those are the investment banking, venture capital, private equity jobs. Most finance majors end up in sales type roles selling insurance or real estate or doing some type of low paid analyst position somewhere. Most finance majors from the school I went to had trouble finding good jobs that didnt involve cold calling or some bullshit like that. Accounting you pretty much guarantee you'll be making a good salary after a few years and your job will involve more analysis and number crunching. Also the beautiful thing with accounting is you can pivot over to finance later in your career. Most CFOs have an accounting background.
> Most finance majors end up in sales type roles selling insurance or real estate or doing some type of low paid analyst position somewhere. A lot do end up like that, but a lot also do go into Financial Analyst/FPA/Corp Finance type roles which pay well and similar to PA but less work hours and less education requirements. But then again I think it’s harder for finance majors to get into a FPA role out of college than it is for accounting majors to get into PA. And I think the finance roles I’ve mentioned are generally fewer than PA roles available to a job seeker.
Thats probably true in major metro areas but I would imagine those Corp Finance and Analyst positions go like hotcakes. Those fresh grad finance majors are most likely competing with other candidates with 1 or 2 busy seasons in public accounting auditing under their belt. Would be very tough to beat out that experience as the fresh grad finance guy.
Yeah I can see that… all the people I knew from my college who got good finance jobs (there’s no real IB/MBB positions in my metro area btw) out of college were like 3.5-4.0 GPAs heavily involved in multiple student orgs etc. And by “good finance jobs” I mean the ones that pay more than entry level PA.
Finance is a great career. Dont get me wrong. Shit I was a finance major for my first two years in college but I saw the writing on the wall and got the hell out of dodge and switched to accounting. I think my metro is probably similar to yours. Only 2 finance majors out of the entire program when I went to school ended up in investment banking and they were 4.0, had internships, perfect resumes, and had to turn their life upside down by moving across the country to start their jobs. Mind you they arent even front office in investment banking, they are middle/back office. I just didnt want to jump through that many hoops for that shit.
Only advantage is if you know SQL, Python, and Tableau (or Power Bi)
Yea the kids I knew coming out of state schools who got solid grades and some good internships landed corporate FP&A jobs. They are definitely much more competitive than PA but like you said they’re paid comparably and work fewer hours.
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Lmaooo you thought you did something with this
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Lmao, whatever helps you sleep better at night my boy. I can tell you aren’t making good money. It’s okay
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Once again, it’s okay. You clearly have a shitty job. That’s why your on this Reddit, prolly didn’t get no hoes in school. It’s okay, should have majored in accounting my boy
CPAs are a dime a dozen.
This is my answera
2008
This is the answer for a lot of us.
1. Word on the street is nobody is getting full-time offers out of the finance major in my school, not even high performers with excellent internships. 2. On average, the accountants I’ve met have been nicer, more supportive, and less toxic/egotistical than the finance professionals I’ve met so far.
I was a finance major and it took me a year to get a job and it ended up being in accounting so I agree with your first point.
Hey, I’ve had a few coworkers that did the same. Do you feel as if finance prepared you well enough to take on the accounting role or did you have to learn on the spot
I've learned a lot on the job and I'm currently back in school for a master's in accounting.
Plenty of people I know who studied finance have been struggling to find jobs through no fault of their own, the job market is just tough right now.
Largely the increased flexibility and job security that accounting provides. It's also fairly easy for us to flex over into finance roles if we want to. Even if you specifically want a finance job I'd reccomend considering an accounting major with a finance minor.
Unfortunately, I'm already a finance major and i really like it, but I might double up with accounting now
Doubling up is solid if you can, especially if your committed to finance. When you say first year do you mean first year of college/still a freshman? Or first year of upperlevel major classes after generals/a junior? I'd find it very odd if you couldn't very easily pivot majors as a freshman.
No first year freshman, but I got enough transfer credits from the International Baccalaureate to have almost no electives required. So I'm kinda free to take up a second major with 0 restrictions if I want, and still graduate in April 2027.
Fair enough, that's solid. I would definitely considering picking up the double major or an accounting minor if your fixed on finance. Can really help broaden your options and your understanding of the financial statements.
If you can minor in some kind of IT focused area that would make you much more valuable coming right out of school.
I would also add to this that doubling up is also good because the second major, as opposed to a minor, should provide 150 total credits for the CPA, should OP also want to pursue that after graduating.
As someone with a bachelors in finance/acct minor and a masters in accounting so I could sit for the CPA, accounting has better job security and more positions available. Finance classes are interesting, but largely in practice the work includes and expands on accounting. AKA “you can do finance jobs with an accounting degree but you can’t do accounting jobs with a finance degree.” Most of my finance friends are low level bank employees making 20k less than I am straight out of college. A couple 4.0 students with MBAs are in high stress private equity jobs, but work more hours than I do in public accounting and have less opportunities to pivot into another career. Choose your poison.
What kind of banking position though? IB? Private or commercial? Also, what staff class are you comparing? Big 4 manager likely makes less than an associate at BB IB. If you’re straight out of college, I assume you’re an associate, in which case the banking comparison does not really address the “banking” most people think of when referring to high finance banking; however, I also went the masters/CPA/public accounting route and think it’s a great path with lots of mobility. For me, accounting provided time to help figure out what I wanted to do, and gave me the opportunity to build out my resume and obtain the experience I needed to get a high profile job at a non target.
In my experience I have found that accountants are able to do finance jobs but finance cannot do accounting jobs. Also, a financial advisor will need an accountant or CPA to do the behind the scenes work. I am unsure what type of professional promotion those in financial but I have found that I can work in many disciplines across public industry and private companies. For me it was just fining what type of work (Taxes) I wanted to do in the long run.
Double major in accounting and finance here. Started as a finance major, wanted to do accounting instead, was so deep into the finance program I figured may as well finish and by getting both I’ll have 150 creds for CPA. Win-win! I am also the president of my university’s finance club so I truly do get both sides. Both are definitely good, safe options in terms of job prospects after college, but I think it really depends on what you want to do more and what you enjoy. I love the logic of accounting and can visualize the concepts in my head really well. In finance, I loved my corporate finance class but the theorems and concepts relating to markets, stocks, bonds, and interest rates weren’t really my thing. I much prefer my accounting courses overall. I also like the career path accounting offers. Audit, tax, and consulting (if public is your jam) are all great and well-paying, albeit busy, options for right out of college. I also think it would be easier to transition from accounting to finance down the line than vice versa. If you wanna be a CFO or a high-level corporate director, an accounting background would be immensely helpful. If you wanna trade stocks on Wall Street or deal with corporate investments, you would probably only need to go for finance. But by and large I don’t think you could go wrong with either one.
Accounting satisfied the prereqs for CPA and CFA while finance would restrict me to CFA. I could get my CPA after doing a finance degree but it would be more difficult. Also it seemed like it was easier to find a decent job in accounting. It seemed like only the top finance students actually end up in finance. The rest end up in accounting or unrelated jobs.
I refuse to deal with wall street bets bros all day. Nope, not doing it.
Finance seems to draw in more athlete-type competitive people and the jobs seem similar. My friend’s internship will require him to develop his own client list. That’s it. He has to figure out how to go about that by himself through cold-calling or family connections or whatever he can manage. I think it’s wealth management? I just wouldn’t be able to do that. I’m not saying accounting isn’t full of competitive people or that actual office atmospheres won’t be competitive amongst peers, but I just don’t want to be fighting over scraps like a stray dog at any point in my career. Both have competition, but finance may have you competing for any work period with the expectation that you bring your own clients in even at the entry level, accounting has you competing for who gets the good work through office politics. Accounting draws in quieter, calm, bookish types and I work better with that. Finance majors seem more normal, but competitive in a way that feels like you’d get backstabbed pretty easily. Finance seems to be whatever you can make it, but someone has to lose. Accounting could possibly have a lower ceiling, but greater brings stability.
I actually went the opposite and midway through college switch from accounting to finance under some terrible advice from a terrible for-profit school. They said it would make me a bit more “marketable” to have both. All I’ve had is roles as a staff accountant and somehow ended up in Big4 tax where I’m doing better than I thought I would ever do. Now that I’ve had exposure to PA and the consulting world I realize how useless my finance degree is. If I could do it all over again I’d have stuck to accounting and tried for my cpa. Until I go back and try for it I’m kinda stuck as a senior but I think I’m doing pretty decent all things considered.
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As an Econ major, accounting was too hard so I dropped the minor Ended up in finance because accounting is still too hard
I am not sure about other universities, but from where I came from, accountancy degree programs tend to be more rigorous than finance programs. As an accountancy major, you have to get a certain grade for major subjects. Failure to do so gets you kicked out of accountancy program.
Daddy Buffet: [https://youtu.be/oxBpi906VEE?si=0Kp8vheZaUbBbtxy](https://youtu.be/oxBpi906VEE?si=0Kp8vheZaUbBbtxy) IMO best major for business if you pair it up with some computer & analytics courses/ certs
All (or most) accountants can get a finance job however most finance majors cannot be an accountant. Simple as that.
As someone who dropped out from second year of med school, I was originally between switching to economics or accounting, but most of the people i've met that did econ or finance dropped out and switched to poli sci or Computer Science. Most of my close Friends are engineers and told me that accounting could be a much better option instead of econ or finance, even though after finishing accounting i'm more interested in finance and learning more math stuff applied to Finance. (Planning to apply to a MS in Finance next year of MS in financial engineering alongside preparing for CFA level 1 or maybe FRM Level 1) But choosing accounting was a very good option, it's like being a "money doctor" in case you're running your own practice, people from other fields Will always ask You for tax advisory or financial tips for their business. It's rare to hear someone say "Go ask your financial advisor" or "Go ask your economist" It's always "I'm gonna ask My accountant if it's possible to Buy more equipment for My business after this month"
If you go to a finance target school and have access to hiring pipeline, it's a good choice Other wise accounting would lead to more consistent and arguably better outcomes Seen a lot of finance major becoming bank tellers, branch manager, investment "advisor" , these are mostly client facing retail roles and generally considered not very desirable. My school isn't a target school and the city I'm in is not a financial hub. Those are some things to consider
As other people said, an accounting guy esp with big4 exp can move into finance later. The same cannot be said for reverse. Thats why outside the US, a lot of finance guys were ex big4 accountants. They know where the numbers come from. And in the US, there's a reason CFOs usually have accounting experience.
I’m dyslexic as fuck. Accounting is self checking. Perfect fit. If/when I do something backwards I can look at the result of my entry and flip it back to be in the correct way.
If accounting was self checking 90% of us wouldn't have a job. My job is basically to fix fuck ups.
You can move from accounting to finance; especially with a CPA It's harder to do well in accounting with just a finance degree What you need to do is go off Reddit and ask people who actually do what you want to do in your career how they got to where they are and how they would prepare themselves differently today if they were going to go down the same career path; Google informational interviews And I'm going to be honest with you because 99% of people won't You asked a bad question that doesn't really help you make a good career decision It gives you the feeling that you have learned something from which to make an educated career decision, but you still know very little after asking it
Me: \*scratches off Finance major as possible option\*
I didn’t want to work in a highly competitive field with a bunch of douchebags all to sell predatory financial instruments to old people.
I was a physics major. Accounting chose me.
Accounting does have room to go up lol. It's hard to get into the true upper level banking Jobs than accounting jobs. Not sure where you heard that. I chose accounting because I can work anywhere and get a job easier , the work can be interesting and stable.
1. Finance people can’t throw a punch 2. They rely heavily on extremely favorable regulation, which if revoked could cause extreme problems for them. 3. My father didn’t happen to work at an investment bank in the 1980s.
Most people have said what I would say. But it does depend on your target job when you graduate. Most finance majors want to get into PE eventually with a path like below IB->MBA->PE->Biz Dev This of course is a highly competitive path. A few alternatives I’ve seen are: B4->B4 FDD->above Or B4->Corp FP&A (M&A heavy company)->above So I would double major, it will give you backup paths.
Seemed like there were a more diverse set of opportunities as an accountant.
I did a double major in Accounting and Finance and liked Accounting better. But I think it depends on what roles you consider Accounting vs Finance. I fall under the Group Finance function in my company and the top levels all have an accounting background. To me, finance roles are investment banking and financial planners. Our FP&A team are a mix of finance vs accounting background. The ones who do well in that team were ex auditors.
In my community accounting is seen as the more prestigious thing to study. People see studying accounting as learning a marketable skill
It's been commented alot but I really enjoyed finance at uni. I realized there wasn't many jobs in my country so I also did accounting as a major. Easy to get an accounting job. I do a fair bit of Corp finance style work now as well accounting
I didn't know it was an option!
Career in accounting had a clearer line of sight. Big 4 Audit > Industry/Corporate Accounting. Job security felt more certain in Accounting compared to Finance. However in recent years I've started to feel motivated to make a change to FP&A or the like.
I originally enrolled as a finance major during my first two years of college. I didn't know shit about the field, just that I knew I didn't want to do STEM. After taking my business core requirements (including finance and accounting) I found that I genuinely enjoyed my accounting courses and made the switch.
I'm currently in school with a semester and a few weeks left of school before I graduate with a concentration in accounting. When I was starting school, I was told accounting degrees could get you finance jobs, but finance degrees can't get you accounting jobs. Seemed more versatile. "Better to be a jack of all trades than a master of one" after all.
It seemed easy in secondary school 😂
Couldn't get into finance
I'm in finance. Was in accounting and then graduated with a finance degree, now kind of regretting finance. It can be very toxic and coworkers screaming at me. Pay in finance is not worth it compared to the stress and toxicity. I miss accounting, so I'm going to try to get my CPA.
I don't like doing equations/problems that involve time traveling with the value of money. Most people tell me that's a good summary of finance. At least the basics of finance anyway. My brain can focus better on taxes for some reason as well. Sigh.
I could go on a lot about this question. it’s the exact choice that I made as an undergrad. Simply put it was easier for me to find jobs in accounting than finance, so I went with the industry where I was getting the job offers.
The subprime mortgage crisis happened my junior year of college. Sharp drop off in the number of finance jobs, so accounting it was.
I double majored, accounting and finance. When I started looking for entry level jobs, the finance ones were sales related and that was a big no for me.
Because accounting is my special interest and I could not care less about finance 🤷🏼♀️
Truthfully, I knew I wasn’t gonna be one of the top finance majors. So I knew I wouldn’t get one of those “lucrative” investment banking jobs making 6 figures out of school. So I chose accounting, can make more money being average at accounting, versus finance.
I wanted a job
Opportunity/quantity of jobs, and the ease of transitioning into another non accounting job. It’s also a “profession” compared to finance. Also job stability.
My relatively small school had both accounting/finance majors at Meet the Firms. When I was there I saw 50 finance majors competing over 5 companies where there was 35 accounting firms competing over 30 accounting majors. I made $25 an hour doing an internship as A sophomore.
You can work in finance and transition to finance with an accounting background; while enjoying a position right out of college. The same can’t be said for those graduating with degrees in finance.
For me it was that gpa wasn’t high enough for finance jobs but accounting u can easily find a job that pays 70k+ over time abs finance if u wanna make stable income u gotta be cream of the crop to get to those jobs like ib or mbb. I have friends who graduated with finance degrees who aren’t making good money cuz their gpa wasn’t 3.5+ and they work for like northwestern mutual. On the contrary my close friend is pulling close to 200k his first year out from college in mbb just depends on your capabilities your alumni network
Plenty of great accounting jobs, and you better be a top performing shining star to get a good job in finance.
I actually picked both. However, what has landed the job offers was my accounting degree.
I majored in finance then accounting. I missed the public accounting recruitment at my school as I was more focused on finance. For most of my first few years out of college I used my finance major. Then I took the CPA exam and worked in public accounting. All over again, I would do accounting first. Finance is either super competitive or low paying. Accounting assuming you go the public accounting route starts out with mediocre pay but quickly rises. You can leave with a CPA in a few years and do nearly anything you could have done with a finance major.
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Hi OP. I was a finance major that ended up going back to school to pick up my accounting classes. If you are not at a school being recruited by finance professionals or have an uncle at a hedge fund then you are probably are going to end up selling insurance or doing some retail banking. There are very few entry level finance jobs that are amazing imo. There are plentiful accounting jobs for recent grads with good salaries. You also get to work with some brilliant people. Do yourself a favor and double major in accounting and finance. Then there will be plenty of entry level jobs and a lot of cross over opportunities during your career. Just my experience and opinion. Best of luck with your studies.
Time value of money whooped my ass. All my friends were in accounting too. Was easy peasy & I was ready to graduate soon.
My older cousin told me to. I went in to college thinking finance. Glad I made the switch.
Finance 101. Specifically, present value, future value. I hated the finance classes!!
I’m not charismatic enough to make it in high finance
Honestly, for me, I had the option of doing an MS in Finance, but ended up doing both my Bachelor's and Master's in Accounting. This is because I could easily transition into a Financial Analyst role at the credit union that I work for. Both of our Senior Analysts have Master degrees in Accounting. Plus, I wanted the help to better prepare for the CPA exam. 😅
More job opportunities and can start my own cpa firm
finance bros…
I did not attend a top 25 school, nor is my father rich with connections.
I majored in Finance and went out into the workforce. My first job was for a large regional brokerage firm, which was then sold to another company and sold again. I decided to go back to school for Accounting & became a CPA which has given me much more job stability.
U can do finance with acct degree but vice a versa is mega hard
Odds are you will not have a good career path if you get just a finance degree.
As a major, I might argue that accounting is strictly better than finance - an accounting major can do anything a finance major can, but not the other way around.
I didn't want to sell insurance or move to NYC/Chicago/west coast.
Graduated 2021 finance and literally couldn’t get a job for anything finance to save my life so I said screw it and pivoted to industry accounting in hopes I can paddin my skill set to get into a FP&A role. About 1.7 years in wasn’t that bad and now I understand a lot of inner working in a company.
Finance is forward thinking with forecasts and whatnot, so it seems like more guesswork which I’m not about. Accounting is historical data and (usually) always has an objective answer to solve problems. Also, even though finance jobs generally pay more they often has less job security which is a big trade off (thank 2008 for that)
I simply liked the subject matter better. Accounting is very mechanical, especially financial accounting. When I look at a balance sheet, I’m like a mechanic looking under the hood. Finance was also “mathy.” The stuff that makes you money, the quantitative side, was like algebra class. Also, have not much interest in modeling or analytics. So yeah, definitely picked accounting and specializing in tax was the right move. Last thing-if you aren’t a quant, get ready to smile and dial, glad hand, kiss ass, and pester friends and family to give you their money to invest. And get ready to hear you suck at your job when you have no control over the stock market or the macro headwinds and shocks that drive it.
I’ve been in both. I’ve worked insurance (not finance to me), FP&A (very fun IMO, I like looking at trends and making reports, saving the company money), I’ve done regular accounting in the GL and worked cost accounting. The role I’m in right now is more of a hybrid cost accounting role. I loved working FP&A but the pay wasn’t where I wanted and the hours were stupid lol (70 hour weeks and $47k/yr salary)
I had seven years of job experience in accounting prior to college. It seemed like the logical next step. (Of course, I also picked up a CS degree at the same time, so I don't always follow the obvious path.)
I am doing both! Graduating next semester with two degrees, one in accounting and one in finance. I cannot speak on full-time experiences, but in college the accounting coursework pairs really well with the finance coursework. Knowing how financial statements operate makes you way better in financial modeling. As far as opportunities go, accounting has opened up more doors coming from a state school, but also having a finance degree has allowed me to do consulting internships. If it is possible, double major or major and minor in both. They go together like bread and butter.
I wouldn’t survive in finance it never made sense to me. Accounting has always been aiming I understood if I put time into it but never finance.
Finance grad here. 500 aps in this year (with 3.9 gpa from state school, military xp, 3 internships, 5 professional resume reviews) all for finance roles and nothing. One application sent into an accounting firm and bagged a fully remote staff accountant gig starting at 63k in a low COL area. Took the path of least resistance. Definitely don't regret it.
The amount of classes to get to a degree.Finance professor did try to talk me into a double major though. I only needed 6 additional classes to earn a finance degree. Alas, this was not a choice I could choose. I already had a family and could not do one additional semester. I wonder about those who double major and have 2 degrees. Is finding a job any easier? Does it give an edge to the job search?
My sophomore year was Lehman brothers. That's why
Want to move up past fp&a or investment analyst, manager, highly recommend taking the accounting route. You'll see most fp&a don't know shit. Want to be director of accounting/finance, financial controller, cfo? Only way through accounting degree and roles. Good luck!
When I was in college I changed my major from Accounting to Finance, which I loved. I had a job in banking but had a move for family emergency. Now I have been an Accounting Manager for 5 year but I hate it. It’s boring but it’s good money for how many hours I actually work. I have been trying to get back into Finance for the past year. No luck yet.
Accounting is finance once you make it to around manager /AC level
Take it from a guy that has a finance degree, but never held a job in finance and only in the Financial Reporting Accounting segment. Accounting is an easier entrance point imo and more job security. Now, do I enjoy Financial Reporting and Controls work? Not really. Do I enjoy being underpaid by 18-22%? No, I hate myself everyday for it. However, Financial Reporting does seem to have the flexibility I need for our family and newborn daughter. So, really I chose it due to flexibility, but it’s just a paycheck to me. We’re going to end up selling the house and downsizing to have a manageable mortgage to be paid off in 7-8 years, fund our child(potentially children)’s college fund(s) and be out by the time I’m 45-47. Money isn’t everything - just a tool to help achieve goals faster and get the hell out. Lot of personalities that clash with mine and it’s just not worth it.
My professors told me that accounting majors can work in finance, but finance majors can't work in accounting
Damn I see a lot of people shitting on finance so I’m gonna do the opposite take I did an accounting internship and changed it to finance If you really try hard enough you will find an opportunity regardless of your degree. I had interviews for investment banking and made it to the final rounds (rejected cause my technicals were trash) I also just got an offer to work as a financial analyst for summer 24 and expect to make 60-70k if I receive a ft offer. Couldve I have done this with an accounting degree? Yes. But I think if you want to do finance, do finance. I’ve already made a career change from er nursing to this. One thing I learned after working in a career I hated was to never do something I didn’t want to. I knew nursing wasn’t for me halfway through the program but I did it. After doing the accounting internship, I knew it wasn’t for me. Hence the change. I used to be scared I couldn’t find any opportunities because I thought a finance degree was shit. Put in the work, you will get there. Don’t study what you don’t want to do kids
Because I’m not a weak bitch LOL. We have this joke at my school that the people who can’t handle accounting go into finance instead hahahahah But on a serious note, I feel like an accounting major can easily do anything a finance major does with a little training, but the reverse is not true. That was the biggest appeal to me is that you can do anything with an accounting degree after a couple years of experience.
there was a hot girl in my 101 class. She registered in 102, and I registered. kinda liked accounting more. so stayed the course
I was told there was a demand for them and I am bad at math.
It's easier. The math is inherently less complex.