What is the difference between a career in Finance and a career in Accounting?

g-money: What is the difference between a career in Finance and a career in Accounting?
I am thinking about going back to school to get a BS in Business Administration.

I would like to know what the difference is in careers in Finance and Accounting. Has anyone had a career in either field? What I want to know is:

What did you think of your career?

What did you do all day in Finance or Accounting?

Did you find it exciting or really boring?

For a career as a Financial Planner or Financial Advisor, do you work off of commision only?

Any information would be very helpful. Thanks.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Dr. Deth
a B.S. in Bus Admin is a useless degree
Finance is more banking/credit/loans/mortgages related
accounting is number crunching, financial statement prep, auditing
accounting is generally boring repetitive, often stressful
haven’t worked in Finance field
FP/FA – mostly commission or salary with sales quotas – cold calling

Answer by rvd
Accounting is more specific and an accountant will process journals, create accruals, balance sheets and profit and loss accounts. I did this for two years and found it very boring. It is very repititive and I felt like I had the same day every day for two years.

Finance is more general and will cover accounting as well as auditing, financial planning and financial advisor etc.
There are many difference jobs under Finance.

Answer by Theresa M
I work as a bookeeper at a finance company. I love my job! many different things to do all day that makes the day go by real fast. I do accounts receivable and accounts payable I work with investors who invest money into our company, I do the employee’s payroll. These are just a few things I do. If you like to work with numbers accounting is a great job and pays well too.

Answer by Trigol
The easiest way to distinguish the difference between finance and accounting is to think of accounting as backward looking (recording individual and company actual transactions) and finance as forward looking (pro forma planning debt and investment strategies).

A career in financial planning for individuals and small business is a very tough way to make a living. It is commission sales and more of a hustle than intellectual pursuit. A few really good hustlers make decent money, but most fail and go back to salary within one year.

I spent 17 years in Corporate Finance with a Fortune 100 tech firm. It was a very rewarding career that encompassed a wide range of activities from treasury investment strategies and corporate capital structure to mergers and acquisitions.

A career in Corporate Finance usually requires an MBA, usually from a top 20 school. However, the rewards and opportunities clearly justify the effort.