Are you looking for a job in finance? If so, we’d love to help you learn all about your accounting and finance career options!
Finance Jobs
A finance job usually involves investing, managing, or protecting money. Furthermore, accounting and finance jobs enable you to workwith individual customers, corporate clients, investors, shareholders, andmore. To help your clients or company within your finance job, you’ll need to determine what to invest in and how to gauge the quality of financial decisions under constantly changing conditions.
Types of Finance Jobs
Finance careers fall into 3 main categories: public, corporate, and personal. Public finance deals with the finances of states andrelated public entities such as school districts and government agencies. Corporate finance seeks to provide funds for a business’s activities. Finally, personal finance makes decisions about paying for education, financing goods, buying insurance, and investing and saving for retirement.
Accounting and Finance Careers
If you’re searching for jobs in accounting and finance, you’ll find that the finance jobs list looks like this:
- Investment banker
- Bank cashier
- Bank manager
- Stockbroker
- Accountant
- Assistant
accountant - Auditor
- Bookkeeper
- Legal accounts
- Management
accountant - Payroll
accountant - Tax accountant
- Ledger clerk
- Financial controller
- Credit controller
- Relationship manager
- Procurement manager
- Finance director
- Financial analyst
- Personal financial advisor
- Loan officer
- Financial examiner
- Collector
- Buyer
- Treasurer
- Budget analyst
- Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agent
- Portfolio manager
- Trader
Finance Jobs Salary
Finance is critical to the health of the business world. In fact, the finance industry is so diverse, expansive, and important that people in finance positions hold a great deal of responsibility. Specifically, they create, broker, and track nearly every monetary transaction.
And with all of that obligation comes a worthy amount of compensation. For this reason, financial jobs are extremely lucrative. With almost any finance job, you can command an above average salary. However, you’ll get the highest earning potential from a position in investment banking. Corporate finance jobs bring in mid-range incomes, and currently, financial advisor careers generate the lowest finance salaries.
The salary information from some popular careers in finance includes these figures.
Finance Job Salaries
| Finance Career | Median Annual Salary |
| Actuary | $100,610 |
| Director of Financial Planning and Analysis | $150,000 |
| Director of Risk Management | $150,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $81,760 |
| Financial Manager | $121,750 |
| Investment Banking Associate | $150,000 |
| Personal Financial Advisor | $90,530 |
| Managing Director | $230,000 |
| Treasurer | $161,000 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2018-2019 Occupational Outlook Handbook and Business Insider
Finance Jobs Entry-Level Salaries
If you’ve recently graduated and are just starting your career, you’ll be happy to hear that the average annual pay for entry-level finance jobs is $41,637. These salaries for some of the best entry-level finance jobs also put up some encouraging numbers.
Entry-Level Finance Job Salaries
| Finance Job | Median Annual Salary |
| Financial Analyst | $68,781 |
| Financial Auditor | $64,269 |
| Investment Banking Analyst | $93,514 |
| Junior Tax Associate | $55,798 |
Requirements and Qualifications for Finance and Accounting Jobs
Because finance jobs are so profitable, they are very popular. The demand for finance and accounting jobs is high, so the standards forthese jobs are high as well. Basically, to land the finance job of your dreams, you’ll need specific degrees and/or qualifications.
Generally, you will at least need an undergraduate degree to gain consideration for a finance job. But many finance jobholders also have advanced degrees, so you should be prepared to continue your education with some sort of financial or business masters. Then, if you really want to boost your resume, you should earn a professional financial designation or accounting certification. Typically, designations like the CFA simply help you stand out from the pack. However, accounting licenses like the CPA are legally required for entering certain job areas.
Valuable financial degrees include:
- Master of Science in Finance (MSF)
- Master of Finance (M. Fin)
- Master of Financial Economics
- Master of Applied Finance
- Master of Liberal Arts in Finance (ALM.Fin)
Some of these business qualifications can also enhance your odds of finding a finance job:
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Master of Management (MM)
- Master of Commerce (M.Com)
- Master of Science in Management (MSM)
- Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Finance certifications that can help you carve out your finance career include:
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
- Certified Treasury Professional (CTP)
- Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA)
- Certified Patent Valuation Analyst (CPVA)
- Chartered Business Valuator (CBV)
- Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA)
- Financial Risk Manager (FRM)
- Professional Risk Manager (PRM)
- Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT)
- Certified Market Analyst (CMA/CAD) Dual Designation
- Corporate Finance Qualification (CF)
- Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)
- Chartered Investment Manager (CIM)
Finally, you may also find an accounting qualification beneficial to your cause of creating an accounting and finance career. Major accounting certifications include:
- Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA, UK Certification)
- Chartered Accountant (ACA – England and Wales certification / CA – certification in Scotland and Commonwealth countries)
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA, U.S. certification)
- ACMA/FCMA (Associate/Fellow Chartered Management Accountant) from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK
- Certified Management Accountant (CMA) from Institute of Management Accountants, U.S. certification
Finance Degree Jobs
If you’ve earned your degree in finance and are just starting out in the industry, you’re well suited for
- Attorney
- Business teacher
- Accountant
- Financial planner
- Financial analyst
- Investor relations associate
- Budget analyst
- Actuary
- Credit analyst
- Commercial real estate agent
- Financial examiner
- Financial manager
- Personal financial adviser