Accountint Vs Finance (1 Viewer)

[schnookims]

Hi can anyone please clarify the main difference between accounting and finance?

Also, which one is more towards economics side?
And which one has more career opportunities?

Thanks!

 

[velox]

obviously finance is geared more towards economics. Accounting has more career ops.

 

[Eagles]

Hi can anyone please clarify the main difference between accounting and finance?

Also, which one is more towards economics side?
And which one has more career opportunities?

Thanks!

accounting records what has happened.
finance looks towards the future.

 

[blackfriday]

finance doesnt have that much theory - lots of calculations though.

accounting is pretty easy to absorb once you get past debits and credits pretty much. its something most people can do without much higher learning, thats why there are cadetships.

for finance, is anyone going to trust a kid to make decisions about future projects or investments with no finance knowledge whatsoever? i dont think so. things like tax or superannuation are far easy to understand in the short run.

 

[turtleface]

IMHO finance is more theory

accounting tends to be practical i.e. cadetships

wtf have you even done accounting? at uni, its the exact opposite to what you've described. You're talking about 3rd Financial Accounting which is all theory basically. Thats why for Accounting subjects heaps of them you can't take a calculator in (cause you don't need one), whereas if you don't take a calculator into a finance exam you're a f'king idiot.

If you've completed a university sequence in accounting and you still have that view, then I'm a dick

accounting is pretty easy to absorb once you get past debits and credits pretty much. its something most people can do without much higher learning, thats why there are cadetships.

WTF? cadets dont do accounting. As if you just let some 18 year old audit a company's accounts. Thats just like saying a cadet at a law firm gives legal advice to clients.

cadets = photocopying, leadsheet preparation, manual addition of computer calculated balance sheets...stuff a grade 6 can do. how can you say thats accounting.

I wonder why auditors, liquidators etc. have to be registered contingent on a 3 year degree in accounting and a 2 year corporate law sequence, as well as 5 or so years of supervision experience, and face disciplinary boards like the CALDB, potentially go to jail for misconduct etc. if its something "most people can do without much higher learning"

for finance, is anyone going to trust a kid to make decisions about future projects or investments with no finance knowledge whatsoever? i dont think so. things like tax or superannuation are far easy to understand in the short run.

?????????????????????????????????????????
if anyone understood the tax and super laws properly they could make retire at 25. That shit is so complex atm that no accountant or lawyer understands any of that bullshit properly.

additionally, tax and superannuation are intertwined with investments anyway, maybe even more important than say investing in the sharemarket. If you screw up in stocks and bonds you lose just what you invested. you screw up your super, you lose your retirement

Anyway, you'll find it is the ACCOUNTANT in businesses that make all the future project, financial planning, investment decisions, not some dweeb with a BCom that includes a Finance major of a grand total of 4 subjects.

accounting records what has happened.
finance looks towards the future.

Financial Accounting records what has happened.
Management Accounting looks to the future
Finance uses Past Accounting for future decisions.

 

[§eraphim]

In response to the original post, the RBA accepts Finance or Economics Honours students.

 

[blackfriday]

turtleface, your definition of an accountant is very different to mine. for me, you work in an accounting firm, employed as a trainee accountant: that makes you an accountant. you do the easy accounting work - but seperating the tasks performed by an accountant and saying that one is an accountant and one isnt...thats being very, very specific. so let me rephrase, a trainee accountant performs BOOK-KEEPING (and photocopying) and an actual accountant does accounting. that closer to what you think?

for those who are unlucky enough to specialise in areas of tax, superannuation etc. yes that requires some expert skill and i doubt any amount of learning can make you good at it without some experience.

 

[Affinity]

accounting records what has happened.
finance looks towards the future.

Finance is about conducting shifty deals
accounting is about covering it up or busting the people depending on the side you are on

 

[Affinity]

Anyway, there's so much talk about which of the two is "more theoretical" and which is is more practical. I think that's alot of crap... both fields are practical in the sense that it's there to do something. Abstract concepts are introduced to aid and guide one in one's practice of the field. Ofcourse, at universities theoretical aspects are taught as it ought to be.

 

[Minai]

It's not that easy being a senior accountant...to gain your CA (and hence access to the better accounting jobs), you have to do 2 years of study on top of full time work. The CA is not a walk in the park either, certain CA subjects have a 50% fail rate, and considering the candidates are of higher calibre than your normal commerce uni students, it kinda says something.

 

[redruM]

It's not that easy being a senior accountant...to gain your CA (and hence access to the better accounting jobs), you have to do 2 years of study on top of full time work. The CA is not a walk in the park either, certain CA subjects have a 50% fail rate, and considering the candidates are of higher calibre than your normal commerce uni students, it kinda says something.

MinAi, do you have a link handy with such pass/fail rates? Could be interesting to see what causes the most difficulity.

Or was it just what you heard?

 

[Affinity]

Perhaps due to the fact one has to work (not studying) when preparing for the exam.

But one can always repeat

 

[redruM]

Perhaps due to the fact one has to work (not studying) when preparing for the exam.

But one can always repeat

Maybe my post wasn't clear. I meant which subject causes the most difficulty.

edit: I browsed around the ICAA site, and I found random results from 2003 and 2004. They don't seem to be very organised (or I just can't find it!)

 

[turtleface]

I'm guessing probably CA Integrative would have the highest failure rates, since theres less rote learning involved and also because of its notoriety for being complex