What Jobs Can I Get with an Accounting Degree?

While earn­ing an account­ing degree will cer­tain­ly qual­i­fy you to become a Cer­ti­fied Pub­lic Accoun­tant (CPA), there are a wide vari­ety of oth­er jobs for which you will be qual­i­fied. Grad­u­ates should be aware that get­ting their foot in the door with an entry-lev­el job in any field of busi­ness is just the first step, as earn­ing work expe­ri­ence is the real key to obtain­ing a high­ly lucra­tive job with an account­ing degree. A degree from one of the Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams will qual­i­fy you for a num­ber of entry-lev­el posi­tions which do not require years of work­place expe­ri­ence. Jobs that recent grad­u­ates with account­ing degrees are qual­i­fied for include:

• Accoun­tants and Audi­tors ana­lyze finan­cial records of pri­vate cit­i­zens as well as com­pa­nies and cor­po­ra­tions, to make sure that records are accu­rate and com­ply with tax codes. They make an aver­age annu­al salary of $69,350, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 1,397,700, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 10% over the next decade.
• Finan­cial Exam­in­ers ensure that com­pa­nies, cor­po­ra­tions, and finan­cial insti­tu­tions com­ply with laws that gov­ern finan­cial trans­ac­tions. Many finan­cial exam­in­ers work for fed­er­al, state, or local gov­ern­ments.
  They make an aver­age annu­al salary of $81,690, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 52,500, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 10% over the next decade.
• Finan­cial Ana­lysts help busi­ness­es and indi­vid­u­als cre­ate sound invest­ment strate­gies, and are expect­ed to have a good under­stand­ing of stocks and bonds on Wall Street. They make an aver­age annu­al salary of $84,300, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 296,100, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 11% over the next decade.

While these are all great jobs that will allow you to pay back your invest­ment in your account­ing degree, once you have worked at your posi­tion for five years or so, you should start look­ing for a pro­mo­tion. Moti­vat­ed pro­fes­sion­als with account­ing degrees and work­place expe­ri­ence are qual­i­fied for the fol­low­ing jobs which will allow you to earn a six-fig­ure salary:

• Finan­cial Man­agers are expect­ed to over­see the finan­cial state of com­pa­nies, cor­po­ra­tions, and insti­tu­tions by devel­op­ing strate­gies to achieve the finan­cial goals of the orga­ni­za­tion that they work for. They earn an aver­age annu­al salary of $125,080, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 580,400, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 19% over the next decade.
• Top Exec­u­tives are the pro­fes­sion­als who over­see the finan­cial health of large orga­ni­za­tions by com­ing up with strate­gies and poli­cies that will allow their orga­ni­za­tion to achieve its goals. They earn an aver­age annu­al salary of $104,700, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 2,572,000, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 8% over the next decade.
• Sales Man­agers direct orga­ni­za­tions sales teams and are expect­ed to have a thor­ough under­stand­ing of mar­ket­place dynam­ics. They earn an aver­age annu­al salary of $121,060, and the num­ber of cur­rent­ly employed posi­tions is 385,500, with that num­ber expect­ed to increase by 7% over the next decade.

Know­ing what job you are look­ing to obtain with your account­ing degree can be an impor­tant step in help­ing you to deter­mine what aspect of account­ing you want to spe­cial­ize in, as well as help­ing you deter­mine your prob­a­ble return on invest­ment for your degree. As a prospec­tive account­ing major, you will prob­a­bly want to con­duct A Cost/Benefit Analy­sis of a Bach­e­lor’s Degree to help you decide which pro­grams you will apply for. If any of the schools on our rank­ing of the Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Account­ing Degree Pro­grams offer a pro­gram that will put you on your path to your desired career, be sure to vis­it their web­site to request more infor­ma­tion about their program.

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