Accounting and Finance
Overview
If you love maths, this might be the career for you. While finance involves the world of managing business cash or investing in the stock market, accounting is about ensuring financial statements of a company or individual (i.e. tax reform) are in place. So, let’s talk about finance first. When you hear about one company acquiring another one or merging together (think Vodafone and Idea), who decides the price of that deal? Or When Zomato got listed on the stock exchange, who decided its valuation? There are financial experts behind it. When you watch news channels giving estimates on the future trajectory of the stock market, who are the brains behind it? Well, these are experts who analyse the performance of businesses and invest in their stocks. Finance is a vast field. Apart from being an investment banker or a stock market investor, you could be CFO of a company, working at a venture fund and investing in start-ups, or working at a Private Equity Fund and investing in big companies. On the other hand, accounting involves professions such as CA where you audit companies to ensure their filings are correct and as per govt. requirements. In this field, leaders are tasked with analysing or managing the finances of the organizations including full compliance of tax filings and audits.
Qualifications
Being a chartered accountant requires one to enroll in CA course and clear the CA exam while finance jobs usually require MBA in finance. The role requires one to be very diligent and detail-oriented in their work. It will be critical to understand minutest details of a business's financials, regulations , and audit processes. Strong analytical capabilities and love for numbers is a must.
Skills
With the increasing demand, there is a soaring need for professionals in the finance sector. In order to have a fruitful career in accounting and finance, one needs to have certain skills such as: