Business Management vs. Accounting: Which Degree is Right for You?

You ’ ra feel pretty surely you want to go into the commercial enterprise field, but beyond that wide class, your career path clarity starts to falter. Business is obviously a large field that covers a kind of speciate expertness. Before you make any education plans, it will help to narrow down your stress so you can choose a path that suits your goals and interests .
The educational options Business Management and Accounting are two excellent options to start narrowing down the process. In this article, we ’ ll comparison occupation management versus accounting so you ’ ll have a better understand of the differences, similarities and which program may be the best fit for you.

Business management vs. accounting: Roles and responsibilities

While a character in management is a typical depart steer, business management professionals are creditworthy for supervising and leading a group of people to further an organization ’ sulfur clientele goals. Their tasks may include assigning solve to team members, creating project budgets and making certain things cling to deadlines. “ My business management role besides includes reviewing reports and key performance indicators based on the results we ‘ve achieved for our clients, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as thinking outside the box to get our clients better results, ” says Jason Hawkins, coach at Advertising for Surgeons .
Managers are needed throughout many different departments, including sales, marketing, plan and human resources ( HR ). potential business management job titles include but surely aren ’ thyroxine limited to :

• Sales manager
• Marketing manager
• Project manager
• Retail general manager

On the other hand, accountants are responsible for keeping fiscal records in arrange, creating fiscal reports and looking at fiscal data to ensure that operations are cost effective. Accountants can expect to spend the first few years in the field focusing just on the numbers, according to Ryan Maxwell, CPA and CFO at FirstRate Data. As you advance in your accounting career, you ’ ll be exposed to more “ business operations outside the finance routine. ”
Accountants can specialize in areas like secret or populace account, auditing, and taxes. potential accounting job titles include :

• Tax accountant
• Internal/external auditor
• Public accountant
• Management accountant

Business management vs. accounting: Work environment

business management and account careers may seem interchangeable because they share a like work environment. large corporations and little businesses alike have a indigence for skilled accountants and strong commercial enterprise leaders. however, just because these roles much take put under the lapp roof doesn ’ metric ton mean their work environments are the same !
Our experts agree that occupation managers are more probable to work with others on a day by day footing in a highly collaborative work environment that requires plenty of communication. Hawkins shares that he often spends his days talking with clients and working with several team members .
Accountants, on the other hand, are likely to spend more of their time on solo work. That ’ s not to say they never work on a team—meetings, audits, generating reports and early projects all require some floor of collaboration. But unlike commercial enterprise managers, accountants credibly won ’ thymine spend the bulge of their day communicating with others. alternatively, they ’ ll complete their share of a project before regrouping with their team or customer .
The rhythm of sour animation can besides be unlike in these two roles. Where business managers in most departments can expect a steadily workload year-round—with episodic crunch times as they approach boastfully visualize deadlines—accountants experience distinct slow and busy seasons. “ One of the biggest distinctions between finance jobs and other functions is how cyclic the work is, ” Maxwell says. “ Accountants will be highly busy during fiscal report season, and work is much more relax the rest of the class. ”

Business management vs. accounting: Employment projections and earning potential

wage expectations and job constancy are constantly a consideration when weighing your career options. When it comes to the debate between commercial enterprise management and accounting, both paths appear to have upstanding prospects .
The Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS ) reports that employment in management occupations in general are projected to grow five percentage from 2019 to 2029.1 The median annual wage for these occupations in 2019 was $ 105,660.1
If you narrow the field even further, individual business management titles have even more potential. For exemplar, the BLS reports sales managers earned a 2019 medial annual wage of $ 126,640, and the position has a projected employment growth of four percentage through 2029.1 market managers reported a 2019 medial annual wage of $ 135,900, and their employment is projected to grow by six percent.1 Of run, it ’ mho important to keep in thinker these figures reflect typically well-established professionals who ’ ve worked their way up into these positions.

Accountants and auditors are besides enjoying job emergence that keeps yard with the national average at a project increase of four percentage through 2029.1 The median annual wage for accountants was $ 71,550 in 2019, with the highest 10 percentage of earners making upwards of $ 124,450.1
Although this earning potential international relations and security network ’ t quite arsenic high as some management careers, it ’ mho surely nothing to scoff at ! Remember, an accounting background can besides be used to propel your career to other areas of finance—or even management roles—as you advance in your career .

Business management vs. accounting: Skills needed to succeed

management and account careers require different skill sets, both in technical cognition and in delicate skills. We used job-posting psychoanalysis software to analyze thousands of job postings countrywide and identify some of the most normally sought skills. here ’ s what we found for each .
In-demand management skills:2

• Budgeting
• Business administration
• Project management
• Customer service
• Scheduling
• Accounting
• Sales
• Business development
• Staff management
• Customer contact

In-demand accounting skills:2

• Accounting
• Budgeting
• Financial reporting
• Financial statements
• Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
• Account reconciliation
• Financial analysis
• General ledger
• Business administration

You can see that there ’ s a bit of overlap between the skills these career paths require. If you ’ re placid feeling stumped, remember that cushy skills matter besides ! They could be the deciding factor between these appealing fields .
Of management, Hawkins shares that “ being able to understand employees and their emotional states are important. This will allow you to lead by example rather than leading by force. ” As for account, Maxwell emphasizes the importance of communication rather than relying besides much on technical skills, specially as you grow in your character .

Business management vs. accounting: Education

last but not least in our comparison is education. Both report and management careers are likely to require a college education. An Associate ’ s degree may be enough to get started in lower-level jobs in either of these fields, but more advance roles are likely to prefer candidates with a Bachelor ’ s degree .
With a college education being the standard, it may help to compare the types of courses you ’ ll take. While this is just a small sample of the courses you can expect to take in either an report or Business Management degree program, seeing them english by side can give you a feel for the subjects you ’ ll cover .
Business Management courses:

• Introduction to Business Analysis and Intelligence
• Introduction to Functional and Project Management
• Business Law and Ethical Behavior
• Emerging Trends, Markets and Technologies in Business
• Strategic Management

Accounting courses:

• Principles of Accounting
• Financial Investigation
• Risk Management for Accountants
• Cost Accounting
• Corporate and International Accounting

Business management vs. accounting: The choice is yours

Making a career choice is never easy, but knowing the facts can help narrow down your options. now that you have all the relevant information about clientele management versus account, you have the facts you need to choose the degree airfield that ’ s right for you .
once your decision is made, all that ’ second left is to take the first footfall toward your new career ! Find out how to get started by learning more about the Rasmussen University Business Management degree programs and Accounting degree programs .
1Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, [ information accessed February 2021 ] hypertext transfer protocol : //www.bls.gov/ooh/management/home.htm and hypertext transfer protocol : //www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm # tab-1. information represents national, averaged data for the occupations listed and includes workers at all levels of education and experience. This datum does not represent starting salaries, and employment conditions in your area may vary.
2Burning-Glass.com ( analysis of 1,290,140 commercial enterprise management jobs and 573,833 account jobs, February 1, 2020 – January 31, 2021 ) .