Finance or accounting degree?

[joel66]

A business specialization is better in my opinion. We hire programmers with mis degrees all the time but it's rare to see a general business degree in the computer field. I suspect the same is true in accounting or finance.

I think the difference in programming and other IT fields is that employers are looking more on actual knowledge and experience, and the general business degree is a preferred degree to have. It is easier for someone to build a program or site that they can show to prospective employers in interviews. In regards to accounting and finance, especially when doing a career change, I noticed employers want to see what accounting courses and training you completed and if you already have the educational requirements to study or currently completed some CPA exams if interviewing for public accounting. For myself, I have a general business degree and not even hitting first base because I lack the accounting background. For a general business degree, you only need financial and managerial accounting. This does not even scratch the surface if I want to do auditing or financial analysis because I would be in competition with people who have degrees in this major. What I like about accounting is that you don't need to be a CPA with an accounting degree. You have more doors that open into finance, banking, and even management because I will have knowledge on cost/managerial accounting, and doing trend and variance analysis. An MBA in Finance would be an added bonus for leadership and dealing with liquid/current assets. One thing that I notice for the current and previous company I have worked for, is that I have seen a high percentage of executives with undergraduate degrees in accounting or economics and MBA in Finance.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that Excel is very important. I also noticed jobs with knowledge of vlookups, pivot tables, and conditional formatting. I am also trying to squeeze whatever time I have to learn additional skills in excel and access.