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How important is accounting in finance position?
 

aerolim's picture
O
(Monkey, 59
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 3:17pm

Hi, I need to decide whether I should take intermediate accounting class (i already took the intro one) or machine learning class.

I am actually a math and finance double major.

I have genuine interest in machine learning but I feel that accounting class may be more important for the actual job...

any thoughts?

Tags:
Gekko21's picture

What job? Accounting might be

(Neanderthal, 2,671
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 3:28pm

What job?

Accounting might be helpful for investment banking, but you learn everything you need to on the job and in training. If your going into S&T, accounting is completely useless.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

aerolim's picture

I am very interested in S&T.

O
(Monkey, 59
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 4:18pm

I am very interested in S&T. Its just that I thought having some accounting knowledge is useful overall. But at the same time, I guess its pretty boring :P

iBANKhard's picture

If I could do college all

 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 5:49pm

If I could do college all over again, I probably would have majored in accounting rather than finance (this is for IB jobs though).

You will need a solid understanding of accounting concepts, ratios, etc., for S&T (more so in sales than in trading), but it's also important to take a major that you can do well and earn good grades in. If this accounting class you're talking about has any kind of valuation in the curriculum, without a doubt, take it.

New Yorker's picture

So your question is "how

(Gorilla, 704
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 6:31pm

So your question is "how important is accounting in a finance position?"

Uh ......

swagon's picture

I guess it depends on the

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,970
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 7:27pm

I guess it depends on the job, but in IB, at least as an analyst, I don't think you need anything beyond Intermediate Acct, which can be completed within a Finance major in most undergrad Bschools...but correct me if I'm wrong

International Pymp's picture

Accounting is pretty

RE
(King Kong, 1,882
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 9:09pm

Accounting is pretty important if you want to go into either investment banking or PE. In my case, I didn't start out at a BB in a huge, structured training program, so it was a major disadvantage not knowing more accounting. It's not THAT hard to learn (let's face it, your typical banker is 50x as smart as the average accountant), so you can learn it on the job without a training program (buy a few books, etc), but I have to tell you, I'd have rather have arrived on the job with a better base of knowledge in the subject. I'm not saying you should major in the subject (learn something cool/interesting while you've got the chance), but I'd suggest taking 2-4 classes in undergrad.

aerolim's picture

Thanks all for the

O
(Monkey, 59
 
Points)
 on 9/13/10 at 9:32pm

Thanks all for the suggestion. Looks like I will end up taking intermediate accounting and financial statement analysis after that.

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