How important is an in-depth understanding of Accounting for IB?
Looking to get some advice as I plan out what my next few years will look like at school. I'm currently at a public ivy and since I started here, my plan has been to major in Finance and Accounting. However, since I got my internship at an EB, I'm wondering if there's a point where accounting knowledge has diminishing returns. In my specific instance, I'm debating whether to continue with Accounting and Finance, or Finance and a data science minor (there isn't a major offered, and my schedule likely doesn't allow me to do all 3).
I've taken 3 accounting courses so far, a basic managerial accounting course, and 2 financial accounting courses covering a lot of material except pension accounting (I'm assuming that most courses follow generally the same path?). I actually don't mind accounting at all, but the few data science courses I've taken already have been really interesting, and even if a minor doesn't necessarily have much weight, I do think at least having a base level knowledge of those concepts is going to be important in the future.
I feel confident that I can get a return offer, as I'll be coming in with a little bit of finance knowledge already from my courses, and I hope that I'll be able to make a positive impression through my work ethic and communication skills. But, I want to be realistic, and I know that not every SA gets a return offer in IB, unlike my old Big 4 internship so I want to do what will make me more marketable in case I have to recruit again, but also set me up for future success. While I know Accounting is probably more directly applicable to IB, I'm just not sure how important stuff like pension accounting really is.
Basically my 3 options:
Accounting + Finance
Finance + Data Science Minor (and squeeze one advanced accounting course in next year)
Finance + DS (and have fewer/easier courses)
Accounting should be your second language in IB.