I am planning on starting an online accountancy degree in 2009. I love working with figures and I have intentions to start my own business. As well as the achievement of obtaining a degree, I thought accountancy would also very much help when I have my own business. Also IF my own business does not pan out, an accountancy degree would be a good back up plan and career.
My question is this, would a Business degree be better? As I said the reason I thought of accountancy was I thought it would be a better back up plan but am I right in thinking this? Is there more potential with a business degree or accountancy degree? Would an accountancy degree be as beneficial to my own business as an actual business degree? Also which degree is better between all the business degrees, business administration, business management etc? Im new to the game of education, so any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Business is a very general degree, so theoretically it should apply to a variety of jobs — marketing, management, operations, finance, etc. But most of those jobs want you to have a more specific passion / interest in order to get hired, so you’d definitely need to be prepared for that. I work at a financial services firm, and we expect candidates who apply for a job to have a more specific skill or interest than general business. You can get that through work experience, internships, personal investing, etc.
Accounting is a more specific skill. My brother and sister are accountants, and the job market appears to be plentiful, even in difficult economic conditions. But the nature of the work is more singular than business, so you have to enjoy working with numbers, clients, and data.
Personally, I don’t think you’ll go wrong either way — just see which might suit your personality.
Good luck!