Accounting and Finance – why you should choose a Business degree

Hi all.

In this post I want to give you all some insight as to why i chose a degree in Accounting and Finance and the academic background I’ve come from.

A few years ago I was confused about which degree course to go on, never mind knowing what career i wanted to pursue.

Here I am today, a Finance Assistant Manager at the Department of Health. I have to pinch myself sometimes! 20th April 2012 in front of the building where I work; Quarry House, Leeds.

At sixth-form level (college) I took the subjects Sociology, Psychology and Law. I now study Accounting and Finance. On a 12-month placement. In Finance. Stark contrast!  This may sound like a cliché, but if someone had told me 4 years ago that I would be in the position I am now, on a placement at the Department of Health working towards my Accounting and Finance degree I certainly would have told them they were way off mark.

My background was not in Maths, Business or economics, but I knew that if I was to ‘get ahead of the game’ motivation and determination were key factors I had to work on in order to be successful in business. To be honest, people said that they weren’t so sure that I’d grasp all the work of a Business related degree and that it’d be too much of a change to go from Social Sciences to an Accounting and Finance degree. To be even more honest, I partly agreed with them. One part of me thought that I couldn’t do it, other students would have a head start, the other side was telling me that nobody knew me better than I knew myself and i knew i could do it.

Advice I can give is do not be afraid to choose Accounting and Finance/Business related degree if you did not take business related A-levels. The chances are you will know a lot more than you think you do about business! It’s interesting because I remember in my first year of studying (which seems like just yesterday), all my friends studied Business, Economics and Maths as their a-levels so they were very confident with the Accounting modules,  but when the Sociology and Psychology modules were running, the tables would turn and they would be the ones fretting – “oh I don’t know anything about Sociology it’s so hard, I don’t understand!” I would of course sit there (a little smug) and think “Finally something I know really well!’. It was a nice feeling. This didn’t stop me from trying hard with my Accounting modules. The principle of trying something new fits in perfectly here, but of course it isn’t an easy decision to make to go completely the opposite direction, just as long as you’re determined and focused i don’t think anything can go (drastically) wrong(!)

From my two years of studying, I have found out that a Business degree incorporates aspects of Sociology, Psychology and Law. I have studied modules in “Sociology of Work” and “Business & Company Law” (two separate  modules), so I was very pleased that my background knowledge of Sociology and Law have been very useful. I do remember choosing a module in which I felt was not for me, but it was so easy to change my module via the university services, because after all, you don’t want to be taking on modules which you don’t feel you could excel in. In this way my degree is made to fit around my own interests.

Me in front of Quarry House, Leeds, Department of Health. I could have taken many pictures of the building.

Aside from this, I must admit that there were times I thought I couldn’t carry on with a business degree. In my first year I had to work really hard with a certain module, which at first, I just could not grasp at all. I still learnt a lot from it and surprisingly enough, I refer back to the module handbook, lectures and notes I made, especially now that I use Microsoft Excel a lot – to look at the excel formula’s. Never did I think I’d be digging those files out, there was dust on them..which led to a very convenient (and much-needed) spring clean. Anyway, back to the point In my mind, as I write this, I’m thinking, “it’s amazing how it’s all come in handy somehow, who would have thought it?”. It is such a good feeling to know that everything I’ve learnt on my Accounting and Finance degree has practical relevance to ‘real-world’ work.. I could go into more detail, but I’m sure you understand what I mean.

Of course I still have my third year to go yet, after being on placement for 7 and a half months now, i am very eager to go back and finish off the final chapter of my degree.