Finance and accounting are functions that are here to stay. No matter how good or bad the economy is, and no matter how many people are losing jobs and changing careers, there will always be a strong need to have people manage someone’s money. Computer programs will help, but they will never take over the details and thought processes that humans only can provide. There will always be good entry level finance jobs.
Industries across the board need bookkeeping and accounting help. From accounts receivable clerks to Chief Financial Officers, and tiny local corner stores to national auto finance companies, someone needs to manage the income and expenses and track the profit margin. When all is said and done, that’s all that finance really is: figuring out the profit at the end of the day.
Smaller companies usually have another person helping with various accounting tasks since it’s often not a full time job in itself. For instance, Mario’s Italian Restaurant down the street might have one person doing the books and acting as the evening hostess. A receptionist at another company might help with tracking supply expenses and making daily bank deposits at lunch time. Perhaps the sales department secretary at the same firm might need to manage expense reports and commission checks.
If your goal is to get into the upper echelon of finance professionals, an entry level position might not be the best way to go about it. Usually, for positions that entail more knowledge than putting together a trial balance report (that balances!), you’ll need formal education which could be anything from a certificate program to a college degree. A popular certificate program is for medical billing and coding. It’s only about nine months long, it’s in demand, and provides a decent salary, but that’s all your will learn and there’s no room for growth.
Most entry level jobs will teach you a specific skill and help you build on those which you might already have. They are also a good route to other jobs you might be more interested in later on. It’s common for let’s say human resource reps who were responsible for general HR duties including everything from recruiting to benefits management to decide later on that they are only interested in benefits and premiums and managing salary expenses. Secretaries who were responsible for either expense reports or supply acquisition might discover that’s more enjoyable than making travel arrangements and taking meeting notes.
If there is a particular industry you are interested in learning about, you might want to consider researching what types of entry level jobs exist, and prepare for one of them. Perhaps you love animals. You may want to explore finance jobs at the corporate office of a large pet store, or even start off as a cashier and work your way up. Or maybe fashion is your passion and you would like to work for a leading department store. Frequently there are many accounting jobs at each location since cash receipts need to be tallied up at the end of each day.
Keep in mind how important it is that you’re actually good with numbers, if finance is your goal. You don’t need a 4.0 in trig, but you do need to understand the concepts of basic math and perhaps some algebra. If you can balance a checkbook, you’re ahead of the game.
