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accountant/auditor and actuary

Alexthepenguin

what is the difference between an accountant/auditor and actuary? what is the nature of their work and their salary?

Reply 1

Knogle

16

Actuary:

A mathematician employed by an insurance company to calculate premiums, reserves, dividends, and insurance, pension, and annuity rates, using risk factors obtained from experience tables.

Actuaries are one of the highest paid workers in the industry.

Accountants/auditors.. you should know that, right?

Reply 2

RJA

2

actuaries use ALOT of complicated maths in their work, and work mainly for insurance companies

accountancy is a very wide ranging career, so you can choose how numerical you want your job to be, as you can work in so many different fields

Reply 3

President_Ben

15

Not all actuaries are employed by insurance companies. Actuaries are there to assess risk (which is a mathematical process) and many are employed by insurance companies (but other types of risk, specifically, credit risk, can see them employed in a variety of areas where it makes sense to bring them in-house).

Anyway... the PwC website gives a reasonably good idea of how they distinguish between actuary and audit/assurance.

(assurance being the 'nice way' to say audit, a word that strikes fear into the heart of most CFOs)

An accountant is a bean counter :wink:

No, accountant is a very vague term that can include the tax advisory and assurance functions you might see in a Big4 firm (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, E&Y)

Reply 4

Knogle

16

Yeah, generally actuaries are a very rare breed. And they're darn good at what they do. :wink:

Reply 5

RJA

2

i know this is personal opinion a good accountancy job eg. corporate finance seems alot more exciting than a 9 to 5 actuary

Reply 6

Alexthepenguin

OP

which one (accountant or actuary) is more well paid?

Actuary

As and when. In their 'original intended career' you're going to be better off as an acturay than an accountant.

On the other hand, most accountants don't stay in accountancy for longer than 3-5 years. They go somewhere that 'pays more and works less'. I'm not sure how 'career mobile' actuaries are, but accountancy is a profession known for it. Whilst there are more accountants in high places than actuaries in high places, that's partially to do with the fact accountantas are ten a penny. BUT, i'd imagine the transferable skills and business exposure accountants pick up is amongst the highest of any finance professionals, as they get to work with so many clients 'on site'.

Also, most accountants regard their 3 years of exams as a royal pain in the arse. Actuaries would, i assume, kill to have only 3 years of exams.

By looking that which pays more, you're taking a very short term view. Accountancy partners are on £500k+, I'm sure roughly a similar proportion are on similar money. An actuary might be on £60k after 4/5 years. So will an auditor if they go into industry. Base your career on something a bit deeper.

Reply 9

Singh_87

15

in everywhere i have looked, it says that senior actuaries recieve a paycheck of £100k+....not sure how much more than £100k, but it says £100k+...which isnt too bad!! but like brabzzz says, a career path should be chosen based on factors aside from money...obviously money is an extremly important factor, but there are other things to consider aswell...

Reply 10

yawn

17

Singh_87

in everywhere i have looked, it says that senior actuaries recieve a paycheck of £100k+....not sure how much more than £100k, but it says £100k+...which isnt too bad!! but like brabzzz says, a career path should be chosen based on factors aside from money...obviously money is an extremly important factor, but there are other things to consider aswell...

They say the 'sky's the limit' re earning potential for Actuaries with their own businesses!

Reply 11

Singh_87

15

That's true...but with your own business, the sky is always your limit...regardless if it is the Actuarial profession or something else...

yawn

They say the 'sky's the limit' re earning potential for Actuaries with their own businesses!

Reply 12

brabzzz

14

The sky theory applied to any and every career. The downside is that it applies only to one end, the extreme very end, of the bell curve.

To really make it as an 'anything' in the service economy requires you to take a boatload of respect, contacts, staff and clients etc etc with you when you leave the firm that emplyed you to strike out on your own. Any you'll ony get there through hard graft and being really good at what you do.

Those that occupy the middle/lower bit of the bell curve do OK, and, on an hourly basis, probably do about the same. IB, Actuary, Accts, whaterers. In every one of those professions are the few that make a real killing - and all work their balls off. The rest don't really excel and choose where they place themselves on the payscale by how hard they work+what job they do.

accountant/auditor and actuary

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