Job as economist or accountant?

Which is a more in demand job and better pay: economist or accountant? Which one of these jobs is easier to get into and has better career growth?

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Reply 1

Tokyoround

Which are you more interested in/willing to spend 5+ years doing is the most important question.

Reply 2

Alpha510

Better pay doesn't really depend on the job for either. It depends on how you good you do it.

Working as an economist is stimulating. As an accountant-- I tried that for a few months-- it's boring, pretty much the same things recurring. The one thing I found interesting were the changing company laws.

Reply 3

M1011

Original post by Alpha510

Mastered the accounting industry in a few months? You da man :gthumb:

Reply 4

Alpha510

Original post by M1011

Mastered the accounting industry in a few months? You da man :gthumb:

The sarcasm. :tongue:

Obviously not. But I had enough brains to observe what people above me were doing.

Reply 5

cl_steele

Econ id say [regarding pay thats on you, who you work for and how good you are] accountancy just sounds damn boring...just bean counting.

Reply 6

iamsuperjai

Original post by cl_steele

Econ id say [regarding pay thats on you, who you work for and how good you are] accountancy just sounds damn boring...just bean counting.

Original post by Alpha510

This is exactly what I've heard about accounting..that's its very repetitive hence it tends to get boring quite a while. But do a lot of people/companies hire economist though? Is the job in demand?

Reply 7

Pipsico

Original post by iamsuperjai

This is exactly what I've heard about accounting..that's its very repetitive hence it tends to get boring quite a while. But do a lot of people/companies hire economist though? Is the job in demand?

There is no doubt about it: there are more accounting jobs than economist jobs.

Accounting can be what you want it to be. If you get the qualification, the world is your oyster. You can move onto corporate finance, or treasury, work in any industry of your choosing. It's a great qualification to have on your cv as a starting point. Once you qualify as an accountant, it will always be something you can fall back on.

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Reply 8

Alpha510

Original post by iamsuperjai

This is exactly what I've heard about accounting..that's its very repetitive hence it tends to get boring quite a while. But do a lot of people/companies hire economist though? Is the job in demand?

Well yes, it really is boring. I couldn't do that job for too long.

Point there. Economists aren't as much in demand as accountants are. But that's likely to be true for every repetitive job. I think accountants aren't gonna stick for long. Technology is slowly replacing their utility. Only senior accountants and auditors might remain.

Original post by Pipsico

Hm, that's true as well. So I guess the plan is to take up an accounting degree, obtain a few exemptions and finish that ACA?
But sadly. It's getting so saturated here. :/

(edited 10 years ago)