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Accountant/Actuary?

Anyone know which job earns more? I've read their descriptions, but they don't do anything to help really. It doesn't say how much experience you need and how good you need to be at the job to earn the types of salaries it describes. Could someone please tell me the sort of starting salaries and salaries for the average experienced person, and how easy it is to get a job in either? Obviously, I'd like to earn more :O Thanks.

Reply 1

john williams

In terms of top positions both professions will be quite highly paid, but im sure im right in saying that actuaries' earning potential is much more and alot progress to company directors etc!

Reply 2

Mathemagician. Funny?

Well my dad is an accountant and a close cousin of mine is an actuary. Now before you get into actuaries, you have apparently got to be good at maths. I think that is true (please correct me if I am wrong).My cousin got a 2:1 from oxford for maths and failed one of his exams. That is how hard it is to get into acturial science. He didn't fail because he was an idiot and he didnt fail because he was dumb, he failed because there were better people than him. To become a qualified actuary you have to take a competitive exam while as an accountant you have to take a qualified exam. Now, the competitive exam means that depending on demand a certain amount of people pass. This is not apparent from accountancy which is what my dad has told me. Now for salaries, there is definetly a better starting salary as an actuary. My cousin started on 30k which isn't too bad but still good. I don't know anything about as you go along with actuaries but as you get more experience and do well in accountancy you can get paid a lot. Finance Directors, CEOs all get paid a lot. My dad has a lot of "accountant" friends for example on 350k a year. Sorry but my cousin is only about 25 and he finished an msc in acturial science two years ago and I think he is earning 60k a year now which is decent.

Reply 3

Zygroth

Oh right, didn't know that bit about the exams :O How much would a starting accountant earn? Also, isn't it a bit hard to find work? I read somewhere if you work for a company, you don't earn all that much at all, you need to be private to earn the really high amounts. I'm not too sure this is correct though, because if everyone was private, then wouldn't there be like no jobs left for the startings accountants?

Reply 4

Singh_87

On average, actuaries will often earn alot more than Accountants do. Senior Actuaries are often surpassing the £100k mark, and obviously earning potential is alot more depending on the sector you work in.

However, I would imagine the percentage of Accountants turning into FD's/MD's/CEO's of companies is a fair bit higher than of Actuaries, and so their potential is very high too.

I know my answer is quite vague, but in general, Actuaries are take home a better pay packet.

Reply 5

John.

Nope senior actuaries are more likely to be earning £300k+ at top firms.

Reply 6

Singh_87

John.

Nope senior actuaries are more likely to be earning £300k+ at top firms.

Not in all sectors. Most qualified senior actuaries will hit the £100k mark, and will not even go close to £300k. £300k in top firms and in top positions, yes, but to be saying an average senior actuary is earning £300k is misleading.

And if we are talking the top top guys, even £300k seems a pale figure in some cases.

Reply 7

John.

Singh_87

Well when i meant senior, i didn\'t mean senior by experience, i meant senior as in the top actuarial consultants in the City.

Reply 8

Singh_87

John.

Well when i meant senior, i didn\'t mean senior by experience, i meant senior as in the top actuarial consultants in the City.

Ah I see. Senior Actuary, in this field, is usually referred to somene who has qualified and has a few years experience under their belt.

Reply 9

John.

Singh_87

Ah I see. Senior Actuary, in this field, is usually referred to somene who has qualified and has a few years experience under their belt.

I\'m sure u\'ll agree with me in that they can earn well over £300k easily.

Reply 10

Singh_87

John.

I\'m sure u\'ll agree with me in that they can earn well over £300k easily.

Yes, I never disagreed with that, it's just that our definitions of 'Senior Actuaries' differed.

Reply 11

Zygroth

Is it easy to get to the stage where you're earning about 100k as an actuary? Like would you need to be exceptionally good? I'm not really sure what the job actually involves anymore, because I thought it was something like putting the price on insurance and things like that, and only insurance companies needed actuaries.

Reply 12

fblade

Zygroth

Banks and other financial institutions employ them as well, I think also project management stuff is a new thing in the Actuarial world.

Its hard to become an actuary, it takes a lot of brain to become an actuary. I think trainee actuaries start 45K, I think.

Reply 13

SuperMario.

Zygroth

Is it easy to get to the stage where you\\\'re earning about 100k as an actuary? Like would you need to be exceptionally good? I\\\'m not really sure what the job actually involves anymore, because I thought it was something like putting the price on insurance and things like that, and only insurance companies needed actuaries.

The trainee actuaries will be doing all the pricing and boring stuff like that, the senior actuarial consultants are the ones who have a simple job, but can earn 100k flat with a further 80-120k on bonuses easily. In a way an actuary, is similar to what i would call a \\\'quantitative fund manager\\\'. Thats pretty much what there doing, just in a mathematical way. I.e if you wok in pensions, you\\\'ll me managing pension funds, and investing them into all types of assets (i.e stocks/options/futures/forex etc), but its done more mathematical, and lots of of factors are taken into account and a model is developed to measure the risk in certain investments. In a way actuarial work, can be considered very similar to work done by quants (obviously not including all that Black-Scholes stuff) on the trading floors, hence it is no surprise why the say being an actuary is a very very stressful fob.

Reply 14

Snakedragon

Which branch of Actuaries actually get to earn huge amounts, because I think there'd be significant differences between different practices, such as general insurance and pensions.

Reply 15

Zygroth

SuperMario.

hence it is no surprise why the say being an actuary is a very very stressful fob.

Hmm, how much more stressful is it than an accountant? And what about how much accountants could earn inside a large company?

Reply 16

fblade

I would have thought it was less stressful, at least, thats what I've read.

Reply 17

Sophdoph

Actuaries earn way more generally but it takes much longer to qualify and the Institute's exams ae much harder than completing an ACA/ACCA. My boyf is starting as an Actuary, I am starting at Deloitte, and he will be earning about 7k more than me when we start work on our respective graduate training schemes.