What Can You Do With a Finance and Accounting Degree?

Below are 15 occupations that finance and accounting graduates commonly move into, most common first. Accountant leads at $83,680 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025); across the whole list the middle occupation pays $94,160 and 0 of 15 typically need a graduate degree. A major is a body of study, not a job assignment, so treat every entry as a common destination rather than a promise.

What the degree actually involves: Financial statements, valuation, corporate finance, audit, and spreadsheet work.

Finance and accounting is one of the most directly employable majors, and the destinations cluster tightly around recording, analysing and lending money. The professional exams that come after the degree, and which one you sit, matter as much as the degree for where you end up.

Common destinations: 15
Median pay range: $76,690–$166,570
Projected to grow: 13 of 15
Need a graduate degree: 0 of 15

How this list was built

The destinations are the occupations finance and accounting graduates commonly move into. They are ordered by how common the destination is, not by what it pays, so the ordinary outcomes sit at the top where they belong rather than being buried under the flattering ones.
Every destination is matched to a real occupation in the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. A destination that does not resolve to a bank occupation is dropped rather than shown without data.
All pay, growth, openings and education figures come from that bank: BLS OEWS May 2025 for wages, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 for projected change, annual openings and the typical education needed for entry, and O*NET 30.3 Database for what the work involves. Nothing is estimated and no figure here is generated by an AI model.
Destinations whose BLS typical entry education is a master’s or a doctoral or professional degree are marked Graduate study on the list. That flag is read from the federal data, not asserted by us.
What this list is not: a ranking of which destination you should pick, a statement of how many graduates reach each one, or a promise that the degree entitles you to any of them. Read the full methodology.

15 careers a finance and accounting degree commonly leads to

Most common destination first. Every card carries the national median annual wage, projected employment change and openings over 2024–2034, and the typical education people already in the job hold.

1. Accountant
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$83,680
Growth
+4.6%
Openings/yr
124,200
Education
Bachelor's
Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others.
Accountant salary & outlook →
2. Financial and Investment Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$102,740
Growth
+5.7%
Openings/yr
25,100
Education
Bachelor's
Conduct quantitative analyses of information involving investment programs or financial data of public or private institutions, including valuation of businesses.
Financial and Investment Analyst salary & outlook →
3. Financial Advisor
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$105,070
Growth
+9.6%
Openings/yr
24,100
Education
Bachelor's
Advise clients on financial plans using knowledge of tax and investment strategies, securities, insurance, pension plans, and real estate.
Financial Advisor salary & outlook →
4. Loan Officer
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$76,690
Growth
+1.7%
Openings/yr
20,300
Education
Bachelor's
Evaluate, authorize, or recommend approval of commercial, real estate, or credit loans.
Loan Officer salary & outlook →
5. Budget Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$91,640
Growth
+1.0%
Openings/yr
3,100
Education
Bachelor's
Examine budget estimates for completeness, accuracy, and conformance with procedures and regulations.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
6. Credit Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$83,510
Growth
-4.4%
Openings/yr
3,700
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze credit data and financial statements of individuals or firms to determine the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
7. Insurance Underwriter
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$81,370
Growth
-2.6%
Openings/yr
8,200
Education
Bachelor's
Review individual applications for insurance to evaluate degree of risk involved and determine acceptance of applications.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
8. Financial Examiner
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$94,160
Growth
+18.5%
Openings/yr
5,700
Education
Bachelor's
Enforce or ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing financial and securities institutions and financial and real estate transactions.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
9. Treasurer and Controller
Management
Median pay
$166,570
Growth
+14.8%
Openings/yr
74,600
Education
Bachelor's
Direct financial activities, such as planning, procurement, and investments for all or part of an organization.
Treasurer and Controller salary & outlook →
10. Financial Manager
Management
Median pay
$166,570
Growth
+14.8%
Openings/yr
74,600
Education
Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.
Financial Manager salary & outlook →
11. Financial Risk Specialist
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$117,330
Growth
+6.5%
Openings/yr
4,800
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze and measure exposure to credit and market risk threatening the assets, earning capacity, or economic state of an organization.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
12. Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent
Sales and Related
Median pay
$78,660
Growth
+3.3%
Openings/yr
38,100
Education
Bachelor's
Buy and sell securities or commodities in investment and trading firms, or provide financial services to businesses and individuals.
Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent salary & outlook →
13. Actuary
Computer and Mathematical
Median pay
$130,000
Growth
+21.8%
Openings/yr
2,400
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
14. Financial Quantitative Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$81,100
Growth
+3.1%
Openings/yr
10,300
Education
Bachelor's
Develop quantitative techniques to inform securities investing, equities investing, pricing, or valuation of financial instruments.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
15. Management Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$101,860
Growth
+8.8%
Openings/yr
98,100
Education
Bachelor's
Conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures, conduct work simplification and measurement studies, and prepare operations and procedures manuals to assist management in operating more…
Management Analyst salary & outlook →

Does a finance and accounting degree decide your career?

For most people, no. Federal survey data has consistently found that only a minority of US graduates work in a job closely related to their degree field, and that share falls further with each year after graduation. The exceptions are the fields where a licence sits at the end of the degree, and they are exceptions precisely because the route is fixed.

The practical reading of the list above is this: every destination on it lists a bachelor's degree or less as the typical entry requirement (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034), so the decisions that matter after the degree are about experience rather than more study.

Not sure this is the right major in the first place? Take the free college major quiz — fifteen questions that score what you like doing against what each major actually asks of you, and show the same real occupations underneath every match.

Finance and Accounting degrees: FAQ

Do you need a master's degree after a finance and accounting degree?

Not for the destinations on this page. BLS Employment Projections (2024–2034) list a bachelor's degree or less as the typical entry requirement for all 15 of them. Individual employers can still ask for more.

What is the highest-paying career a finance and accounting degree leads to?

Of the 15 destinations on this page, Treasurer and Controller has the highest national median wage at $166,570 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), against $50,980 for all US occupations. Typical entry education for it is bachelor's. A median is the midpoint of everyone in the job today, so a first salary normally sits well below it.

Which of these careers hires the most people each year?

Accountant, with about 124,200 projected openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034). Across all 15 destinations on this page the combined figure is roughly 517,300 openings a year. Openings include replacing people who leave, not just new jobs, which is why a slow-growing occupation can still hire heavily.

Is a finance and accounting degree worth it?

That depends on the price you pay for it, which this page cannot know. What it can tell you is where the destinations sit: the middle occupation on this list pays $94,160 a year against $50,980 for all US occupations, the range runs $76,690–$166,570, and 13 of the 15 are projected to grow over 2024–2034 (BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034).

How was this list of careers put together?

The destinations were curated as the occupations finance and accounting graduates commonly move into, ordered by how common rather than by pay, then matched against the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. Every figure shown comes from that bank: wages from BLS OEWS May 2025, projected change and annual openings and typical entry education from BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, and occupation descriptions from O*NET 30.3 Database. Nothing is estimated, and no figure on this page is generated by an AI model.

How this list was built

15 careers a finance and accounting degree commonly leads to

1. Accountant

2. Financial and Investment Analyst

3. Financial Advisor

4. Loan Officer

5. Budget Analyst

6. Credit Analyst

7. Insurance Underwriter

8. Financial Examiner

9. Treasurer and Controller

10. Financial Manager

11. Financial Risk Specialist

12. Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent

13. Actuary

14. Financial Quantitative Analyst

15. Management Analyst