The document discusses the careers of accountant, auditor, actuary, and financial analyst. For accountants, the key skills are mathematics, active listening, and writing. Their tasks include maintaining financial records and analyzing data. For auditors, important skills are reading comprehension, critical thinking, and active listening. Their daily tasks include examining financial records and preparing audit reports. Actuaries need strong mathematics skills and critical thinking to calculate insurance and financial risk data. Financial analysts require reading comprehension, writing, and critical thinking to assess investments and make recommendations based on financial analysis. All four careers typically require at least a bachelor's degree.

1. Samantha Meneilly
Period 4 Career Planning
with Mr. Como

2. Accountant Auditor

3. An accountant is a business professional who
analyzes financial information and maintain record of
financial activities within an organization.
Skills: What skills are needed to become a great accountant?
• Extensive knowledge of mathematics
• Very good active listening skills. An accountant will need to listen to
their clients and will need to interpret and take the time to
understand what they are told.
• Great writing skills—an accountant will have to record information
and create reports on their findings

4.  Create tables that serve as records of client’s and
organization's accounts.
 Prepare and examine financial and accounting
statements and records.
 Analyze business financial obligations to better infer
the future income and expenses of that business.
 Report to higher managements of their findings and
conclusions they have come to in their analysis of
records.

5. Education
• The greatest bulk of
accountant’s receive a
bachelor’s degree, while a
small percentage have a
master’s degree, and an even
smaller percentage, only an
associate’s degree.
• Possible majors to become an
accountant include:
• Accounting
• Accounting and
Business/Management
• Accounting and Finance
• Accounting and Computer Science
Colleges/Universities
• The colleges who have been
accredited with the best
accounting programs in the
United States include:
• Birgham Young University
• University of Illinois Urbana
• The University of Notre Dame
• University of Texas at Austin
• Indiana University

6. How Much Would I Make as
an Accountant?
• The national median annual
wage for all accountants is
$63,960.
• The median annual wage for
accountants in the state of
New York is $75,600
What Other Jobs are Similar
to an Accountant?
• Jobs similar to the career of
an accountant are:
• Budget Analysts
• Financial Examiners
• Tax Preparers
• Auditors
My
Reaction:
I believe that becoming an accountant would be a fitting
choice for me. I enjoy math class immensely, so much so that I
actually enjoy doing my math homework. Also, the like to be
organized and have things in order, which would be important
in a career like accounting. The salary is great and the hours I
would have to work fit the lifestyle I want to have when I grow
up. Overall, I really like the idea of becoming an accountant

7. An auditor is a business professional who examines accounting records
to ensure that an establishment is in compliance all the necessary rules
and regulations, and to detect any financial inconsistencies. Although
very similar to an accountant, an auditor is different in that they can
evaluate a company’s financial status to detect and/or prosecute
criminal negligence or wrongdoing in accordance with federal financial
laws.
What skills are needed to become an auditor?
• Good reading comprehension skills so that they can understand what they
are reading in specific work related documents.
• An auditor must be a good critical thinker—they will use these critical
thinking skills to come to conclusions and solutions while dealing with work
related information
• An auditor must have good active listening skills so they can comprehend
what somebody is saying to them.

8. On a daily basis, some of the
tasks that an auditor completes
are:
• Examine financial records,
interview workers, and
evaluate related documents to
ensure that they are in
compliance with financial law.
• Speak with company officials
about financial issues.
• Prepare detailed reports on
any and all audit findings.
What does an
auditor do on
a daily basis?

9. Education/Majors
• Most auditors go to college and
get a bachelor’s degree, and a
decent percentage of auditors
go to school and get a master’s
degree. Only a small
percentage of auditors have
only an associate’s degree.
Some possible majors to
become an auditor are:
• Auditing
• Financial Forensics and Fraud
Investigation
• Taxation
• Accounting and
Business/Management
Colleges/Universities
• There are dozens of colleges
that offer majors to become
an auditor. Some of these
colleges include:
• Adelphi University
• Berkeley College-New York
• Hofstra University
• St. John’s University

10. How Much Would I Make as an
Auditor?
• The national average annual
wages for an auditor is
$63,500.
• The state average annual
wages for an auditor in New
York are $75,600
What Other Jobs are Similar to
an Auditor?
• Other jobs that have similar
tasks to an auditor are:
• Assessors
• Appraisers, Real Estate
• Personal Financial Advisors
• Loan Officers
• Tax Preparers
My
Reaction:
To me, a career as an auditor sounds very good. I
like the idea of being able to work with numbers but
also dealing with the law. My grandpa is an attorney
so the law has always interested me, but not enough
to want to become a lawyer. This job however, allows
me to work with numbers and analyzing, while at the
same time getting to work a little bit with financial
law. It is for this reason that I believe I would really
enjoy working as an auditor.

11. Actuary Financial Analyst

12. The most common job of an actuary is to calculate and
predict expected insurance losses. Actuaries can also calculate and
predict other data such as retirement, mortality, accident, and
disability rates.
What Skills are Needed to Become a Good Actuary?
• An actuary needs to have a strong knowledge in mathematics and strength in
this area. They will need this mathematical knowledge to solve problems on a
daily basis.
• Critical Thinking sills are essential to become an actuary. Actuaries will use
these critical thinking skills to come to conclusions about the information they
analyze.
• An actuary must be able to make good judgment calls and make decisions.

13. • Some of the daily tasks of an actuary include…
• Analyzing statistical information and estimate accident and disability
rates.
• Meet with clients and provide advice on financial decisions.
• Testify on proposed legislation based on analysis of how it will affect
businesses.
• Work in an office setting, but also frequently travel to meet with clients.
• Work a typical 8-hour day
• Determine and construct probability tables on risks for fires, natural
disaster, unemployment, etc.

14. Education
• In the actuary career field,
approximately 50% have a
bachelor’s degree, a quarter
of them have doctoral
degrees, and a quarter have
master’s degree.
• There are very limited
degree to take if one wishes
to become and actuary, the
major an actuary should take
in college is Actuarial
Science.
Colleges/Universities
• There are only a limited
amount of colleges and/or
universities that offer
actuarial science as a major,
some of the best of these
colleges/universities are:
• Drake University
• Pennsylvania State University
• St. John’s University
• Towson University
• University of St. Thomas
• University of Connecticut

15. How Much Would I Make as an
Actuary?
• The national median annual
salary for an actuary is
$93,700.
• The state median annual
salary for New York is
$119,100.
What are Some Careers Similar
To An Actuary?
• Compensation and Benefits
Manager
• Cost Estimators
• Risk Management Specialists
• Survey Researchers
• Financial Analysts
I believe that becoming an actuary would be a good
fit for me. I enjoy working with math and this career
would give me an opportunity to do that.
Additionally, the pay is very good. The only
downside to this career is that a good percentage of
people in this field have a doctoral degree and I
don’t want to go to college for a doctoral degree,
only a masters or bachelors. But if this turns out to be
the job for me, I could get a doctoral if absolutely
necessary.

16. A financial analyst is a business professional who works with the
programs of both public and private businesses/institutions by assessing
information regarding investment and conducting quantitative analyses
of data that may affect such programs. Many financial analyst work
more than 40 hours a week because they must conduct much of their
research for the job after hours.
What Skills Must I Have To Become A Good Financial Analyst?
• Reading Comprehension is an important element in the job field of a financial analyst.
A financial analyst will need to use these reading comprehension skills to come to
conclusions about information they are reading in documents.
• A financial analyst must also be a good writer. He/she will need these writing skills to
effectively communicate ideas to an audience and/or coworkers.
• Critical Thinking is essential to working as a financial analyst because the job often
involves using logic and reason to determine and come up with solutions to problems.

17. Some of the tasks of a financial analyst include:
• Create visual representations to illustrate technical reports and
findings.
• Write and communicate decisions to coworkers and superiors on
investment decisions made based on analysis of information.
• Make professional recommendations on investments to
companies based on analysis of financial information.
• Monitor essential economic, industrial, and corporate
developments.

18. Majors/Education
• The largest percentage of
financial analysts have a
bachelor’s degree, and only a
small percentage of financial
analysts obtain a masters
degree.
• Some of the many majors that a
financial analyst can get are:
• Accounting and
Business/Management
• Financial Mathematics
• International Finance
• Accounting and Finance
• Public Finance
Colleges/Universities
• There are many
colleges/universities that
offer majors for somebody
to become a financial
analyst. Some of these
colleges/universities
include:
• Adelphi University
• Hofstra University
• Manhattan College
• Iona College
• Siena College
• St. John’s University

19. How Much Would I Make as a
Financial Analyst?
• The National median salary
for financial analysts is
$77,000.
• The state median salary for
financial analysts in New
York is $96,700.
What are Some Similar
Careers?
• Compensation and Benefits
Managers
• Accountants
• Auditors
• Market Research Analysts and
Marketing Specialists
• Personal Financial Advisors
Even though a financial analyst is very similar to the
other jobs I have looked at, this career is not my
favorite. This is mainly because I don’t want a career
where I have to work more than full time and do most
of my research at home. My main goal in life is to have
a family, and this career would take time away from a
family life more than the other careers I have explored.
It is for this reasons that becoming a financial analyst is
not my favorite option.