Abdulwahab
Is multi-tasking a skill that is required for this job?
I am interested in working in the major of Finance. Is multi-tasking a part of it? #business #finance #accounting #personal-development #career-details
8 answers
James Phillips
James’s Answer
You will likely have multiple clients and multiple projects for each client.
Its sort of a game of juggling responsibilities and knowing which tasks need to be prioritized, and which ones can wait.
Being able to multitask is vital to success and happiness in this profession.
Hope this helps
Amanda Grady, MSA
Amanda’s Answer
Wonderful question! I believe that proper time-management and organization are huge strengths in the accounting/finance world.
Typically when working on an engagement with tight deadlines, it's makes it easier for the whole team if everyone is able to provide an accurate status of outstanding tasks, while also being able to follow through with assigned deadlines. (i.e. If the workload is not manageable and some unexpected problems arise, it's okay and raise your hand and say you need help. It's better to ask for help ahead of time and it's not something that's looked down upon. Everyone is on the same team, with the same goal in mind.) (i.e. If someone on your team asks how long task #1 is going to take and you respond with "well I took a look at the task beforehand and I believe it should take 3 hours," that would show great time-management skills.
Speaking on the organizational aspect, let's say you have five tasks assigned to you. Your manager wants to know about task #4 and why it's not completed yet. If you're able to stay organized and give them a clear precise answer... i.e You are currently waiting on a client document that you asked for last week and you followed up with them again this morning. This answer shows how you are organized, while also show your initiative to follow up with the client before being asked to do so.
So while multi-tasking can be important (and depends on the individual), I believe time-management and organizational skills are a bit more imperative to the accounting/finance field.
Iman Shehemi
Iman’s Answer
Desiree Cabinatan
Desiree’s Answer
Multi-tasking shouldn't be the phrase that you emphasize. It's time-management. That's the true key to balancing all of your daily tasks and projects, as well as self-care and personal life.
I know people that set time on their calendars just to stand and take a 10 min walk away from their desk every hour.
Some people schedule 10 mins every few hours to just sit in silence and take a mental break.
It's all about finding balance between everything and organizing your day.
Jill Finlayson
Jill’s Answer
Multi-tasking has been debunked - you can google it, but here are a couple of links: The gist is this:
"the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously ... we just switch tasks quickly"
psychologytoday
And task-shifting has a cost: "Losing focus... Wasted productivity ... Dropping learning rates"
alltel
That said, besides focus being important, rather than multi-tasking - the ability to prioritize and shift when necessary is important in finance and other business roles. You need to have a great attention to detail and still be able to keep the big picture in mind (and how they fit together).
Melissa Hines
Melissa’s Answer
As with any job, you should always practice mult-tasking. Some require more than others. With Finance, it just depends on what you are doing are working on. For example, if you are running reports and dealing with sensitive material, it is not idealistic to multi-task and risk making tremendous mistakes. It is all on what you feel you can handle without becoming stressed. Finance is a very demanding major in the workforce and requires a lot of attention-to-detail.
Lauren Foss
Lauren’s Answer
Mukesh Kamat
Mukesh’s Answer
ajoring in finance is a very professionally oriented move. It's a good idea if you know what careers you're interested in, but maybe not so much if you're still interested in playing the field.
Finance Major: A good idea for the pre-professional
Pursuing a finance major as an undergraduate student is a good idea for someone who knows that he or she intends to pursue business professions upon his or her graduation. Such professions might still require interested students to earn finance degrees at the graduate level, but pursuing finance majors at the undegraduate level will lay the necessary education foundation for later pursuing those graduate level degrees.
The careers which a finance major might prepare you for would include professions such as: bond brokering, corporate finance, financial analysis, financial planning, underwriting, investment banking, venture capitalism, and portfolio management.
What will I learn by pursuing a finance major?
Working in finance is fundamentally about managing money, whether for individuals, institutions, organizations, or other entities. Majoring in finance will lead you to learn a great deal about how money works, and about financial instruments, stocks, bonds, and markets. This information will then allow you to determine important information and advice for institutions regarding the management of their finances.
What is involved in the coursework for finance majors?
Studying for a finance major will lead to some overlap with business majors and courses as well as accounting majors and courses. Finance coursework involves the study of mathematics and statistics as well as some business principles.
Finance majors are generally considered to focus on more specific issues than accoutant majors, but this is not necessarily or inherently the case. In general, finance majors will be studying the principles and tools necessary in order to make decisions for companies and other larger organizations in financial areas, such as where money can be allocated for the best financial effect.
A finance major would learn how to advise others in making strong investments, and in how to manage funds and finances. They would gain such skills as being able to establish and manage budgets; being able to monitor important financial markets and economies use that information for practical effect; and advising and assisting in important investment decisions.
The current situation facing finance majors
Finance majors should be aware of the current situation surrounding the world of finance, however. Due to the recent economic downturn and the recession, there are likely to be fewer positions in finance in the future. At the very least, many individuals working in finance lost their jobs as a direct result of the financial crisis, and as such, success through a finance major is not guaranteed by any means.
This is not to say that there are no opportunities out there at all for finance majors; these opportunities are simply in places which some finance majors might not automatically think to look. Many individuals who pursue finance majors would actually likely be better off pursuing or planning on careers outside of traditional finance areas, such as Wall Street, and instead inside of areas such as emerging economices or risk management.
Some sources recommend that students pursuing finance majors seek to distinguish themselves as students from other finance majors, so as to better increase their potential job prospects. For example, a finance major might pursue a certification in a specific database usage, such as the Thomas Reuters database or the CQG database. Having such a certification will make a given financial major more appealing as a potential hire, both in terms of his or her additoinal knowledge and useful skills, and in terms of his or her clear drive to succeed.
Also, finance majors might look at pairing finance with another subject in order to double major, thereby increasing the student's desirability and likelihood of being hired. Good double majors for a finance major include accounting, marketing, and other business reltaed majors, although other options could also serve a similar role.