Olivia Chilcote

Bus-1010

30 November 2021

Assessing a Career in Business

Job Description –

I chose to research the roles of a Budget Accountant/Analysist. They oversee estimating and

predicting future revenues and expenses of a business and preparing a new budget. They look at

past expenditures and cost trends to help the determine this. They are also in charge of

monitoring and controlling the budget and expenditures as they are happening. The goal of a

budget accountant is to help the business or organization make the most profit and ways to

increase the profits. (Accountingedu.org, 2021) Around 57% work within the government

somewhere, rather federal, state, local government agencies or schools. (Accountingedu.org,

2021) A budget accountant can take a position working in the local, state, or federal government

as well as within any type of educational services or within various Professional, Scientific, and

Technical Services.

General Career Path – After you receive your degree, you would want to start looking at ways

to gain some hands-on experience. According to University HQ, “a little more than 50% of

employers are looking for up to two years of experience, 32% want you to have three to five

years of experience, and 7% are looking for six to eight years of experience.” (University HQ,

2021) This article recommends looking at internships to start gaining this kind of experience. It

also recommends getting ahead of this and starting before getting the degree. This way by the

time the schooling is complete, it is easier to jump straight into a job position. Once you get into
a position and start gaining experience, you can move up to different levels of positions and

different fields.

General Education Experience –

Most Budgeting Accounting positions require that you have at least a bachelor’s degree in

accounting or finance. If you want to do something more advanced in the field, you may require

a higher degree. Such as, “Some senior analyst jobs require an MBA or a master’s degree in

accounting, finance, or a related field.” (Accountingedu.org, 2021) This same source also says

that “budget analysts with master’s degrees have the best job opportunities.” You are able to

major anywhere from accounting, business, economics, finance, public administration, statistics,

political science, or to sociology. However, you must have various courses taken in statistics and

accounting to become a budget accountant or analysist.

Average Salary –

The average salaries across the United States are as follows, (University HQ, 2021):

 Local Government: $71,000 

 State Government: $65,000 

 Federal Government: $82,000 

 Educational Services (private, state, and local): $66,000 

 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services: $84,000

I did further research and found that in Utah the average estimated salary for this field is

“$74,610 per year.” (CareerExplorer, 2020) You can also make more depending on years of

experience and which area you chose to work in, it can be much more. This is a decent amount
of money to make, especially when, if you get the right degree and early experience you can start

making close to this right out of school. There are also opportunities for bonuses and raises in

this type of career.

Career Outlook –

The job employment of a budget accountant is expected to grow by 5% by 2030, with about

4,300 job openings per year. (U.S. Bureau, 2021.) With the limited number of positions,

competition is fairly high. It is recommended to get a master’s degree or MBA to help set you

further ahead from the competition. Budget accounts and analysts are projected to always be in

need, because they paly such a big role in projecting costs, laying out budgets for businesses and

the government and finding how to make the biggest profits. Businesses and government

agencies rely on their work to run their business and ensure money is going in the right and best

places.

Bio of someone in the profession –

I spoke to my aunt who has recently started her own business out in Las Vegas, called Bottega

Exchange. It is an office space where people can rent out offices, conference rooms, or the

building for events and day to day work. She said that they just recently hired a Budget

Accountant, who she sates is way overqualified but needed a break from the high-pressure jobs.

Just within a few weeks they went from being a struggling start up to making a profit. The

problem had begun when their business first opened and they were throwing money at things,

trying to get some of it to stick. (Despain, 2021.) They continued paying for these things, even

when they weren’t working. When they hired their budget accountant, she was able to look back
and see what was a waste of money and put it where it would make a profit instead. This helped

me understand why having a budget accountant was so important. Someone needs to be planning

and watching expenses to make sure everything is being spent in the right place. Unfortunately, I

did not get to speak to her Budget Accountant directly, but I was still able to gain great insight

from speaking to her about her experience with one with a small startup.

I also did research on Meredith Whitney who did a lot of financial work on Wall Street and is

known as the Oracle of Wall Street. Whitney predicated “Citibank's need to raise capital

in October 2007” (Kindbody, 2021) During this time of the financial crisis, she did a lot of

highly recognized work.

She was also recently promoted to Chief Financial Officer at Kindbody. “Whitney has been one

of the most visible female analysts on Wall Street.” (Kindbody, 2021) The rest of this article

focused on her goes over all the different jobs she has taken on in the financial market and as a

accountant. It is very impressive that she is one of few women recognized for her financial work

on Wall Street.

Pros and Cons—

The advantages of becoming a budget accountant include working with important information,

handling confidential data and access to senior management. This could also be stressful to some

people. There is high salary on average, you get good benefits and have opportunities for

bonuses and raises. Money is a big pull for many people. A budget accountant also has the

opportunity to improve the company or business they work for by adjusting their finances, as

what happened with my aunt and Bottega Exchange. (Depsain, 2021.) The disadvantages of

taking a career in budget accounting include high stress due to that fact you have such high
responsibilities. Most people in the financial department are required to work long hours, which

takes time away from family, friends, and your personal time. Since it is a very logical and math

related job, there is little room for creativity, which limits your abilities. This might not be a

problem for some people, because they prefer straight forward work, but others might struggle

having this limitation. You are also expected to be very detailed oriented and missing important

details can have huge repercussions. Being detailed orientated may be a pull for some people but

could potentially add even more stress to the position for some people.

Your “fit” with this career—

I would enjoy the math and logical aspects of it and the structure of creating budgets and

analyzing past expenditures. I enjoy creating structures and organization which I think would

make this a good fit for me. I also read that it is a very stable job and high paying. (Grayson,

2017) On the other hand, my main concern with choosing this as a career is the fact, I would

have to sit all day and stare at a computer screen most of my time. I enjoy my current job

because it is very flexible, as in I can do computer work for a couple hours and then find hands

on work when I get bored. I need to be moving around or I start to get drained from work very

quickly. I also tend to get headaches if I stare at a computer screen for too long. I would also be

concerned that the stress would get to me. You work with a lot of important data and are taking

on tons of responsibility being in charge of a company’s budget and their finances. I think

overall I would be decently suited for this position with it being highly structed and number

based. I would mainly be worried that I would get bored quickly because of sitting in an office

all day and get headaches from spending the majority of my time looking at a screen.
 Sources:

Accountingedu.org. (2021, November 5). Budget Analyst job description, salary & certification.

CPA 2021 Requirements by State | CPA Exam and Accountant Education. Retrieved

November 30, 2021, from https://www.accountingedu.org/budget-analyst/.

CareerExplorer. (2020, April 13). Budget Analyst Salary. ‐ CareerExplorer. Retrieved November

30, 2021, from https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/budget-analyst/salary/.

Despain, K. (2021, October 15). Personal communication [Personal Interview].

Grayson, L. (2017, November 21). An Accountant's Role in Budgeting. Small Business -

Chron.com. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/accountants-role-budgeting-26179.html.

Kindbody. (2021, April 28). Oracle of Wall Street, Meredith Whitney, is Named Chief Financial

Officer by Fast-Growing Femtech Company Kindbody. Retrieved November 30, 2021,

from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oracle-of-wall-street-meredith-whitney-
 is-named-chief-financial-officer-by-fast-growing-femtech-company-kindbody-

301279037.html.

University HQ. (2021). Becoming a Budget Analyst – Careers & Outlook. University

Headquarters: The Higher Education Standard. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from

https://universityhq.org/how-to-become/budget-analyst-careers/.

U.S. Bureau. (2021, September 8). Budget analysts: Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 1, 2021, from

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/budgetanalysts.htm#:~:text=Employment

%20of%20budget%20analysts%20is,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.