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Caden Terrelonge

Timothy Welch

ENC 2135

5 October 2023

Investigating Business and Finance

The subject of this investigation is the major of business finance. To better understand the major,

we will first look at what the major is and its usefulness. Then, to gain a further prior

understanding, we will also look at the types of jobs that this major can lead to and investigate

what each one of these jobs does explicitly. Many assume that these business majors lead to jobs

that require sitting behind a desk or just dealing with numbers. The goal of this investigation is to

find out whether that is true or not. To find that answer, we will look at an interview conducted

with a current financial advisor and a study about the importance of communication in the

business field. As someone who likes to work in groups and feel active in the workplace, this

investigation can help me decide if this major suits me or others like me.

A General Overview of Business Finance

Business Finance is a widely known major in many universities today. The term “finance” refers

to managing money, which is the most basic summary of what business finance is. Overall, it is a

major that leads into jobs that relate to “the application of economic principles to decision-

making that involves the allocation of money under conditions of uncertainty” (Drake 1).
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Although that is the basic idea of the major, there is still so much more to it than that. When

studying business finance one can expect to research topics which include financial planning,

investing, and banking, while also developing problem solving skills and communication

(Coursera). These topics use a mathematical and logical view to connect the study of money

management to real world situations. As one pursues a degree in business finance, these classes

can be expected in the school curriculum (Coursera):

• Analysis of Financial Statement Presentation

• Banking, Financial Institutions, and Society

• Business and Economic Forecasting

• Federal Taxation for Businesses

• Financial Management of the Firm

• Financial Modeling

• Fundamentals of Business Statistics

• Mergers and Acquisitions

• Organizational Behavior

• Principles of Macroeconomics

• Principles of Microeconomics

• Statistical Methods in Business

• Venture Capital and Private Equity

An understanding of how money should be allocated is an absolute necessity for large

businesses, small businesses, and even families. Business finance is a desirable choice when
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deciding what to major in because every business, big or small, has an essential need for this area

of expertise. There are areas of this major that people may like or dislike, but overall, someone

who pursues this major should be interested in numbers and money management.

A Future in Business Finance

Business finance can lead to several different career paths. An area of this expertise has endless

uses and opportunities, but some of the few well known career paths are fintech business analyst,

impact investing analyst, financial analyst, commercial banker, grants analyst, financial advisor,

accountants, and auditors.

-Fintech Business Analyst

Fintech, or financial technology, is the programming and tech that helps support banking and

financial services. As a fintech business analyst you oversee these operations and report data,

check the quality of these programs, and predict financial trends for a variety of industries.

-Impact Investing Analyst

Impact investing is a method of investing in which a positive environmental or social impact is

pursued as well as a financial return. As an investing analyst, you can work closely with these

companies to help them make smart financial decisions, but as an impact investing analyst you

can work more specifically within the division of companies that are responsible for impact

investing

-Financial Analyst

A financial analyst's job is to help investors make smart decisions. People in this career path can

work for large industries supporting investment decisions or provide insight into decisions
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regarding the investment into new businesses. Overall, a financial analyst looks at the market and

other factors to predict the outcome of certain investments. This career option is very versatile,

and according to Coursera, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment of

financial analysts will increase from 9 percent by the year 2031.

-Commerical Banking

Commercial banking plays a huge role in the finance community because it is the source of loans

and mortgages. Commercial banking is the broader title, but career paths within this are

relationship manager, loan officer, and development officer. Through these three jobs you will

work with customers to evaluate financial situations to direct them into possible financial

options. People in this field often get to work with other people and have close relationships with

customers.

-Grants Analyst

Grant analysts work with non-profits to help allocate funds and budget. It is basically a financial

analyst but for non-profit organizations. A unique understanding is required for this field of work

because non-profit institutions abide by a distinct set of rules in the economy.

-Financial Advisor

A financial advisor works with clients to provide their financial expertise. A financial advisor's

role is to have input on decisions such as investments or savings. Financial advising can have
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flexible schedules and many in-person interactions with clients. According to Coursera, the

employment for personal financial advisors will increase to 15 percent by 2031.

-Accountants and Auditors

People in this career are tasked with getting financial records in order, making sure they are

accurate and compliant with laws. They also find areas of risk or opportunity and offer solutions

to institutions

Investigating the Active Roles in the Different Career Path

People often assume that a career in the field of business finance leads to a job behind a desk or

in a cubicle, locked away from the outside world, but that is not necessarily true. Many of the career

paths require working in groups or with other people through face-to-face interactions. There are some

career paths that offer more face-to-face interaction than others, for example, financial advisors work

more closely with clients than someone else in another job would.

While at the root of each profession there is an emphasis on data analysis and money

management, there is also an aspect that requires a lot of interaction with other people. Working with

other people can be critical for jobseekers that value working in groups, and there are a multitude of

ways that communication is key within the career paths of business finance. The first major aspect of

communication is client relationships. The goal of many of these jobs is to manage other people's

money, and it is vital that you can effectively communicate what you are doing with their money and

why you are doing it. As someone who manages other people's money, you are only employed if those

clients see benefit in hiring you. On the hand there is the importance of listening to the client because it

is crucial to understand their needs and financial goals. The aspects of both listening and effectively

communicating help to maintain a strong and trustworthy relationship with clients. This is especially
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important for financial advisors because they are constantly working closely with families or small

businesses to provide direction for what they are doing with their money.

The ability to collaborate in the finance profession is also overlooked. Especially when working

for bigger industries, deciding how to handle money is not a one man show. There are often finance

teams within industries and those finance teams work with other departments to decide what is best for

the company. For example, finance teams could work closely with the sales or marketing departments

to provide budgets or financial plans. Even without the collaborative work with other departments,

there is an active role played within the finance team itself. Finance team members can specialize in a

certain category and relay that information to other team members. In any team, it is important to

effectively communicate and work together to achieve a goal.

Client relationships and collaboration only account for a few ways that business finance

professions require active roles. A few more examples include presenting information, negotiating, risk

management, regulatory compliance, training, and problem solving. Below are brief descriptions of the

remaining examples of active roles:

• Presenting Information: effectively portraying financial data to stakeholders

• Negotiating: negotiating deals with other companies or parties

• Risk Management: working with other departments and analyze risk

• Regulatory Compliance: working closely with regulatory officers to ensure regulations and laws

are being followed

• Training: educating new hires or colleagues

• Problem Solving: working within teams to solve financial problems

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Investigating Real World Situations

I recently interviewed a friend of mine named Andrew Tychsen. He graduated from

Florida State University with a degree in business finance. He currently works for his dad as a

financial advisor in his family-owned business. I asked him if he could describe his work, if he

enjoyed it, and explain the active roles that are required. First, he explained that his work is

extremely rewarding, not just for the money, but being able to help other people with their

finances. He shared with me his initial concerns about entering the business finance profession,

saying that he too appreciated active roles and face to face interaction. Andrew explained that

prior assumptions had been completely wrong, saying that he is constantly communicating with

other people, and rarely just sits behind his desk. One other example of having an active role that

Andrew explained was the aspect of teaching other people. He said that the knowledge he uses

mostly came from his dad, who is his boss. If his dad could not effectively convey that

information to Andrew, then he would not be where he is today. Although the business finance

profession does not have the same active roles as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering &

Mathematics) profession, communication, working in groups, educating other people, and being

energetic, are all relevant to this field of work.

A study done by Martha H. Rader and Alan P Wunsch, from Arizona State University

shows that a survey conducted concludes that communication is a highly used practice in the

business industry. The article looks to answer many questions surrounding the concept of

communication within the business profession, but one question they ask that I am specifically

interested in is “How much time do business graduates employed in different types of jobs spend

on various communication activities (speaking, listening, writing, and reading)?” The study was

conducted by mailing questionnaires to past students who received their undergraduate degree
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from Arizonia State. The results found that 90 percent of the respondents said that oral

communication was extremely important, and that most of their day was spent speaking. The

Article lists how, on average, each day was spent speaking, listening, writing, reading, and other

activities.

Note: This pie chart was made by me based on data from Rader Martha H. and Alan P. Wunsch,

“A Survey of Communication Practices of Business School Graduates by Job Category and

Undergraduate Major.” Sage Publications. July 1980

This Data is based on the overall answers of the respondents with undergraduate business

degrees, but the article supports the idea of communication in specifically business finance even

further when it lists the statistics for each job category. The respondents that worked in the

finance field spent roughly 39.40% of their day speaking to other people.
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Conclusion

Before investigating this subject, I assumed that a degree in business finance would lead to a job

that strictly dealt with numbers and required sitting behind a desk all day. My goal of this essay

was to learn more about the career options that would be available to my degree, and if those

career paths had an active role. It depends on what you view as an “active role,” but to me it

means a position that works frequently with other people or in groups, or time spent interacting

with other people. If one considers communication and working closely with other people as an

active role, business finance is a great option. It is clear from this investigation that the amount

of communication and interaction with others is greatly underestimated. Business finance is a

highly desirable major because of its usefulness, but do not let the concept of just working with

numbers scare you away. Someone in business finance can expect to also spend a great deal of

their day communicating, working in groups, and solving problems.

Annotated Bibliography

Coursera, “What Can You Do with a Finance Degree? 7 Career Paths for 2023” Coursera

INC.6/15/2023 https://www.coursera.org/articles/what-can-you-do-with-a-finance-

degree-careers-for-the-21st-century
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This article explains seven different career paths that are available to finance

degrees. These different options include fintech business analyst, impact investing

analyst, financial analyst, commercial banker, grants analyst, financial advisor,

and accountants and auditors. This article's authors also give us salary information

and the different options for finance degrees (bachelors or master's). This is a

helpful article for my investigative essay because it helps give information to

several types of career paths. Before answering the question regarding active roles

in finance job opportunities, I needed to first look at what career options are

available. It also describes what each job does, which can also give us a glimpse

of whether that job has an active role. I do believe this article to be credible

because it uses information from many trustworthy sources, including the US

Bureau of Labor Statistics and other acceptable organizations.

Coursera, “What Is a Finance Major? Coursework, Careers, and Job Outlook” Coursera

INC.6/16/2023 https://www.coursera.org/articles/finance-major

This source explains what exactly a finance major is and what it consists of. It

goes into detail the type of coursework that can be expected. It also explains the

type of work that can be expected in this line of work and the type of person that

should go into it. It says “People who choose to major in finance are interested in

numbers, financial markets, and finding ways to make money. They tend to be

natural problem-solvers who like setting goals and researching ways to reach

them.” Even further, it explains the different job options and expected salary. This

article is useful because I can use it in my essay to explain the basics of what a

finance degree is, and it also explains the type of work and person that is in this
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line of work. The type of person that should go into this line of work goes hand in

hand with whether these jobs have active roles and leadership positions.

Drake, Pamela Peterson, and Frank J. Fabozzi. “The Basics of Finance: An Introduction to

Financial Markets, Business Finance, and Portfolio Management.” John Wiley & Sons.

7/8/2010. Courier Westford, Westford MA.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4zqgXdITQuAC&oi=fnd&pg=PT13&d

q=business+finance+major&ots=jg7BTBHknl&sig=07RrKlZ7ErIBS10EQ6wd6NThLj8#

v=onepage&q&f=false

In this book, the authors cover a variety of topics that include information about

finance. Specifically, chapter one answers the question of “What is finance?”, and

chapter five offers information relating to business finance. Chapter one describes

how in finance, we basically worry about money, and we worry about the future.

This chapter goes further into depth about finance, but chapter five goes deeper

into the subject of business finance. I can use this book in my investigative essay

because part of essay involves explaining what business finance is, and what it

does. To research a question in business finance I must first explain to the reader

what it is. I believe this book to be a credible source because it is written by two

well educated authors. Frank J. Fabozzi is a professor at Yale’s University of

Management, and Pamela Peterson Drake is a professor at James Madison

University, both having their PHD. This source is more of a basic one compared

to the other ones because it is primarily for information regarding business

finance and nothing else. It does not offer a connection from personality traits to

this field of study; however, because it offers plenty of information on what

someone in the business finance field would be learning, I can conclude that the
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type of person that is in business finance must be math oriented, good with

numbers and money, and concerned about the future.

Feldman, D.C. and Arnold, H.J. (1985), “Personality Types and Career Patterns: Some Empirical

Evidence on Holland's Model.” Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue

Canadienne des Sciences de d'Administration.

4/08/2009https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doI/ epdf/10.1111/j.1936-4490.1985.tb00401.x

In this article, the authors examine the role that personality type plays in

contributing to certain aspects of the work environment. It is clear through the

data that personality type plays a huge role in job satisfaction, commitment,

friendship development and more. This is helpful to the investigative essay that I

am writing because one aspect I am looking at is the active role that is in the

career options of people with a business finance degree. This article gives insight

into personality traits in correlation to job satisfaction, and personality traits are

certainly related to active roles, group work, or leadership roles. I believe this

article to be a credible source because the data comes from a study of real people

in the real work force. It is written by two authors who are well known for their

teachings at the University of Florida and University of Toronto.

Rader Martha H. and Alan P. Wunsch, “A Survey of Communication Practices of Business

School Graduates by Job Category and Undergraduate Major.” Sage Publications. July

1980. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/002194368001700403

In this article the authors describe the communication roles of people in the

business field of study. The authors initially submit their concern that many

business students are unaware of the amount and types of communication they

will have to be doing. They explain that business managers spend a lot of time
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talking or listening compared to the little time spent writing or reading.

Furthermore, this article compares different jobs, and the time spent speaking in

each field. This source is beneficial for me to look at as I investigate my research

question because I am looking at the active roles in the field. An active role would

be someone who communicates with others, and often works in groups or with

other people. This article helps with that because it offers insight into how often

people in business spend talking with others. I consider this source to be credible

because it is a study done with actual people in that field of work.

Tychsen, Andrew. Interview. Conducted by Caden Terrelonge. 29 September 2023.

I interviewed a friend of mine named Andrew Tychsen. He graduated FSU with a

degree in business finance and works for his dad in his family-owned business.

He and his dad are financial advisors, so he was able to give me some insight as

far as what he does, and his active role in the job. Andrew explained his line of

work does require a high level of mathematical and statistical thinking, and that a

business finance degree does not always lead to financial advising. Andrew

explained that many people he knew with business finance degrees went into a

variety of jobs. As far as his role as a financial advisor goes, he explained that

many people underestimate the active role that someone in his line of work plays.

Financial advising mainly consists of helping people with their finances, which

means communication is crucial and you are often working with other people.

This was good information for my investigative essay because I am looking for

aspects of these jobs that require working in groups or talking to people. I think

that financial advising could even fall under the category of leadership because

you are leading people into smart financial decisions.

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Worthington, Andrew and Higgs, Helen (2004) “Factors Explaining the Choice of an Economics

Major: The Role of Student Characteristics, Personality and Perceptions of the

Profession.” International Journal of Social Economics 31(5/6):pp. 593-613.

https://www.researchgate.Net/publication/46545383_Factors_explaining_the_choice_of_

a_finance_major_The_role_of_students'_characteristics_personality_and_perceptions_of

_the_profession

Andrew Worthington and Helen Higgs explain the statistics behind the number of

students who choose to go into some kind of economics major. This article

primarily surrounds the topic of all economic studies but also offers insight to the

business finance major. There are many statistics in this article, including the

percentage of students that chose business finance as their major, as well as the

types of people that choose certain types of economics majors. This article

specifically looks at the personality of students that choose this major, and the

perceptions of students that choose this field of study. This is a useful source for

me in my investigative essay because my research question looks at the active

role someone in a business field would have, and this article looks at the type of

personality traits students in these majors portray It is also helpful because it

looks at the perceptions of these students, basically asking students “What do

think a job in the business field is like?” I believe this source to be both scholarly

and credible because it offers references to over 35 other sources, which include

plenty of other economic journals and data from the department of education.

This source is different from the other sources because it offers a direct

correlation to this field of study and the personality traits of students, which is

exactly what I am looking for.

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