The Difference Between Finance and Accounting

Finance and accounting are usually lumped together. But understanding the key differences will allow you to better distribute fiscal responsibilities to the right people and create a great finance and accounting team for your business.

The Basics

The basic difference between finance and accounting is their core responsibility. Finance is the one exercising high-level control for your company’s financial strategy while accounting is taking in a more detailed look at your company’s books. To put it more simply, finance looks forward to plan future acquisition and accounting looks back to a company’s past financial transactions.

The Difference Table

To fully grasp the difference between these disciplines, let’s put it on a list.

Building a Team

With the understanding of how vastly different each role functions, the next step for a business is to employ the right experts for each department and build a great team to respond to their unique needs. Although both finance and accounting professionals almost have the same clients such as corporations (businesses), governments, and nonprofits, at the end of the day, you should carefully consider the right experts that best fit the role.

The table below shows the traits and characteristics per profession as a guide to know who to employ.

Finance and accounting decisions are tough especially if you’re trying to build your business from the ground up. At the end of the day, you should carefully consider all of the information including all the similarities and differences and decide which option best fits your business goals.

But it is also important to note that there is some level of difficulty in employing the right people for your finance and accounting team. Two major things to consider are salary and available talents.

Salary

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median pay for a Financial Analyst in 2014 was $78,620 per year, $37.80 per hour but it is projected to grow by 12% in 2024. Accounting on the other hand has a median pay of $65,940 per year, $31.70 per hour and is projected to increase by 11% in 2024, which is also an above-average growth rate.

Talent Pool

There is a limited pool of talents for these professions in the US. The share of finance and accounting talent that is age 55 or older has increased from 2011 to 2017 hence the talent pool of younger experienced and highly qualified candidates is shrinking. Although there are fresh graduates and novice finance and accounting professionals in the pool, companies are more likely to employ those that have years of experience.

One way to address these hurdles is by building a great, high-performing finance and accounting team with the right outsourcing partner who has access to world-class talent yet assures a 70% savings on operation cost. The best partner will scout finance and accounting specialists to match them with your unique needs and help you focus on achieving your business goals.

Partnership with Infinit-O

Infinit-O’s mission is to create endless opportunities for your company to realize your full potential.

Let’s work together to build a great Finance and Accounting Team.

Infinit-O is the trusted customer-centric and sustainable leader in Business Process Optimization to Small and Medium businesses in the Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology sectors by delivering continuous improvement through technology, data and people.