Computer Science vs. Accounting: Which is for You?

Choosing your university major is known as one of the critical tasks in your life. If you are a fan of numerical orders and numbers, which career should you choose between computer science vs. accounting?

Each profession comes with the merits and disadvantages, which are discussed in the post. Moreover, I will provide you with the core requirements to give you a more detailed look into the two professions.

Now, let’s read on to discover the difference!

What Is Accounting?

By learning to account, you can learn to record the financial transactions of a certain business. It includes summarizing, analyzing, and finally reporting these numbers to the regulators, agencies, and tax collectors.

The accounting major teaches you to create and maintain the systems that illustrate the finance of a business.

Your study revolves around the theory behind accounting and the basic techniques and skills to analyze the finance of a business.

Is accounting easy? The answer is surely no. Accounting is a very hard and challenging college major. It takes learners four years to finish the course, along with hundreds of projects and exams that you need to pass.

You will have to participate in different classes with intense curriculums and subjects. Therefore you need to be very serious about getting into accounting.

Working As An Accountant

What Is Computer Science?

Computer science is also a popular college major. It involves mainly the study of programming languages and computers.

To be more specific, it teaches you to build websites, applications, and programs and manage data or information, along with many other related fields.

The learners will mainly study and practice algorithms, operating programs, and programming languages like Python or C++.

Computer Science vs. Accounting

It is really difficult to decide as each major has its good and bad points. However, they both require tremendous hard work and passion from the learners to follow. Therefore the key is to choose the major that you are more interested in.

The information will shine more depth into the characteristics of the two majors.

What Do They Have In Common?

Both majors involve a lot of mathematics and skills to work with numbers and analyze the data.

Whether it is analyzing and auditing the numbers in accounting or writing codes and programs in computer science, the learners need to be sharp with the numbers and logic.

The two majors revolve mainly around methodical work in very accurate and meticulous details. There is no room for carelessness and minor errors. Therefore they require good to great computer skills.

They are both suitable for people who prefer working independently with computers and data rather than interacting with other people. An extra interest in finance and business operation is beneficial to both careers.

Here are some classes and subjects that you can study in both majors:

  • General courses with fundamental knowledge
  • Classes about Logic, Probability, and Critical Thinking.
  • Course about data structure
  • Multiple math classes, especially Calculus
  • Business Statistics
  • Classes about numerical computational

Job duties

Once you have taken a profession, you will spend a large amount of your life doing the job. So it is crucial to learn about the job duties of both professions.

Accountant

An accountant working for a firm or organization will spend much of his/her time summarizing, analyzing, and auditing financial transactions for accuracy.

In other words, you will examine the financial transactions like money used, paid, or taxes of a company to ensure that they are accurately recorded. The information can be checked via accounting books and accounting systems.

Proficient accountants may work as financial advisors for a firm or company. You will help the company figure out ways to reduce the expense, maximize revenue or manage its spending better.

Computer Scientists

The jobs and tasks that computer scientists have are various and diversified. You can work for the company and get involved in their specific projects (software development firms, for example).

You can help build and improve the software or come up with new ideas and techniques to increase the efficiency of those applications.

The jobs of computer scientists revolve mainly around two tasks: IT consulting and software engineering.

Working As A Programmer

Required Education

These days many firms and companies focus on the candidates’ abilities and skills to make hiring decisions. However, educational degrees such as a bachelor’s degree are very essential to get these jobs.

Research has indicated that more than 85% of the employers in both fields prioritize the candidates with a bachelor’s degree. Some other popular qualifications you may need are the CIA, the CPA, and the CMA.

Skills Needed

The skills needed are varied based on specific types of duties and tasks. Here are some basic skills required to work in each profession:

Accounting

  • Account reconciliation
  • Accounting principles (GAAP)
  • Financial reporting
  • General ledger

Computer Science

  • SQL
  • JAVA
  • JavaScript
  • Linux
  • Oracle

Salary & Job Outlook

The salaries depend on the types of jobs and how efficient you are with the work. An excellent accountant will have a higher income than a decent computer scientist and vice versa.

However, computer scientists are rare and highly sought-after by many firms in the technological fields. Therefore it is understandable that computer scientists make more money on average.

Compared to the other jobs, these two professions bring pretty good wages. Research showed that the average income of all occupations in one year is $35,540, while the figure for accountants and computing scientists are $65,940 and $79,390, respectively.

Which One Is More Suitable For You?

To sum up, both majors are suitable for people who have a passion for numbers and are good at computing.

Accounting focuses on dealing with numbers and records, while computer science focuses on computing skills, coding, and managing the data.

If you find that a major can bring better job opportunities and is more suitable for your skills and interest, just go for it.