NURUL JANNAH BINTI MAZLAN 1071015

BSB1

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT There are many career opportunities in financial management. We can classify finance career opportunities as follows; corporate finance, commercial banking, investment banking, money management and consultancy. Corporate or managerial concerned with duties of the financial manager in a business financial or non-financial, private or public, large or small, profit seeking or notfor-profit. They perform various tasks such as budgeting, financial forecasting, cash management, credit administration, and investment analysis and funds procurement. Financial manager plays crucial roles in driving the success of the business. They not only conduct business in a modern, knowledge-based economy, but also show the vital roles that financial managers play in creating wealth. From that, we can see the role of financial managers is they need to compete in intellectual challenge as well as getting economically rewarding. Tom Cole, Deutshe Bank, Levenraged Finance Group said that To be good at finance you have to understand how business work. (Megginson W, Smart S: 2006) Commercial Banking and Investment Banking are closely related to each other. The position served in commercial banking are financial analyst, accountant, economist, actuary while in investment banking, the positions are investment bankers, stockbrokers and many more. I prefer to be an economist, actuarist and a stockbroker as the utmost career choice as I am taking the actuarial science and risk management course. An economist is a person who studies data and statistics for the development in economic

activities, economic confidence levels and consumer attitudes. They use advanced methods in statistical analysis, mathematics, computer programming and finally, they will make recommendations on the ways to improve the efficiency of a system or in financial management. Their statistical and mathematical skills make them well suited for careers as statisticians, bankers, stockbrokers, option traders, equity research analysts, and other profession that requires system modeling. In 1987, our country is facing inflation dire urgency of having a big change to mend the economic state. Unfortunately, the governor of Bank Negara at the current time who is also an economist is not willing to take the risk to break the vision cycle of poverty and too rigid to the theory. However, our prime minister, Dr Seri Mathadir Mohammad manages to solve it by breaking the vision cycle of poverty. (Vengedasalam D., Madhavan K.).It shows that our country needs more economists who are creative and curious thinkers as well as those who have taken cross-discipline course load such as philosophy or marketing. The qualification for these heavy responsibilities requires them to have at least a masters degree or Ph.D. especially in economic major courses

including statistics, regression analysis, and econometrics. Besides creative thinkers, expertises that are well-written or spoken word have a significantly higher rate of advancement and overall job satisfaction than those who are not. Applicants should be comfortable with computers, numbers and long academic papers. (http://www.career-infinance.com) In order to get my second vision is to be an actuarist; I need to major in actuarial science and risk management. An actuary assembles and analyzes facts and estimates risks and returns to make financial planning decisions in a specific area of expertise. As

an actuarist, you will spend a lot time working with numbers and spent up to 65 percent of your time working with people, establishing goals, reviewing work, and researching figures. Initial examination test basic mathematical skills such as probability, calculus and linear algebra provide good indicators of progress as an actuary that can take between five and ten years. Three associations administer these tests biannually: The Society of Actuaries, the Casualty Actuarial Society and the American Society of Pension Actuaries. An actuary is associated with administrative and executive positions in underwriting, accounting, or information departments or move to supervisory positions in such diverse fields as marketing, planning or corporate strategy. (http://www.career-in-finance.com) Finally, the third job I mentioned above is to be a stockbroker. A stockbroker is a person that invests in stock market for individuals or corporations. Only members of the stock exchange can conduct transactions, so whenever individuals or corporations want to buy or sell stocks they must go through a brokerage house. Stockbroker often advises and counsels their clients on appropriate investments. One broker said, First you have to decide whether you have an interest in the stock market. This will determine how well you will do. If youre just interested in making money you wont get very far. Stockbrokers spend their time in a fast-paced office, usually working from nine to five, unless they are just starting out or have to meet with clients. The new broker spends many hours on the phone building up a client base. Sometimes brokers teach financial education classes to expose themselves to potential investors who may then become their clients besides improve their communications skill. Brokers have to be licensed. A license obtained by passing the General Securities Registered Representative Examination that can take after a brokerage firm has employed them for four months.

Firms use these four months as an on-the-job training period to prepare their workers for the test. After passing the tests, an individual is considered a trainee for two years. Those with prior work experience have the greatest opportunities for becoming a stockbroker. (http://www.career.com). As the conclusion, even though there are many career opportunities in finance but we need to choose the right job for us. We must consider all the things that related to the job. Different jobs require different specialized skills. They are vitally important for all business professionals, whether they work in industrial corporations, offices of a commercial bank or life insurance company.