Accounting, investment banking top list of hot financial jobs

Business is booming in financial quarters. As the field diversifies, accounting jobs remain strong and people working in investment banking and related areas have good choices for employment.

"Based on the phone calls, e-mails and job postings we're seeing, the financial industry is much better than it was a year ago," said Jason Aldrich, director of graduate career services at the J. Mack Robinson School of Business at Georgia State University. "The stock market has done better it the past six months than it has in the past several years and this is opening up opportunities."

Aldrich said that investment banking and capital markets, which include equity underwriting, corporate finance and business acquisitions, are among the best fields.

"As companies restructure debt and offer additional stocks or bonds, they need to hire more people to handle the work," he said.

Accounting is also seeing a surge in employment opportunities.

"Because of Sarbanes-Oxley [Act compliance], there's been a huge spike in audit and forensic accounting," said Eric North, director of student services at Georgia State's Robinson School of Business. "Companies are becoming more proactive in hiring people to help prevent and detect internal fraud and to assure good accounting practices."

The fields of risk management and insurance are growing as well. "From the jobs I see students getting, actuarial sciences majors are getting hired into consulting roles and to work in compensation and benefits," North said.

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Getting additional education is a good way to move around in finance. North said that about 60 percent of his students in accounting classes are non-traditional, people who are already working in the marketplace but who have decided to return to school.

"Especially in my evening classes, we see students who have an existing degree in another business discipline, and they're coming back to earn their credits to obtain their CPA licenses," he said. "Many of them have a management or finance background and have been doing an accounting-type job, and now they want to advance. To do that, they'll need their CPA."

Aldrich said that real estate and banking also provide good career choices.

"Real estate is holding up well, commercial more so than residential," he said. "There are also all kinds of positions in local and regional banks. The average consumer continues to spend and take loans, plus small business is doing fine."

The health of financial employment is tied to the world economy in some ways, and Aldrich said he is optimistic about continued positive growth.

"The day-to-day economic picture is much stronger than it was post-9/11," he said, "even though the headlines may say otherwise."