What is a Financial Advisor or Analyst?
Alaska is our most northerly state. Most may associate the state with snow, sled dogs, and summer days of endless sun. However, it's also a vibrant economy with a diverse, hardworking population. Sure, some of their favorite modes of transport may include snow machines and ski planes, but the urban hubs are full of banks, movie theaters, and retailers while the remote areas are full of mining, quarrying, and oil & gas extraction sites.
In fact, Alaska ranks 9th nationwide for its resource extraction industry. The state is also 28th for warehousing and transportation, perhaps due more to its ports than highway transport. The state's top industries also include business services, social services including healthcare, and real estate, among others.
A finance professional is a businessperson who focuses their work solely on the numbers that drive business. They see each part of the organization as having a numerical and financial value, which either helps or harms the bottom line. Financial professionals also work in more consulting areas including corporate finance, banking, and the broad world of investing.
Finance professionals work in a variety of business environments. Many work in banks, including non-retail organizations that conduct large corporate transactions, as well as for investment houses and accounting firms. Larger companies also may have finance departments that oversee business functions, such as in-house lending or managing their company's investments. They can also work as consultants who do thorough audits of a firm and help them achieve greater efficiency.
Finance professionals typically spend their days working on computers where they enter and analyze financial data. Some pull data from SEC filings from public companies but others use internal numbers as reported from various departments. They usually maintain regular business hours and work in offices but that may be changing now that many such professions are shifting to remote work.
Featured Online Programs
Top Ranked Campus & Online Finance Programs in Alaska
University of Alaska Anchorage
Score: 100
- Undergraduate Tuition
- In-State: $7,566
- Out-of-State:$21,693
- Net Price: $15,609
- Acceptance Rate: 65%
- Retention Rate: 66%
- Graduation Rate: 30%
- Total Enrollment: 10,464
- Undergrad Students: 9,925
- Graduate Students: 539
- Grads Salary: $80,000
- Student-to-faculty: 11:1
Online Finance Education in Alaska
Naturally, all of this economic activity is fueled by money. This means that there must be financial professionals on staff to guide the state's banks, corporations, and governmental agencies through times of boom and bust. Bookkeepers, accountants, financial analysts, and investment professionals are all part of a large financial picture that keeps the land of the midnight sun thriving.
To support the state's need for financial experts, the legislature helps keep Alaska's public institutions of higher education, including community colleges and the largest universities, fully funded and growing. When the colleges and universities are able to offer higher pay to professors, they can attract the very best for their business and finance departments.
While academic faculties strive to hire the best academic powerhouses from across the lower 48 states, they also look for local talent. Since Alaska is unique in terms of its population, geography, and economic make up, a local financial expert may be able to lend special insights on lessons for graduate and undergraduate students alike. After all, businesses in California and New York have very different needs from those in Alaska. While living in one, you may need to invest in solar panels and air conditioning, while in the other you might want to consider a back-up team of sled dogs and a cache of coal for winter fuel.
Finance opportunities exist at a variety of levels, so Alaska students should consider all their options and seek to chart a path to success accordingly. For starters, a community college student can study accounting and start a career as a bookkeeper. They may also be able to start a career in banking as a teller or in some other entry-level position. However, the real opportunities start to accrue once you earn a bachelor’s degree.
Students with bachelor’s degrees can study to become certified financial advisers or, perhaps with additional college credits, sit for the CPA examination. Others may prefer to work in banking or high finance where employers will certainly want to see a bachelor’s finance degree from an accredited college or university. Another option is to work in government, where matters related to tax revenues and tight budgets are very important.
Finally, an MBA in finance will ensure the best success for any Alaskan finance student. The financial C-suite roles virtually require the degree. An MBA can also open up opportunities to work for top consulting firms or to teach at the college level.
Online Associates (AS)
This is a great degree to start out with. Finance students who supplement their learning with accounting courses can get started with an entry-level position as bookkeepers or perhaps in business management. Banks may also be interested in students with associate finance degrees. Further, an associate finance degree makes great fiscal sense.
This is because Alaska's community colleges charge far less per credit hour than most four-year colleges and universities. A two-year degree thus dramatically decreases the overall cost for a bachelor’s degree while requiring many of the same courses required by their larger educational peers. Those who graduate with an associate degree and go to work with a larger firm may be able to take advantage of tuition reimbursement programs which will render the remaining two years very cheap, if not free.
Online Bachelors (BS)
A bachelor’s finance degree is one of the best launchpads for a career in finance. With a four-year finance degree students can look for entry-level positions as financial analysts, bookkeepers, and more. Further, a bachelor’s finance degree can help students meet Alaska's requirements to sit for the CPA examination. Even those who are more interested in cutting corporate deals than filing tax documents will find great value in passing even one part of the CPA exam.
Bachelor’s finance degree students also have the opportunity to enhance their learning with additional majors or a minor in a related field. These days, financial experts rely on data so much that added study in statistics or computer science will be very handy down the road. In fact, some corporate finance experts have built careers solely on their ability to create computer models for the purpose of financial analysis.
Online Masters (MS)
A master's degree is increasingly important in the world of business, perhaps especially in finance. It's very common for budding corporate finance professionals to start their career with a bachelor’s finance degree and a two-year analyst position with an investment bank. Then they return to school to complete an MS in finance or, ideally, an MBA with a finance concentration.
For those who are interested in corporate finance, a dual MBA may be the potent combination they need to find great success. A JD/MBA makes students a double threat on the job market. This is because corporate finance is so reliant on law as well as finance. While those who enter the world of corporate finance rarely join their state bar association, their knowledge of the law will help craft the most watertight merger documents possible.
Online PhD (PhD)
While few job descriptions require a PhD in finance, that may someday change. Since master's finance degrees and MBAs are increasingly common, finance professionals may soon return to a university to compete doctoral work in finance. It's also possible that non-finance PhDs may soon find their way into finance.
In particular, mathematics and data science PhDs may find increasing demand. This is due to the fact that stock trading and other financial activities increasingly rely on the best algorithms possible. Thus, financial firms will want to hire experts who are able to write the best code on the market. Given that this area is already full of brilliant minds, Wall Street firms will soon clamor for the most cutting edge financial and computer science researchers.
Furthermore, a PhD in finance will open the door to a second career, for those who desire a change. Universities will hire a PhD in finance to work as full-time professors in their business departments. While it is possible to teach undergraduate students with a master's finance degree, a PhD will enable professors to land the best full-time, tenure track positions.