Careers in Commerce

Careers in Commerce

-- Source of Information : Yahoo ! India Education portal, Educationtimes.com portal and indiaeducation.net portal --

Bachelors in Commerce or BCom, is as the name itself suggests, gives an overview of the commerce field. Commerce education is known as a foundation for business development. Commerce offers foundation for many professional careers like finance, planning, accountancy, tax practitioners, banking and broking … etc, besides academics, research, and many more.

Persons having interest for accounting, finance, commodities, marketing and trading … etc may generally choose Commerce as first career choice.

Well Known Personality :

Do you know what do steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, PepsiCo Chairperson Indira Nooyi and Kinetic Motors’s Joint MD Sullaja Firoda Motwani have in common? Besides being established names, all of them are Commerce graduates.

Not that their illustrious careers were scripted while studying. But their Commerce background definitely aided in setting the stage. It familiarised them with financial foundations of a Company, besides acquainting them with core financial underpinnings that result in smooth functioning of really successful corporations.

BCom basics :

As a stream of study, Commerce can be studied right after 10 years of schooling. After the 10 years of schooling – commerce is available as an option in 10+2 or the Higher Secondary level. After completing Class 12, one can pursue Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) or Bachelor of Commerce (Hons), both three-year full-time programmes.

Commerce is a multidisciplinary field, choose your options carefully. A number of subjects can be studied under Commerce disciplines like accountancy, economics, mathematics, business, finance, stastics and e-commerce among others.

Here are some of the listed subjects of commerce, student can choose depend on their particular interest.

• Business economics : This would cover concepts like the laws of demand and supply, law of returns, elasticity, theory of pricing under different market forms … etc.
• Financial accounting : This subject would deal with the preparation of profit and loss statements, balance sheets and final accounts of a company, knowledge of accounting standards, calculation of depreciation and valuation of shares and goodwill of a company.
• Cost accounting : This would include process, job and contract costing, costing of overheads, standard and variance costing and budgetary control.
• Income tax : This would encompass the nature and basis of charge of income tax, tax planning, tax deduction, incomes not taxable … etc.
• Auditing : This would deal with vouching, valuation and verification of transactions, assets and liabilities. It will also include studying the auditing of different organizations like clubs, hospitals and charitable concerns.
• Business finance : This would include in its scope financial analysis as a diagnostic tool, the management of working capital and its components as well as capital structure leverages.
• Business law : This subject would discuss the different laws in India relating to, among others, the Companies Act and the Consumer Protection Act.
• Marketing : This subject would deal with products, pricing methods, promotion, channels of distribution, logistics … etc.
• Business communication : This subject focuses on the art of business correspondence, business letter writing, memo writing, notices … etc.

Difference between BCom (Honors) and BCom (Pass) :

BCom (Honors) :

B.Com (Honors) is an undergraduate degree designed to inculcate business acumen in students. The course curriculum includes subjects like cost accounting, organizational behaviour and then one can specialize in fields like accounts and economics. You can also pursue courses like Chartered Accountancy along with your BCom. You can better your skills by pursuing post graduation courses like MBA or M.Com.

Scope :

You can join a KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) that deals with processing of payrolls, administration of accounts or insurance at entry level positions. If you’re interested in figures, and balancing ledgers, cost accounts, then you can join as an account assistant or in the auditing department of various firms. Apart from this, you can go for higher education, by pursuing courses like an MBA or an MCom.

BCom (Pass) :

The course is similar to BCom (Honors). The difference lies in the fact that you can specialize in a certain subject in BCom (Honor), but the BCom (Pass) course gives you an overview of all those subjects taught in the honors course.

Scope

You can pursue higher education after your graduation. You can pursue courses like MBA or M.Com. Compared to the honors course, the job opportunities are a little less, after pursuing this course.

The following table can illustrate simple differences between B.Com Honors and Pass:

Post Graduate level and beyond :

A BCom graduate may pursue the Master of Commerce, or other post-graduate masters programs such as the Master of Finance (MFin), Master of Accounting (MAcc), Master in Business Administration (MBA). The degree is usually recognised by the various professional accounting bodies, and graduates often therefore pursue accounting designations such as the Chartered Accountant (CA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified General Accountant (CGA), or Financial qualifications such as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Career prospects :

BCom graduates can get a job in several fields ranging from banks, financial institutions, outsourcing firms, insurance companies, audit firms, aviation, media and defense. A fresh Commerce graduate can start out as account assistant, in CA firm or any other small organisation. Corporate also recruit fresh BCom students directly from campuses. Commerce graduates can also work as researchers and teachers.

Here’s a quick look at the various options :

• Banking: For a career in banking, one can start off by maintaining accounts. However, to climb up the ladder, you have to clear an exam conducted by the bank. Within the banking sector itself one can choose from a variety of options like retail personal banking, corporate banking, merchant banking, rural banking, treasury group and product management and loans to name some. If you are comfortable with numbers, and have a good presence of minds, there are options galore.
• Investments : If you are looking forward to making it in the investment sector, it is advisable to start off by assisting an investment banker as experience can help you climb the success ladder. This is especially true for forex and capital trading, as they need a higher amount of experience. Similarly, if you are looking forward to getting into the stock market, it is only experience that will help as experience will give you the knack of how the market functions. Equity research analyst, investment banker, mutual fund executive, capital market manager, financial planner/ asset manager, venture capitalist, and real estate are some of the other options you could choose from.
• Insurance : Insurance is not very different from the investment sector when it comes to experience. Yes, the key to success here is also experience. Insurance offers jobs like actuary, risk management, insurance surveyor, underwriter … etc.
• Other fields : Apart from these known ‘commerce’ fields, you can also try your hand in aviation, travel and tourism, media, defense, medical transcription, secretarial practices, and of course, the booming BPO.

Salary Packages :

Pay packages depend on the organisations as well as area of specialisation. Salaries depend on the nature of organisation and type of job. Students with good communication skills tend to get paid better. They are ideal candidates for front-end functions such as customer service, marketing and sales.

So, if you have the financial aptitude and are willing to develop further competency, be rest assured, as a Commerce student you will never be out of a job.