if you are asking what is the difference or which is harder physics or accounting in this post you will have a complete response with examples. In addition, guiding you to choose the right major for you.
the difference between physics and accounting
Physics and accounting are two different topics. Accounting is a major that prepares students to take commercial, financial, and business occupations, while physics is made for engineers, physicists who study science topics of many areas to solve many problems engineers face.
In other words, students study physics to be physicists or engineers for the sake of creating new products like cars, planes, building bridges or houses. Anything that involves technology is implementing physics.
For instance, the car you drive or plane you take is designed thankfully to physics laws and equations. Cars use thermodynamics(the science of heat and energy ). Based on thermodynamics, cars can consume fuel and transform it into energy which is motion.
The same thing for planes, they manipulate the attraction laws to stay in the air and not fall to the ground. Physics is involved in any aspect of our life. Physics is everywhere.
Accounting is different, it is a language of math and calculation, if you become an accountant you will be working with companies and businesses calculating their expenses and dividends.
For instance, an accountant can work in a restaurant calculating the expenses of the restaurant including:
- electricity and water bills
- staff or team salaries
- raw materials like oil, vegetables, food, etc
- and finally, calculate the dividend
Your goal is to make all the calculations to know the direction the business is going and if the business is losing or winning. You will be the guy who pumps numbers in calculators.
In addition, you will be giving advice to businesses and personas and delivering their reports on the performance of a company.
The advantage that accountants have is accounting does not require completing a bachelor’s in accounting, there are other programs you could take to complete, you just have to apply for certifications like the CPA.
While in physics, students at least have to complete a bachelor’s degree which translates into 4 years of hard work, studying difficult topics in math and physics.
But to become a physicist, you need to opt for a Ph.D. in physics which is equivalent to 5 to 10 years after getting your bachelor’s, so the graduation time of physicists is way longer than accounting.
Is accounting harder than physics?
Physics is tremendously more difficult than accounting in many areas, the physics program is longer and tougher, the duration or completion time of physics is longer than accounting and also the job opportunities in accounting are better than in physics.
We will be talking in detail about each of these 3 interesting aspects:
1 – program difficulty
In accounting students are required to complete easier math topics, just the basics of algebra and statistics, meaning the high school math, they don’t even study all the high school math, algebra 1 is way enough.
In accounting there are no trigonometry or precalculus topics, you just need to have good basic arithmetics, multiplying and dividing numbers, and also deal with some technical terminology. that is.
In physics the game is completely different, you have to be very good at math and have basics knowledge in high school physics courses especially taking algebra and calculus-based physics, where you learn the foundation’s topics of physics such as:
- kinematics
- motions
- optics
- waves
- electrical
- electromagnetism etc.
These topics are just a prerequisite to studying or majoring in physics, in college, you will dig deeper into difficult topics, like quantum mechanics, fluid mechanics, relativity, and other difficult stuff.
All these subjects require at least being good at math. You have to prepare in high school by taking courses in algebra and precalculus, then studying your first-year calculus topics and differential equations. As a result, to be eligible to study college physics courses like quantum mechanics as we mentioned above.
2 – degree time completion
to get a degree in accounting you can enroll in some accelerated programs where you can earn your degree in less than 4 years of accounting, while physicists must complete their 4-year bachelor’s and enroll in a master’s or even Ph.D. if you are looking to work in academic jobs like teaching in a university or becoming physicists.
So it might be taking between 10 to 15 years of grinding to get your Ph.D. in physics, but it could be not worth it for so many cases.
In addition, in just 2 years you can get an associate degree in accounting and start hunting for jobs. Many employees offer entry jobs for these people. You could take this job and continue part-time with your bachelor’s degree in accounting.
3 – job opportunities
According to BLS, the number of jobs offered annually in accounting sectors is 96,000 occupations while in physics the numbers don’t exceed 1600. So it is 60 times more than physics, you will have the opportunity to find a job 60 times more as an accountant than a physicist.
But there is a point that we can’t ignore, the salary of a physicist is 2 times more than an accountant, if you are a professional or experienced physicist you will be earning $147,000 while 77,000 as an accountant.
but to get this way you might spend 15 to 20 years of life in the physics department, it is very risky.
Physics is not a good branch to do for many, there are other perfect branches like computer science for money hunters. You can be taking occupations that can assure you this amount of money such as software engineering in just 3 or 4 years without even a degree.
Do you need physics to be an accountant?
You don’t need physics to be an accountant but if you decide to enroll in accounting, you will be required to complete some science or physics courses. In the maximum cases, you will be required to complete an algebra-based physics course, or have other choices like chemistry or biology course if you don’t like physics, it depends on the school you enroll in.
But if you consider pursuing an advanced career in accounting and finance, physics will be helpful, you could read this detailed article about finance and physics.