Finance is the discipline that explores how people and businesses raise, spend and invest money. It encompasses personal, corporate and public finance fields with each one covering specific aspects of financial management as well as topics pertaining to managing money and capital assets.
Finance is an interdisciplinary field encompassing economic theory and mathematical analysis as well as accounting, statistics, history, anthropology and sociology. Additionally it incorporates time value of money concepts like risk/uncertainty analysis derivatives as well as measurements of financial performance. Financial managers use models that incorporate expected returns and risks when making investment and spending decisions for their company’s funds.
Finance offers one of the greatest advantages in terms of assessing whether an investment is worthwhile by using present value of future cash flows to compare them with costs of investments, considering both probability of outcomes occurring as well as timeframe for their fulfillment – this process is known as “discounting”, and forms the foundation of financial theory.
Finance helps us determine when and how much to spend, an essential aspect of any enterprise’s management. From household budgets to nation-state treasuries, being able to predict and plan for the future is integral for success – finance provides us with a scientific method of evaluating potential investments and deciding how much should be spent on each.
Finance degrees offer many career possibilities, depending on your desired work and desired level of expertise. A bachelor’s degree in finance provides all of the tools needed for success when running a company, preparing taxes, analyzing securities or managing an investment portfolio or becoming a banker.
Though finance may seem like something reserved only for large corporations or governments, personal finances are just as essential to economic health. Even small businesses must properly manage their money; here is where a degree in finance can really pay dividends – with its combination of elements from business accounting economics it offers an invaluable perspective on how individuals can better utilize their finances to reach their goals and realize them more quickly.