Career opportunities in finance are varied, and they encompass all industrial groups ranging from line management functions to advisory staff positions. Although any industrial classification scheme is somewhat arbitrary, it may be useful to identify four general sectors in which the financial manager may find himself/herself.

Financial Institutions

They include commercial banks, savings banks, credit unions, and the wide variety of non-bank financial intermediaries such as brokerage houses, insurance companies, pension funds, investment banks and one-stop providers of such services.

Manufacturing Firms

They include privately held and publicly owned firms large and small that sell goods ranging from standardized products to high technology systems.

Service Firms

They include areas directly related to the finance function itself such as public accounting and financial consulting firms, as well as areas that incorporate finance as a necessary function of their operations, i.e., retailing, tourism, or entertainment.

Not-for-Profit or Government Firms/Agencies

They include entities providing services in health care, education, social services, the arts, etc.

These sectors all share the skills, tasks and functions that are involved in a financial management position. Students are encouraged to talk to people active in specific areas of interest in order to understand the unique opportunities and challenges of the specific field. The Finance Department attempts to facilitate such a student-professional interchange through an alumni advisement system that supplements faculty advisement.