Text 3 careers in finance

1. Careers in finance vary as widely as the field of finance itself. But the majority of the career paths in finance require extensive, highly specialized knowledge and advanced degrees. Specialists must have intensive training in accounting, economics, money and banking, strategic planning, investments, international finance and a number of related areas. Over the past decades the field of finance increased so much that it is generally subdivided into three parts. Financial markets and institutions, financial management, and investments are commonly considered to be separate disciplines.

2. Positions in financial institutions and markets can include everything from a bank teller to senior banking specialists. One bank employee that nearly every customer sees and talks with is a bank teller – the clerk who receives deposits and dispenses cash and information. Bank tellers must be friendly with customers, accurate with all their transactions and know about the other departments of the bank and the services they sell. Most banks hire as tellers people with higher education or four-year university degrees. Bank loan officers make initial contacts with potential new customers and assist them in filling loan requests and in developing a service relationship with the bank. Managers of bank operations are responsible for processing checks and clearing other cash items on behalf of their customers, for the activities of tellers, and for handling customers’ problems with their checking accounts and other bank services. Branch managers lead each branch’s effort to attract new accounts. They also approve many requests (especially larger loans) and resolve customer complaints. Branch managers must know how to manage and motivate employees and how to represent the bank well in the local community.

3. Financial management is concerned with how firms acquire and allocate funds and how these funds are spent. Financial management also emphasizes the cash budget and management of its component. Level positions in financial management include budget analysts, financial planners, cash managers, credit managers, or financial accounting managers, comptrollers and treasurers.

4. The study of the markets for stocks and bonds, commodities, warrants and financial futures are all parts of the investments area. Generally it is the investment area that attracts people to finance. They see appealing opportunities in such positions as brokers, investment or industry analysts, investment advisers.

Text-based Exercises

Ex. 2 Find a word or phrase in the text that has a similar meaning. You can find these words and phrases below but the letters in them are in the wrong order.

1. management of money or money resources; (paragraph 1)------finance;

2. professional course through life, occupation; (par. 1)

3. money invested or stocks and shares bought; (par. 1)

4. any established operating means or exchange for business dealings between buyers and sellers; (par. 2)

5. a printed form on which you write an amount of money and who it is to be paid to; (par. 2)

6. permanent stock or sum of money; (par. 3)

7. annual financial statement dealing with cash of a business; (par. 3)

8. money invested in a firm or business; (par. 4)

9. written promise to pay money or carry out a contract; (par. 4)

10. an article of commerce; anything meeting a need; (par. 4)

( recare, setintnevm, karmet, cotnauc, dunf, shac getbud, kostc, nobd, modtycomi).

Ex. 3 Complete the sentences with a verb in an appropriate tense-form from the list below.

To acquire, to allocate, to approve, to assist, to attract, to concern, to dispense, to increase, to lead, to make, to receive, to require, to resolve, to see (2), to spend, to subdivide, to talk.

1. The majority of the career paths in finance ……. Extensive, highly specialized knowledge and advanced degrees.

2. Over the past decades the field of finance ……. So much that it is generally …….. into three parts.

3. Every customer …. And …. With is a bank teller – the clerk who …. Deposits and …. Cash and information.

4. Bank loan officers …. Initial contacts with potential new customers and ….. them in filling loan requests.

5. Branch managers …. Each branch’s effort to attract new accounts, …. Many requests and …. Customer complaints.

6. Financial management is …. With how firms …. And …. Funds and how these funds are …. .

7. It is the investment area that …. People to finance.

8. People …. Appealing opportunities in such positions as brokers, investment or industry analysts, investment counselors.

Ex. 4 Match the specialists in the left-hand column with their descriptions (definitions) in the right-hand column.

1) bank-teller a) dealer or agent, employed to buy and sell for others;

2.) branch manager b) person who advises or recommends how to make investments to provide income or profit;

3.) broker c) person controlling or administrating a branch or part of a business;

4.) budget analyst d) financial specialist who controls the acquisition and allocation of funds;

5.) comptroller e) person who is engaged or skilled in large-scale financial operations;

6.) credit manager f) specialist who analyzes expected income and expenditure of a company over a financial year;

7.) investment adviser g) official in charge of funds;

8.) financier h) person who analyzes financial situation to see if certain investments are going to be profitable;

9.) investment analyst i) person who receives deposits and dispenses cash in a bank;

10.) treasurer j) specialist who directs or manages a credit department in a bank;

Ex. 5 Look quickly through the text once again and decide which paragraphs are about these subjects:

1. Careers in the investment area of finance.

2. The requirements to specialists in finance.

3. Level positions in financial management.

4. Specialists in finance who work in a bank.

Ex. 6 Join the beginnings and the ends to make meaningful statements reflecting the information from the text.

1. Bank loan officers make initial contacts with new customers and …... .

2. Branch managers lead ….. .

3. Positions in financial institutions and markets ….. .

4. A bank teller is the clerk who ….. .

5. Managers of bank operations are responsible for ….. .

6. Most banks hire as tellers ….. .

7. Branch managers must know how ….. .

8. Bank tellers must be friendly with customers ….. .

9. Branch managers also approve many requests ….. .

1. …can include everything from a bank teller to senior banking specialists.

2. … receives deposits and dispenses cash and information.

3. … branch’s effort to attract new accounts.

4. …accurate with all their transactions and know about the other departments of the bank and the services they sell.

5. …and resolve customer complaints.

6. …people with higher education or four-year university degrees.

7. …assist them in filling loan requests and in developing a service relationship with the bank.

8. …for processing checks, for the activities of tellers, and for handling customers’ problems with their checking accounts.

I …know how to manage and motivate employees and how to represent the bank well in the local community.

Ex. 7 Which of the following ideas agree or don’t agree with what the text says? Mark them with the words True or False.

1. Financial management is concerned with the management of banks.

2. The study of the markets for stocks and bonds, commodities, warrants and financial futures are all parts of financial management.

3. It is the work in banks that attracts people to finance.

4. People see appealing opportunities in such positions as brokers, investment or industry analysts, investment advisers.

5. Level positions in financial management include budget analysts, financial planners, cash managers, credit managers, or financial accounting managers, comptrollers and treasurers.

6. Financial management also emphasizes the study of the markets for stocks and bonds, commodities, warrants and financial futures.

Ex. 8 Read the following questions to decide which questions the writer answers in the text above. Note down the numbers of the questions that are not answered. Can you answer these questions? Do you think it would be interesting for you to have the answers to them?

1. What do the majority of the career paths in finance require?

2. What special knowledge do the careers in financial management (in comparison with other fields) require?

3. Are there any level positions in finance open to enthusiastic, hard-working individuals regardless of their education?

4. What careers can positions in financial institutions (such as banks) include?

5. What job requirements must bank tellers meet?

6. What positions in financial institutions can be staffed by people with limited finance education?

7. What is financial management concerned with?

8. What are the parts of investment area?

9. What positions in the investment area do people see appealing opportunities in?

10. What kind of careers can insurance companies offer?