Should I be a budget analyst? 💰📊

Are you looking for a career with stable growth, great earning power, and that you can do in a variety of businesses? Then a career as a budget analyst might be right for you!

Budget analysts use skills such as:

• accounting

• analysis

• math

• knowledge of economics

• technology

They review budgets, make recommendations, and decide whether fund requests will be approved. They work behind the scenes, but are crucial to many companies.

Maybe a better question would be, who doesn't hire budget analysts? You could work in a variety of settings, including:

• military

• universities and colleges

• government agencies

• pharmaceuticals

• energy

• health care

• banking

Budget analysts work in an office environment and advise organizations on how to spend (or not spend) their money.

Some of their main tasks are:

• develop budgets

• review budget requests and approve or deny

• explain funding requests to others (coworkers and the public)

• estimate financial needs

• advise organizations

• use financial analysis software

• create budget reports

Are there a lot of jobs?

The job outlook is stable, with about 3% growth projected by 2033 . This is about average, meaning there won't be tons of new jobs, but probably not many layoffs, either.

Oh, and the median pay is about $82,000 in the U.S. and $76,000 in Canada.

You'll be working indoors, using a lot of technology:

• accounting software

• financial analysis programs

• presentation software, like PowerPoint

• spreadsheets, like Excel

• documents & reports

You need to be prepared to handle strict deadlines. You'll have meetings and maybe occasional travel. You'll do a lot of data collecting and problem solving. You need to be comfortable working with other people and presenting to groups.

You'll want to have strong skills in math and accounting.

You'll also need to be a good communicator.

You would enjoy this work if you like data and working with computers.

This career fits well for people who have interests in conventional, enterprising, and investigative careers. Not sure if these are for you? Take the O*Net Interest Profiler to find out!

Most positions require a college degree.

The most common major to become a budget analyst is business, but social science, psychology, or math could also work.

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

If this career sounds like a good fit for you, you can take these next steps: