What is the difference between an accountant and an actuary?
Asked by IceQueen
What does each do? I am thinking of these as possible career ideas but I don't know much about them. Any help appreciated! Thank you!

Best Answer:
Actuaries have to have a very good head for maths but accountants do not. Most the the work actuaries do relates to invesments - valuations and assessments of the risks of investment portfolios which means you have to understand statistics, calculus etc. Accountants don't need any math techniques above addition, subtraction, multiplication & division...and those you do using a calculator or spreadsheet. Actuaries used to get paid more because graduates of any subject can become accountants but only people good at math can become actuaries. However over the next couple of years the demand for actuaries will fall as they are so specialist to pensions & insurance whereas accountants may be laid off from financial services but can get work doing insolvency (winding down companies going bankrupt)
I'm an accountant
Answered by TheGuru

sorry your not bright enough to be either if you have to ask that question on here instead of going to web related sites for that kind of profession
Answered by jokerman131

An accountant is someone who works with money in a company to make everything work. They do things like assigning budgets to different departments, checking bills of expenses etc. This job is thought of as boring to most people, its mostly number crunching. An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. They look at how likely it is that the customer won't pay back a loan, whether buying that new piece of equipment will make the company money, etc. it requires a deep and thourgh understanding of financial and statistical models. It is also one of the most highly paid professions in the world.
Answered by elvin.drude

an accountant deals with financial accounting of a company to produce a profit and loss statement and an annual report of assets and liabilities. An actuary calculates risk for insurance policies etc.
Answered by brainstorm

Actuaries are people who found accountancy too exciting.
Answered by Jon S

Actuaries are people who found accountancy too exciting.
Answered by elevy83

Actuaries are actually good at math... haha sorry. Anyways, actuaries deal with calculating risks for companies like injury, disability, and even death. Accountants jobs can vary from whether or not you are working in a public or private firm. Generally the bottom line is that you're dealing with numbers and managing money.
Answered by VladtheImpaler

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Answered by Tania