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Two standard degrees to target for your business career include a Bachelor of Arts in Business and an MBA. They offer you the opportunity to target entry-level and advanced roles across fields like marketing, sales, finance, management, human resources, and more.

But how exactly are these programs different? Which one will help you achieve your career aspirations and salary potential? The following sections explore some of the basic differences between a B.A. in Business and an MBA.

Level of Study

The most obvious difference between the two degrees is that they’re at different levels in your educational journey. You can only consider getting an MBA after obtaining a bachelor’s degree like the B.A. in Business.

The B.A. in Business is a standard four-year undergraduate program. However, you’ll only need to study for approximately two more years if you have already earned your associate degree, or if you have an equivalent amount of college credits to transfer. Studying part-time would increase the time it takes to earn your degree.

On the other hand, an MBA is a graduate program, which means it comes after completing your bachelor’s (or undergraduate) degree. It’s specifically a master’s degree — MBA stands for Master of Business Administration — and often takes around two years of full-time study. Studying part-time for an MBA is more common given people’s work and family responsibilities; doing so can add to the time it takes to earn an MBA.

Career Opportunities

The two degrees in question are nothing alike when it comes to the level of study. However, the B.A. in Business and the MBA offer a foundational and advanced coverage of business topics, respectively. And the resulting career opportunities correspond to the aforementioned levels of coverage.

Obtaining a strong basis in business with the bachelor’s degree will allow you to enter a wide range of entry-level business roles. If you’re interested in marketing, you could pursue a job as a marketing coordinator or brand marketing assistant. The same can be said for financial analyst, human resources specialist, sales representative, and many other roles. There are several major areas of interest within business and even more subareas within these major areas (e.g., marketing: market research, search engine optimization, pay-per-click, copywriting, etc.).

Also note that a B.A. in Business is the minimum for many business positions. Often, the real question is whether or not you’ll need an MBA.

The B.A. in Business offers a broad foundation in business while the MBA turns to advanced topics like integrated marketing communication, organizational leadership, and business ethics. It’s also important to note that the MBA is perhaps the most recognizable and desirable academic credential in business.

Graduating with an MBA can help you reach virtually any position in business. A lot of people use it to either break into or advance even higher within management and leadership positions. It can also be helpful if it’s relevant to your specialist role. For instance, if you have experience as a financial analyst, an MBA added to your resume could open up high-level roles as a hedge fund manager or investment banker.

Salary Potential

There’s no question that advancing your education with an MBA can increase your salary potential significantly.

A lot of it involves the specifics of your situation. If your company or the market commands higher salary figures for an MBA in your position, it can be simple decision to earn an MBA. Perhaps more often, though, an MBA will result in higher job opportunities and thus higher salary potential.

Take the previous example of going from a financial analyst to a role like hedge fund manager or investment banker. According to reported salary figures from PayScale at the time of publication, financial analysts earn an average salary of $60,674, compared to hedge fund managers at $103,303 and investment bankers at $99,350.

The same website reports that people with an MBA earn nearly $20,000 more on average than people with a bachelor’s degree in business. Professionals with a B.A. in Business Administration earn an average salary of about $69,000, compared to MBA holders at roughly $88,000.

Although there are too many specifics to address in any given situation, the decision to earn an MBA can pay off significantly in terms of salary and career possibilities. If you’re interested in starting or advancing your career, you can earn an online bachelor’s degree in business or your MBA online.

Earn your degree in a fully online format from Concordia University, St. Paul. Pursue your goals and learn from professors who have real-world experience.

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An accountant typically maintains financial records and handles other responsibilities in accounting and finance. A corporate accountant also performs these tasks, but on a more specialized and focused level. They usually concentrate on business accounting and are experts at ensuring financial records comply with various regulations, laws, and policies.

Corporate accountants may also oversee the work completed by the divisional and regional accounting groups within the company. All of this work is compiled into the overall financial reports.

What Do Corporate Accountants Do?

In addition to ensuring the company is keeping in compliance with regulations, corporate accountants prepare budgets for each department. They allocate funds for each department, including supplies, hiring, investments, and other needs. In addition, corporate accountants conduct audits to make sure the budget is being followed. Because executives typically set organizational goals based on the budgets, corporate accountants also need to make sure these goals are being met while staying under budget.

Other duties for corporate accountants may include employee expense report processing; completing monthly cash flow analysis; preparing variance analysis to budget and forecast; and maintaining overall responsibility for accounts payable, receivable, and payroll. They are also responsible for consolidating statements, the corporate wide audit and reviewing monthly subsidiary ledgers.

Corporate accountants must be highly organized and have an analytical mind. They should display strong communication skills when writing reports or when communicating with staff and other departments.

How Much Do Corporate Accountants Get Paid?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accountants earn a median annual salary of $70,500. While additional experience may not have a large effect on pay, certain skills may be more valuable. These skills may include payroll administration or SAP financial accounting and controlling.

Jobs in accounting are projected to grow 10% through 2026. This percentage is dependent on the economy; as the economy grows, so will the need for employment in this and related fields.

How Do I Become a Corporate Accountant?

To become a qualified corporate accountant, individuals first need to earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Some companies may also require the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential or Certified Management Accountant (CMA) credential.

Some of the required courses may include corporate finance, business analytics and auditing. The goal of these types of programs is for students to learn how to manage an entire accounting division that may include multiple offices and locations.

Work Toward Becoming a Corporate Accountant

Through a bachelor’s degree in accounting, you will not only acquire a foundational knowledge of accounting topics, but you will also explore how corporations operate and the regulations that are applied to various businesses. You can prepare to be a successful corporate accountant with the online Bachelor of Science in Accounting program from Concordia University, St. Paul. We offer a generous transfer policy and multiple start dates, as well as the ability to complete your coursework when it’s most convenient.

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“Advergames” are games specifically created to promote a particular product or service, allowing companies to seamlessly integrate ads into digital gaming. Because digital games in general offer appeal to a large audience, marketers have begun to recognize their potential. Though the practice is not new, it has gained traction in recent years because consumers spend so much time online.

Whether for shopping, news or entertainment, most of us browse the web for hours each day. “Advergames are a marketing dream, due to the perfect storm of mobile, social and digital,” Great Marketing Works founder Dan Sodergren told The Next Web. Advergames have one advantage: they engage consumers. While banner ads give companies an opportunity to target online users, they don’t necessarily engage their audience. All of this means that now is the time for marketing teams to consider how advergames might fit in with their brand messaging and marketing strategies.

Using games as a marketing tactic allows businesses to associate themselves with “something that people are doing for stress relief and fun,” giving consumers a positive interaction with their brands, Target Marketing points out. Educational games are another opportunity for brands to inform consumers about topics like health, finances, and other need-to-know topics. Engagement is key, with marketers aiming for numbers like these: “A game Blockdot designed for M&M’s provided a more than 90 percent clickthrough rate on challenges, and a Microsoft/Prilosec OTC game … generat[ed] more than 4.5 million game plays with an average user session of 46 minutes,” according to Target Marketing.

Benefits and Best Practices of Advergames

Social media has only made these games more effective. Marketers can integrate with sites like Facebook, which offers the added potential of going viral. Ultimately, today’s mobile, interconnected world gives marketers the chance to create comprehensive advergame experiences. One of the ways they appeal to digital audiences with high expectations is through adding features like multiplayer, community-based platforms. This has the benefit of keeping players interested for longer periods of time: “It’s something that lasts over several months, and people spend hours involved with the brand,” one expert told Target Marketing.

Some of the other benefits marketers have found using advergames include:

• Intrusiveness to the user is low or nonexistent while engaging with the advergame
• Brand recognition is higher than with traditional digital advertising
• Games can be targeted at audiences of all ages and demographics

Though advergames deploy a wide variety of game types and elements, there are best practices marketers should keep in mind when considering incorporating them into their strategy. For example, be smart about how ads are featured. You have the option of showing ads before the game is played or integrating them into the game during play, so determine which method is more effective for your target audience.

Another way to use advergames effectively is to balance advertising with game play. It is important for the game to be a good standalone product, but be sure that it has an effective marketing component. Finally, better your chances of going viral by allowing users to share the game on third-party sites rather than housing it solely on your own.

Best Advergame Examples: Past and Present

Since the early 1990s, brands have used advergames to raise brand awareness and engage with consumers. In fact, one of the biggest success stories comes from that time period. In 1992, Gremlin Graphics produced Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension. A platform game that uses fast-moving graphics and game play, Zool contains embedded mini-games in arcade, scrolling and Easter egg styles. It features decidedly unsubtle branding for Chupa Chups, a popular lollipop candy. Zool was highly successful and one of the best-performing platform games of all time, causing the company that produced it to release a sequel the following year.

Another example is Sneak King, developed by Blitz Arcade and released by Burger King in 2006. Sneak King came with the purchase of value meals as part of a five-week promotional campaign and was designed for Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles. This project had great financial success, with millions of units sold. Sneak King and its companion games were among the top 10 bestselling games of 2006.

A more recent advergame that experienced great notoriety is The Scarecrow. In 2015, Mexican restaurant Chipotle released this short film and arcade-style mobile game. In it, players explore four worlds and 20 levels, with the incentive of receiving a buy-one-get-one offer from Chipotle. Some members of the media even recognized The Scarecrow as one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever.

As these examples prove, advergames can be a highly effective — and addictive — business tactic. If savvy marketers are able to leverage the benefits using some of the best practices covered here, these engaging games can be a lucrative component of marketing strategies for industries spanning from health care to food service and more. It seems that advergames are here to stay, so finding ways to incorporate them successfully is a smart way to engage audiences and raise brand awareness.

Gain the Skills to Create Campaigns Like Advergames

Discover how to develop strategic tactics such as advergames with the online Bachelor of Science in Marketing program from Concordia University, St. Paul. Through a flexible online format, you will have the ability to study when it’s most convenient as you learn from faculty who have years of experience in marketing. Our online marketing program explores relevant principles and concepts that will help you succeed in the dynamic field.

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The job of a credit analyst is to review financial statements and credit data to determine the likelihood that a loan will be paid back in full. The financial data may include sufficient cash flow, comparing ratios to industry standards, comparison against other borrowers, and the borrower’s financial history. Credit analysts must have the ability to decide if the potential borrower will be able to meet their financial obligations.

What Does a Credit Analyst Do?

While the main responsibility of credit analysts is to determine the degree of risk involved in lending money or extending credit to borrowers, they are also accountable for a few other tasks. Within the borrower analyzation process, these professionals must understand how to use financial ratios and computer programs. After analyzation, reports need to be prepared that outline the degree of risk for customers.

A comparability process must also be used to measure the liquidity, credit history, and profitability of one borrower against another to learn about patterns in certain industries and geographic locations.

Credit analysts also need to communicate with credit associations, business representatives, and loan committees to exchange credit information and complete loan applications.

How Much Do Credit Analysts Make?

The median annual salary reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is $71,520. Those in the 90th percentile earn $137,610. Salaries are highest in the following industries: securities and commodity contracts intermediation and brokerage, automobile dealerships, and monetary authorities-central bank.

How Do I Become a Credit Analyst?

The majority of professionals in this field have earned at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or business. Certification to become a designated Credit Business Associate is also available from the National Association of Credit Management. While this certification is not mandatory, it may be helpful during a job search. The certification exam is available to those who have completed three college-level courses in financial statements, business credit, and financial accounting.

Through the online B.A. in Accounting and online B.A. in Business programs from Concordia University, St. Paul, you can acquire the knowledge you need to excel as a credit analyst. Explore core business topics while learning from faculty who bring their real-world business experience into the online classroom. And with the programs’ flexible online format, you can study when it’s most convenient.