How do you become a financial journalist?
I'm currently studying Accountancy, with the view of becoming a Chartered Accountant. I'm very much interested in doing some financial journalism, along side what will be my main job, as an Accountant. How do I pursue this? Do I need to do a Finance or Economics degree as well? Or would my Accountancy qualification be enough?
Financial Services - 2 Answers
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Answer 1 :
As far as I know, most financial journalists are actually trained journalists who may not have any background in finance or economics at all. This is because there are two types of financial journalists: - Those who are writing about financial products and therefore all they're really doing is rewriting stuff from the brochures that banks and so on send to them, meaning that they need to have little if any knowledge about what they're doing - Those who do research in order to write about the industry, but of course research skills can be learned in many different backgrounds so again, you don't need to know finance. Almost all graduates have good research skills regardless of what discipline their degree is in Therefore, I think you would be better to study a journalism qualification. I think you'll find that your accounting degree will have provided you with enough financial information for you to do this.
Answer 2 :
I have worked as a financial journalist. Having an accounting background will be a major plus--you don't need more. However, you do have to be a good writer. A little journalism training will be good. I learned on-the-job with a few excellent mentors. I have in turn trained various financial professionals who became writers. If you're doing in part-time, you will likely want to freelance for various magazines and newspapers. However, be careful--you don't want to find yourself writing about one of your firm's clients. That will be a conflict of interest likely to upset BOTH employers!
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