Finance and accounting jobs are similar in nature. However, the key difference between the two is that the workers specializing in finance focus on job tasks of past and current investment decisions. Workers in accounting, focus on past financial performance on a daily basis. Generally, the salaries for workers in the finance department are higher than those who work in accounting. For instance, estimates for on occupation: accountants approximates about $55,000 annually while the average for a similar occupation, financial analysts is about one-third higher, or $72,000.