Similar to placing bets or budgeting for a vacation, the responsibilities of finance professionals include assessing risk and forecasting monetary returns. Careers in finance require a thorough understanding of the systems in place to move capital and how these systems manage the spending and budgeting of money. Likewise, those budgeting for their own career moves may note the health of the accounting industry through the recession.

A survey of 100 accounting firms across the U.S. revealed that most companies have successfully maintained rates, client services and staff productivity during the economic downturn. According to the survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, in the past year only 12 percent of accounting firms had layoffs while 18 percent instituted hiring freezes.

However, despite record-high unemployment rates, 20 percent of accounting firms say that they are unable to find people to fill their open positions.

"The accounting profession has performed well in a poor economy, but it should be a wake-up call for many that staffing challenges have persisted through the recession," said Mike Sabbatis, president of the accounting information service provider, CCH. ""Firms should be considering right now what they need to do to win that talent war as the economy heats up again."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the employment of financial analysts to grow by 37% by 2016.