The School of Economics is one of the schools with the strongest teaching and scientific research strength in Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, and enjoys a high status and influence among similar schools and departments in China. The college can be traced back to the Department of Statistics established in 1985 and the Department of Economics established in 1989. With the goal of building a high-level college of economics with its own characteristics, relying on the teaching and discipline construction of the major of basic theory of economics, and taking optimizing the team, expanding resources and strengthening quality as the main goal, the college actively explores the talent training mode of virtue, learning, innovation and application, and strengthens the curriculum ideology and politics. It has formed the school-running characteristics of innovation and entrepreneurship, openness and coordination, service development and social satisfaction and the advantages of younger team, diversified resources, high-end achievements and systematic guarantee.

The school has a faculty of 100, including 82 full-time teachers, among whom there are 17 professors, 27 associate professors, 4 post doctoral co-tutors, 4 doctoral tutors, and 42 master tutors. 35 teachers have overseas working and studying experience. The teachers have won a lot of awards. There is one National Excellent Teacher, one national training object of the New Century National Hundred, Thousand and Talent Project, one selected object of the New Century Excellent Talents Support Plan of the Ministry of Education, one expert enjoying the Special Government Allowance of the State Council, two Zhujiang scholars, one distinguished professor of Minjiang Scholars, one winner of Guangdong Outstanding Youth Fund, and one young cultural talent of Guangdong Special Support Plan, 2 experts in consultation and demonstration of major administrative decisions in Guangdong Province. The School has hired a number of famous domestic economists such as Cheungkong Scholars, winners of the National Outstanding Youth Fund and experts in economic practice such as senior executives of global top 500 enterprises as visiting professors and practice instructors. In recent years, it has won more than 120 major projects, key projects and other topics of the National Social Science Fund. The faculty members have published more than 300 papers in domestic and foreign journals such as China Social Sciences, Economic Research and Management World. Many research reports have been affirmed by the national leaders. The teachers have won more than 10 scientific research awards above the provincial and ministerial level, such as the second prize for scientific and technological progress of the Ministry of education, forming a teaching team with reasonable structure, high teaching level and strong scientific research ability.

There are five undergraduate departments in the School, the Department of Economics (including the Experimental Class for Training Top Innovative Talents in Economics), International Economy and Trade, International Business (including the 1 + 2 + 1 International Business Sino-US Joint Training Project and the International Business Experimental Area), Economic Statistics and Digital Economy. The setting of majors closely follows the development trend of new technologies and industries as well as the major strategic needs of the country. International Economy and Trade has been approved as the national first-class professional construction major, the famous brand major and characteristic major in Guangdong Province. International Business is a national first-class professional construction major and  Guangdong talent training and innovation experimental major. Economics and Economic Statistics is a provincial first-class construction major, and provincial characteristic major. Digital Economy is a key major in Guangdong Province. The Economics major has an experimental zone for cultivating top-notch innovative talents in economics. International Trade and many other courses are national or provincial bilingual teaching and excellent demonstration courses.

There is a postdoctoral scientific research workstation in Applied Economics, a doctoral program in Applied Economics, three first-class disciplines authorized for master's degrees in Theoretical Economics, Applied Economics and Statistics, and three professional master's degrees authorized for Insurance, International Business and Applied Statistics. Among them, Applied Economics and Theoretical Economics are provincial advantageous key disciplines and characteristic key disciplines. The comprehensive score of Master of Insurance (MI) ranked among the top seven in China in 2017, ranking first in South China. Three demonstration bases for joint training of Postgraduates in Guangdong Province and four provincial innovation teams have been established. The school is also characterized with the research bases and think tanks, such as the national economic research center of Guangdong University of Finance and Economics (the key research base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Colleges and Universities in Guangdong Province) and the open economic innovation research center (the decision-making consulting research base of Guangdong Province), Guangdong Digital Economy Research Institute and Guangdong High Quality Development Research Institute. Besides, six scientific research institutions including regional economic operation simulation laboratory have been established.

The School attaches great importance to cultivating and improving students' spirit and ability of creativity. The graduates have a high employment rate, high employment quality and high social satisfaction. In recent years, many outstanding graduates have been admitted to famous universities such as Nanjing University, Wuhan University and Sun Yat Sen University for postgraduate study, and have applied to Columbia University, University of California, North Carolina State University, University of Sydney, National University of Singapore, Chinese University of Hong Kong and other well-known universities abroad for further study. Students have won nearly 100 awards in different competitions such as Challenge Cup, National College Students’ Market Research and Analysis Competition, National Mathematical Modeling Competition, American College Students' Mathematical Modeling Competition, National College Students' English Competition etc. More than 100 national projects for college students' innovation training and more than 100 provincial projects for the special fund for scientific and technological innovation cultivation of college students in Guangdong (special fund for “climbing plan”) have been obtained. Many outstanding graduates have become outstanding alumni.

The School adheres to the international thinking in its operation. In the past five years, 8-10 teachers were sent to international famous universities every year for training and visiting. International academic conferences are held every year. The China-Europe Economic Research Center between Guangdong University of Finance and Economics and Uppsala University and Stockholm School of Economics has been established. An international business major (sino-foreign joint training program) has been founded. The School also has established partnerships with more than 10 institutions of higher learning and educational institutions at home and abroad.