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A look at a first move from practice and your options.
So you have finished your exams, you finally have time to relax and have a social life! This also may be the first time in your life where you have no studying to do!
But what next? Below, we look at your options as a newly qualified Accountant in practice.
Transition: Easiest
Competition: Low
Entry Salary: Medium-High
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium
Long-term future: Director, Partner, Industry
Candidates in smaller firms often consider moving up to a larger firm. Moving from a top 20 firm to a big 4 firm does your CV no harm, but we find it doesn’t accelerate your career any quicker than moving straight into industry.
However, if you are in a smaller firm (sub top 30), moving into a larger firm for a year or two can be a good move. A blend of smaller and larger audit firm experience is very well thought of and it is challenging to find candidates that offer both.
Transition: Easiest
Competition: Low
Entry Salary: High
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium-High
Long-term Future: Internal Audit Manager / Director / Group roles / Compliance Director
Internal Audit is one of the most natural fits and often comes with the least competition. Internal Audit isn’t desired by many due to the travel and role requirements. So if you like it, you can do well!
Starting salaries here are often high, with higher salaries offered for roles with more travel and sometimes a car. A good internal auditor is rarely out of work.
Transition: Medium difficulty
Competition: Medium
Entry Salary: Medium
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium-High
Long-term Future: Nearly anywhere in finance
This really is the most transferable route you can take. Management experience can help you transfer into any other area, as it is so varied.
If you want something more commercial, Management accounting provides you with scope to engage with the monthly results and the wider finance function. These roles get you involved with the management accounts, budgeting, forecasting and often have more of a commercial edge to them as the salaries get higher. You can then decide if you want to stretch out commercially, or take a route to FC / FD.
Competition for these can be higher due to the CIMA and ACCA qualified industry based candidates with relevant experience.
Transition: Medium difficulty
Competition: High
Entry Salary: Medium
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium
Long term future: Senior Finance Business Partner, Head of Commercial Finance
Often considered one of the most business facing roles in finance, this sees you engaging with a range of internal and external stakeholders to improve the performance or profitability of a business function.
An exciting and varied role, they can be at times difficult to get into, with stiff competition from industry based candidates (CIMA/ACCA) and other first time movers. There is however, once in, always a good demand for qualified business partners with an audit background. So once your in, you will fly!
Transition: Low difficulty (Higher if from TS)
Competition: Low-Medium
Entry Salary: High-Very High
Long-term Earning potential: High-Very High
Long-term Future: Group Accountant, Group FC, Group FD, CFO
A hand-in-glove fit for any audit based candidate particularly those that hold experience in dealing with large companies and numerous statutory entities or complex consolidation requirements.
This role requires a strong technical grounding and Practice-based candidates often flourish here. Training is also often excellent as the department often has multiple ex ACAs who have been in your shoes.
These roles can often pay well and have quick routes of progression, with good group accountants always in demand. If you had to bet on one route getting you to FD, this would be it!
Transition: Medium Difficulty (Low difficulty if you are from TS)
Competition: Medium-High
Entry Salary: Medium-High
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium-High
Long-term Future: FP&A Manager/ Head of FP&A
FP&A has had a real focus since Covid, with many more companies looking to look forward as well as back. FP&A roles can be both divisional and group based, with group roles being a particularly good fit for first time movers.
Divisional roles tend to be more “commercial”, whilst group roles often have quicker progression and higher long term pay. FP&A itself is a great blend between hands-on business partnering and more desk/excel-based accounting.
Transition: Low-Medium
Competition: Low
Entry Salary: High
Long-term Earning Potential: Medium-High
Long-term Future: Head of Tax, Head of Treasury, Group Tax & Treasury roles
A similar story to Internal Audit, specialist functions such as Tax and Treasury can offer a brilliant route for candidates that want something a little different. Competition in these areas is often less and, as with Internal Audit, you can carve out a niche in large well-respected businesses.
Transition: Medium (Low difficulty if from TS)
Competition: High
Entry Salary: High
Long-term Earning Potential: High – Very High
Corporate Finance is an interesting and unique option. Whilst it can often pay less initially, it arguably has the most upside in the long term, and throws you into a highly demanding but equally rewarding environment.
A career in Corporate Finance is often highly sought-after and attracts some of the brightest minds in finance. Invariably, you will also need to show a real passion for the sector to get a foot in the door.
Transition: Easy
Long Term Earning potential: Medium-High
Long term Future: Director, Partner
One of the most obvious but overlooked options is to stay where you are! Whilst staying put doesn’t always improve your value to the outside market, the larger audit firms have some excellent progression routes if you enjoy what you are doing.
Very few companies can give you the structure and guaranteed career ladder to climb, but that’s where the bigger audit firms excel. You are walking a well-trodden and respected path. If you enjoy what you do, why not aim high and go for Partner?
Take a look at our roles at www.countedrec.com
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