Newly qualified ACCA
Discussion
Bit of advice please from anyone with any knowledge of these things.
Better half is about to qualify as ACCA. She finds practice boring and we've always heard the "once you've qualified as an accountant you can do anything..." line.
What are all these exciting things one can do as a qualified accountant?
Any insight much appreciated as she is struggling to work out what to do.
Better half is about to qualify as ACCA. She finds practice boring and we've always heard the "once you've qualified as an accountant you can do anything..." line.
What are all these exciting things one can do as a qualified accountant?
Any insight much appreciated as she is struggling to work out what to do.
I'm not an accountant but have worked closely with them in manufacturing businesses for years.
They get involved in all sorts of interesting things in industry.
It could be looking at profitability of a new production line or other CapEx decisions, involvement in pay negotiations, putting together the financials for monthly business planning rounds, helping us decide which plant to produce particular items in etc, etc.
They would travel to other regional (European) sites for meetings, advise sales directors on various aspects of their business sector's profitability, etc.
Of course there would still be the usual monthly and annual figures to pull together but the accountants I worked with seemed to enjoy the work mostly.
This was in big multinationals, by the way...
They get involved in all sorts of interesting things in industry.
It could be looking at profitability of a new production line or other CapEx decisions, involvement in pay negotiations, putting together the financials for monthly business planning rounds, helping us decide which plant to produce particular items in etc, etc.
They would travel to other regional (European) sites for meetings, advise sales directors on various aspects of their business sector's profitability, etc.
Of course there would still be the usual monthly and annual figures to pull together but the accountants I worked with seemed to enjoy the work mostly.
This was in big multinationals, by the way...
A Project accountant role can be interesting in industry.
Looking at the financials of each project, but then moving into the project from an analytical role as well as generally contributing to the project as a whole providing it is in a more simple industry e.g. Retail/Logistics rather than Advanced Engineering.
Looking at the financials of each project, but then moving into the project from an analytical role as well as generally contributing to the project as a whole providing it is in a more simple industry e.g. Retail/Logistics rather than Advanced Engineering.
Answer is - it depends
Practice - can often mean Audit, which is somewhat mechanistic. However as Eric has alluded to, it can also be a route to becoming an advisor, business partner etc
Within industry there are broadly two roles in finance - looking back at what the business has done. Or looking forward to what it might do.
So Finance Control and reporting or Financial Planning and Analysis.
It really comes down to personality type, if you are interested in the business, profit driven and reasonably commercial you tend toward the future looking. If you are process/detail orientated and strong on compliance and regulatory work, head for control.
These are broad generalisations, obviously.
Finance people can get quite "pigeon holed" by sector they work in, so if she does move to industry, make sure she picks a sector she enjoys.
Accountants get involved in most if not all business decisions. That could be anything from general forcasting/business planning, mergers, acquistions, disposals, bids, tenders, restructring for growth and cost saving etc etc. The best ones I have worked with have largely all done some time in the controls/compliance/processing but have a decent business head and can analyse problems, demonstrate with data and make suggestions and recommendations. The sbest ones in business I have worked with also have some leadership and coaching skills, whether inate or learnt, and can instill a culture where decisions are well thought through and justified on cost, savings, revenue etc. You would be surprised how many junior or middle managers do not think like this.
I started off in practice 15 years ago, went straight into industry after 4 years, found practice very dull. I'm now a commercial accountant and help the business grow and am involved with all sorts of strategy, it's actually really interesting and i don't have to do any of the month end stuff! Pays not to shabby either :-)
p.s. ACCA to
p.s. ACCA to
trickywoo said:
Should have done CIMA instead.
Having said that if I was in the same position I'd get the best paid ACCA role in a company that suits me get some experience then branch out and have my own company / partnership a few years down the line.
Agree Having said that if I was in the same position I'd get the best paid ACCA role in a company that suits me get some experience then branch out and have my own company / partnership a few years down the line.
I'm in industry, it's very exciting I think. A vast range of things come up, ForEx, project appraisal, TUPE, or just strategic input.
It is just a foundation though - I went on to be put through project qualifications and other certifications.
I'd got through CIMA many moons ago and it's been pretty useful along the way, however, I realised how much I hated the drudgery of the usual month end type role..
Anyway, having worked in Software and systems companies I flipped my skills and interest in systems and tech to work on Essbase and SAP BPC / BW.
Find it much more rewarding / challenging doing tangible "stuff", problem solving, designing systems that lead to better reporting, which helps the accountants, analyst etc ..
Getting the qualification is just the door opener to the next level!
Anyway, having worked in Software and systems companies I flipped my skills and interest in systems and tech to work on Essbase and SAP BPC / BW.
Find it much more rewarding / challenging doing tangible "stuff", problem solving, designing systems that lead to better reporting, which helps the accountants, analyst etc ..
Getting the qualification is just the door opener to the next level!
aquarianone said:
I'd got through CIMA many moons ago and it's been pretty useful along the way, however, I realised how much I hated the drudgery of the usual month end type role..
Anyway, having worked in Software and systems companies I flipped my skills and interest in systems and tech to work on Essbase and SAP BPC / BW.
Find it much more rewarding / challenging doing tangible "stuff", problem solving, designing systems that lead to better reporting, which helps the accountants, analyst etc ..
Getting the qualification is just the door opener to the next level!
Agree.Anyway, having worked in Software and systems companies I flipped my skills and interest in systems and tech to work on Essbase and SAP BPC / BW.
Find it much more rewarding / challenging doing tangible "stuff", problem solving, designing systems that lead to better reporting, which helps the accountants, analyst etc ..
Getting the qualification is just the door opener to the next level!
I did a couple of years of month end etc. Boring.
I'm planning on moving into an exec role in the next 5-10yrs, CIMA will be a good strong tick in the box for that, but only as part of the whole package.
I studied ACCA from 2008 to 2012 (qualified Aug 2012) and have never worked in a practice! In fact almost all of the guys I studied with over the years have gone on to industry.
Almost all big companies have their own internal finance people. To give you a flavour, based on the spam I've had from LinkedIn in the last few weeks, here are some of the companies in my neck of the woods that have been recruiting for PQ or Q ACCA/CIMA
- Dyson
- Airbus
- Imperial Tobacco
- Skanska
- Amey
- EE
- Network Rail
- Superdry
So as you can see a big, diverse range of industries. Best thing I ever did was go down the industry route (it was 50/50 between two jobs I was offered straight out of AAT). Definitely made the right choice IMO based on others experience of practice, and how things worked out for me personally. I've been fully qualified for two years now and love my job. Although I'm not yet senior enough to have gotten away from month end processing (alas), I'm quite heavily involved in the business decisions the companies I look after make, which is good.
All depends on the company and their culture though as well, to a degree. I've worked somewhere where the finance guys (even qualified accountants) are regarded by the business as nothing but data entry monkeys (to use a previous company director's term for us), and now work somewhere where the business leaders actually respect and welcome the input we make to their business.
Also, ignore the CIMA/ACCA banter. It makes very little difference to recruiters IMO. From my own experience, people who want a finance person value both qualifications equally. Bottom line is 9/10 recruiters probably couldn't tell you any differences between the syllabuses of either!
Almost all big companies have their own internal finance people. To give you a flavour, based on the spam I've had from LinkedIn in the last few weeks, here are some of the companies in my neck of the woods that have been recruiting for PQ or Q ACCA/CIMA
- Dyson
- Airbus
- Imperial Tobacco
- Skanska
- Amey
- EE
- Network Rail
- Superdry
So as you can see a big, diverse range of industries. Best thing I ever did was go down the industry route (it was 50/50 between two jobs I was offered straight out of AAT). Definitely made the right choice IMO based on others experience of practice, and how things worked out for me personally. I've been fully qualified for two years now and love my job. Although I'm not yet senior enough to have gotten away from month end processing (alas), I'm quite heavily involved in the business decisions the companies I look after make, which is good.
All depends on the company and their culture though as well, to a degree. I've worked somewhere where the finance guys (even qualified accountants) are regarded by the business as nothing but data entry monkeys (to use a previous company director's term for us), and now work somewhere where the business leaders actually respect and welcome the input we make to their business.
Also, ignore the CIMA/ACCA banter. It makes very little difference to recruiters IMO. From my own experience, people who want a finance person value both qualifications equally. Bottom line is 9/10 recruiters probably couldn't tell you any differences between the syllabuses of either!
Shirt587 said:
9/10 recruiters can't tell the difference between ACA/ACCA/CIMA qualifications, or for that matter anyone qualified from someone that's worked in a Big4 but has been sacked for failing exams...
Spot on.Working in practise is ste. Avoid it as much as you can. That and financial services. Both dry.
I am a ACMA qualified guy. I definitely find working in property management industry quite interesting plus I travel a lot. Not sure on my next move however its leaning towards head of finance/operations.
Best of luck.
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