What's it like being an accountant?

[BoatyMcBoatFace2]

Could you tell me what type of accountant you are and what you do in a day? Also, how did you get there?

I'm considering a career but want to get an idea of what it's like to work in this profession.

I work in financial services and am the technical team - meaning I’m the go to person for any new products etc to chwckbwe know how to account for them. I also prepare year end and ‘face off’ to our auditors on all things technical.

I spent 10 years with a Big 4 firm and worked too many 60+ hour weeks. But I loved the challenges (or most of them) and the variety I got from audit. They also paid for all my exams and released me from work for college. Exam failure meant losing your job and I know a fair few people who fell by the wayside...I’m not sure I’d advise Big 4 as a qualification route if you have small DC. The name on the CV opened doors when I moved into industry.

I earn over £70k plus bonus...and now do 9-5. I’ve left late about ten times a year since I moved into industry and don’t work at home (although I can work from home). I have a fair amount of autonomy (which I’ve earned by delivering) and am treated as a serious professional (no clock watching etc).

I fell into accountancy and am very glad I did. I’ll never want for a job and can be flexible if my DH got a dream role somewhere else (he teaches so that cuts both ways!).

I trained as a chartered accountant big 3/4/5/6 (depending on the era) after a degree in economics.

Became training manager for same firm when I qualified then left and went into industry as group financial accountant for a big PLC. worked my way around and up that company until I was Finance director for a big subsidiary group.

Moved around the marketing services industry as finance director for a couple of decades. Loved it, but the travel and hours weren't compatible with being a single parent so have been running my own small company for a few years doing business mentoring. training and bookkeeping/accountancy.

@elliemillie it is WAY easier to find good qualified accountants than it is to find good bookkeepers - and in my experience they need to be VERY closely supervised. Luckily the bookkeeper who works for me is a friend and also good and will ask if she doesn't know.

I work in business, for a large charity in a sector i’m passionately interested in. I started training in accountancy in my early 30s, and one of the reasons was because I recognised that it would enable me to work for any kind of organisation I wanted.

Unlike a lot of posters, I studied by myself at home while my children were small and then moved around a number of roles to get the relevant experience.

I do various tasks - cash flow management, balance sheet reconciliations, VAT returns, fixed asset management. I rather prefer financial accounts (external reporting) to management accounts (internal reporting) but that’s a reflection of my personality and my employment priorities.

I really enjoy it. And if you apply yourself to the study, it’s an accessible profession to enter.

@Kewcumber I wish I knew that earlier. I am now anal about checking and re-checking everything the subcontractors do. Sometimes I could do the work in the time I spend checking but once bitten and all that.
I need to include the supervision time in when I am brave enough to employ another one.

I have a very varied background.

Trained in practice and then left to set up my own practice as soon as I could.

I have also worked in various roles in industry as financial controller and financial director.

I currently run 2 accountancy practices, 1 specialises in expat taxes. I have 15 staff.

I also work part time for a client as their finance director.

It has taken a lot of work, training and experience, to get where I am but I am not in a very good position and earn a lot more than I could working for someone else.

@elliemillie yes you need to hand over work and built in supervision/review time so make sure the cost of your time is properly factored into any fees you charge - or don;t take on what you can't do yourself!

CIMA qualified accountant here. Worked for 10 years, had a break when I had kids. Set up a business with a family member for a few years when the kids were little. Been self employed for about 6 years now, bookkeeping for various small companies and now work in a school as the business manager. Love it.

ellie I agree. I do bookkeeping to full Trial Balance standard as I know what the Accountants want and work with them, and they know they can treat the job as if it were done by their office, but I can’t let anyone else do the work as it wouldn’t be to the same level.

I’ve seen bookkeeping work where they know nothing about Fixed Assets, debtors, creditors etc and the accounts are a total mess.

If I subcon any basic bookkeeping now, I allow for time to check it myself afterwards.

I also do subcon work for a management accountant at a fixed rate.

OP, if you can get a training role in a general practice firm, you can pick an area to specialise in once qualified.

I stopped at AAT due to circumstances, but 20 years of working in a small practice doing literally everything provides a pretty good all round training. I may go on to do ATT one day.

I did ACA with a small (two partner) firm of chartered accountants after an unrelated degree (History). You can do ACA without a degree - it used to take an extra year, not sure if that's still the case? I loved my degree though.

Whilst at the small firm, I did accounts prep, tax returns, VAT returns for small businesses - farmers, doctors practices, chip shops, car mechanics etc! At that time we used to work from books smelling of cigarette smoke and big bags of receipts but I'm guessing things have moved on since then! I enjoyed the insight into small businesses and getting to know the clients.

After qualifying I moved to the Private Client team in a big 4 firm. The clients were different - at that point, mainly landed gentry with family trusts etc, although latterly we took on a lot of wealthy entrepreneurs. People had very complicated affairs, with different activities going on all over the place and we had to consider all the different taxes, residence/domicile rules etc. I did both compliance (accounts and tax returns) and tax planning, mainly inheritance tax. It was really interesting and very challenging.

Most people in the team went on to do tax exams (CTA) but I ducked out of them and had a baby instead! It didn't really matter, you can learn on the job, although I did suffer 'imposter syndrome' a little. It was hard though, very legal orientated and you were constantly coming across tax law you didn't know existed.

A few years ago I moved within the firm into VAT compliance. The benefit of big 4 is that there are so many different specialisms. What I do now is more 'regular', less challenging from an intellectual point of view but very demanding nonetheless. My clients are large multinational clients and I manage their VAT compliance all over Europe.

I'd recommend accountancy as a career, but I would make sure you're fairly numerate and enjoy numbers. It's definitely not all about maths, but I'm surprised by the number of people who go into it who really don't have an affinity with numbers or a curiosity to make things 'balance'. They struggle! You also need to be a good communicator - in writing and in person. There's lots of interaction with people, but for me it's not too much of a people job. I'm an introvert and need some time with my own thoughts!

@Crazycrofters no, still bags of almost illegible, dirty receipts all stuffed in!

My parents both started as accountants and are now tax advisors and are two of the only people I know who really love their jobs. My mum works in industry and does a lot of technical law-based stuff, whereas my dad works for one of the big 4 in personal tax and tbh seems to spend most of his time having long lunches with clients. When I considered following them into accountancy they both told me tax sounds dry but is one of the most interesting specialisms, and to stay away from audit.

They’ve both always worked very, very hard and done long hours. I didn’t see a lot of either of them when I was a kid.

I worked as one. I despised it. All of it. Every day was awful. I am not cut out to be an accountant at all. I did aat then worked for an accountancy firm for years. I stopped liking it in my third year but I had gone to far to not see it through.
For me it was the worst job in my entire life and I bitterly regret wasting my time doing it. I wish I had left and retrained doing something I actually like.
Plus family and friends expect freebies all the time. Just help me with this tax return or vat return. I’m struggling with payroll can you just... you get the picture.
Never again.

@Amberheartkitty I’m worried that’s going to be me. I can’t imagine saying ‘I love my job’ about it ever but I feel like because of certain circumstances I’m stuck with it now. I’m very very low down in the pecking order (no formal training at all).

So admirable that you can say you weren’t cut out to do it. I feel that way tbh but maybe that’s my lack of training so far.

What do you do now if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m a big 4 trained ACA.

I love my career and would recommend it to anybody intelligent and logical who has the balls to challenge the status quo.

Being ACA and big 4-trained definitely gives you an advantage. So does having strong and current technical knowledge, a broad range of experience (I’ve been a corporation tax specialist and worked in management accounting, financial reporting and in treasury).

There are a great many gormless qualified accountants in industry, and particularly in the public sector, who continue to churn out the same useless reports and hang around waiting to be told what to do. So if you are good, and capable of logical thought, it is not difficult to shine amongst the shit.

I did a number of senior roles in big businesses and I now contract through my own limited company. I’m the sole employee and director. At the moment I’m interim group financial controller for a listed company. It pays a good day rate (works out well into six figures) and I’ve never had any gaps between contracts. That’s down to having good, diverse experience and a firm grasp of the accounting standards, which is not a common skill.

I interview loads of qualified people for finance roles who don’t really know what they are doing and blather on about being “commercial rather than technical”. That is code for “useless and will need to be constantly told what to do”.

You won’t know till you try it. As you can see from the varied responses some people love it.
I started my own company. And got myself an accountant so I don’t have to do it. I love it.

I started right at the bottom aged 18, did an evening book-keeping course as suggested by the wife of my boss, then followed on to AAT & CIMA.
I'm now UK Head of Finance for 2 Companies which are owned by a large EU Company.
My role covers a very wide range of responsibilities, not just accounts (although that's probably my favourite part, making things balance & work), but also cover all admin, HR & QMS so have a very wide remit.
It's hard work. & quite stressful at times, but more to do with deadlines than the actual work.
Also try to use my skills to help the local community as treasurer for various charities and also trying to help sole traders & colleagues with tax returns etc.

I did a Maths degree and went into a training contract with one of the Big 4. Qualified with ICAEW and am Director grade in an international consulting firm. The hours can be horrendous but I’ve always stuck to regular office hours so I could collect DC’s from nursery/school and then take them to after school activities. I’m now responsible for about 90 staff in different offices across the world.

I'm an assistant accountant currently doing cima certificate level before I start the cima degree in management accounting. I sort of fell in to the role and mostly do lots of reporting but I love my job

Thank you all for your very informative replies.

I've been a sahm for 3 years, no career- just got a job as telephone interviewer for min. wage. I'm a university drop out (1 year)
In psychology after DD. Looking for a career where I can use numerical/logical skills, one that can be flexible and work around family life and obviously one that is generously paid.

I'm not planning anymore children, although I'm 26 so not sure if I'll have one in the future.

Accountancy seems like a career with good prospects. I enjoy studying and gaining a qualifications on top would be a massive achievement for me.

I can't reply individually now, but I will try later as I have a few questions.

@BoatyMcBoatFace2 we are the same age and I’m just starting out too really :)

I interviewed someone who is looking for a career in accountancy for all the reasons you mention. At no point during the interview did I get any enthusiasm for numbers, finance or anything other than it's one of the more obvious options. Please practice your interview technique so you come across a bit better than she did!

CIPFA here, I work for local government. Tbh it's a bit soul destroying at the moment, but I think that's the public sector for you.

You say you're looking for something generously paid. What sort of figure did you have in mind? I think people think accountants all make loads of money but it's not the case.

Many full time accountancy jobs for qualified accountants pay around £30-40k. I'm not sure how that fits with your expectations? To be earning more you need to be in a senior position with lots of experience or in a particularly niche area. Banking also pays a bit more especially in London.

For accountants that are not fully qualified you'd be very lucky to get £30k.

I earn more than most accountants I know but I work in a niche area and I'm very experienced in my field.

If you're interested in a higher base salary and don't mind exams I'd consider actuarial work. There was an AMA post recently about an actuary, I'd recommend giving it a read and would seriously consider it. Accountancy exams are tough but I do think the actuarial ones are slightly harder.

Sorry I've just read your most recent post and see you don't have a degree. That rules out actuarial work.

You can do accountancy professional qualifications but without a degree you'll need to start at the beginning eg ATT, before doing your processional level exams (ACCA or CIMA). You're young tho so you're at a great age to do it and best to just get stuck in and get started.

Seeing as you have kids I think it would be hard to do ICAEW/ICAS as you need to be working in practice for that and I can't see how the hours expected of a trainee would be compatible with having a young family. Perhaps if you went with a small local firm but I can't see it working out with one of the big 4. Plus you'd be hard pushed to get into her big 4 without a degree.

Perhaps someone else can advise if entry level roles in practice are compatible with a young family. Most people I know that have done practice have come through the big 4, so they were working 70+ hours a week as trainees.