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.

baa - I trained with a medium sized firm (top 20). Some weeks I had nothing to do at all. I only worked overtime when I was qualified and an audit senior and at this time of year when it was busy with a lot of Dec year ends that needed to report quickly.

The thing that would make audit difficult is the travel, you wouldn't ever know what your commute would be which would be hassle for childcare.

@trilbydoll that's interesting to know.

OP do you have any thoughts on what area you'd like to work in?

ACCA management accountant in the public sector. It can be quite repetitive and you absolutely have to like numbers (which I do!). Takes a while to qualify and you can find you are held back if you don't go all the way with qualifying!

It's busy season right now and DP is working from 9am- 10/11/12 at night. He's working abroad Mon-Thurs for a month (wasn't really given a choice).

He's exhausted, bored, stressed, Ill. He hates it with a passion but he's been aiming for this since he was 17.

The pay is excellent and my friend who does accounting for the government has much more reasonable hours and likes her job.

Oh and DP is in big 4, currently audit but moving to innovation soon.

35 years, mostly in general practice, FCCA qualified. Started as a trainee aged 19, straight from school, in a 2 partner (father/son) chartered practice doing book-keeping and accounts prep. Then moved to a slightly larger firm doing statutory audits at first and the moved into their tax dept. Once qualified, moved again to another 2 partner firm where I had my own portfolio of mostly larger businesses where I did their monthly management accounts, forecasts, statutory accounts, audit and tax. Then got head-hunted at one of my clients who needed an in house finance director, where I stayed for 2 years until it was sold. Then back to practice, another 2 partner firm, back to doing accounts prep, tax returns and statutory audit. That was my first 15 years. Enjoyed forecasts and management accounts, hated statutory audit.

Then 20 years ago, left and set up my own "one man band" practice specialising in IT consultants and personal service companies. Been doing that ever since. Mostly accounts prep, VAT, book-keeping, tax returns. Don't do statutory audits. Don't do specialist work such as CGT, IHT, property tax etc. So, now, a very simple existence doing pretty basic, straight forward work.

Never earned a high wage in any job nor my self employment, never been a higher rate taxpayer even, but that's what happens when you're based in a Northern run-down town where wages/fees are a lot lower. But, for 20 years, I've been my own boss, choosing my own hours working part time, choosing my own clients. Not a bad earning business for part time work and it will enable me to wind down gradually into retirement without having to formally "retire" or sell up - I'll just reduce the number of clients according to health and whatever else I may want to do instead - my practice is my pension fund!

@Badbadbunny can I be really cheeky and ask roughly what your earnings are? Don't answer if you don't want to. Just v interested as I have been thinking about switching to doing the kind of work you are doing, as I have young DC. Thanks 🙏

I'm an AAT qualified Management Accountant with 14 years Finance experience. I earn 35k currently but have recently been offered up to 40k. That's probably the very top level of earnings I could achieve with AAT. I absolutely love my job. I've only worked in Industry but have been fortunate enough to work at a Company which is part of a big group, so lots of variety. I'd really like to be a Financial Controller, so now in my early thirties, im embarking on Cima (finally after finishing aat 12 years ago!). My earnings could then be up to 55k, eventually.

Passion for numbers, attention to detail, willingness to get your hands dirty, are all essential in my opinion. Most of all, you just have to 'get it' and have a natural flair which not everyone in the industry does seemingly (including some qualifieds!).

That said, as an unqualified Accountant, Im often made to feel very inferior and am often looked down on (despite knowing how good I am ).

Soosie, AAT qualified is a qualified accountant. I’m a licensed member in practice. I don’t claim to be chartered or certified but I am an accountant.

I get what you’re saying though. One of the main reasons I left general practice was after my one man band , 2 offices, boss merged — sold out— to a bigger firm and I was watching juniors being promoted above me for doing ACCA , yet I was the one with 20 years all round experience. They were asking me how to do everything yet getting paid more than me.

And I agree about the flair, you need to have a real love for it and an eye for detail. I love balancing and analysing things. My employee loves turning a pile of crap into an ordered file.

It’s not about being good at maths!

No way is accounting a flexible career that can accommodate working around a family!

There was a similar thread to this before Christmas: the OP thought she’d try accounting as a career because she thought it would be steady, highly paid and would accommodate part time working around a young family. As if. Try telling your boss and colleagues on working day 3 that you’ll be leaving at 2:45 pm to pick up your kids from school.

The job market is awash with accountants. There are bloody loads available and as an earlier poster notes, the majority earn in the £30k to£40k bracket, less for people with AAT which, yes, is a qualification but is not considered to be in the same league as ACA or CIMA by employers.

The available candidates include many people who thought the same as the OP of the other thread: let’s choose a steady career that pays well. You can easily find loads of plodders but finding somebody good, with some initiative and the nous to ask sensible questions and make things happen under their own steam, is more difficult.

Put yourself forward for a job paying £50k upwards and you will find that the competition is fierce, and that recruiters pretty much want somebody from the same sector (eg construction, retail). So it’s not that flexible a career because you can’t just skip from one company to the next unless you are very junior or extremely senior.

With some (but not many) exceptions, you will only earn the real money in accounting if you train in a top firm or on a structured scheme in a quoted business or an investment bank, then manage your subsequent moves carefully. On top of that you will need to be exceptionally smart and able to transform poor processes whilst bringing excellent technical knowledge and managing a big team. Otherwise, forget it.

@Nettletheelf so true. Couldn't agree more.

That's why I was curious about what sort of money the OP would be looking to earn and what area of accounting interested them. We might be able to give more specific info or correct any misconceptions.

I spent ten years of my life as a public sector auditor, doing CIPFA. I absolutely hated it, and eventually left as it was making me depressed. I realised a couple of years in that it wasn't for me but the pay and conditions were fantastic so I felt I couldn't leave. While I passed the exams I wasn't cut out for it at all, some of it was so bloody dull. Its probably the biggest regret of my life.

I suggest that people reading this don’t embark on studying CIPFA in the expectation of fantastic pay! Public sector auditors might have good conditions but fantastically paid they are not.

I'm quite shocked at some of the wages being quoted here though! I was earning 35k in 2003, looks like the wages have stagnated! That was London though. I had 33 days annual leave too, which is the only thing I miss about that job!

@alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 yes the last recession caused wages to drop and they haven't recovered. In real terms, I think we are learning less for the same job (based on my experience and those that I know). If you look at adverts outside of London it's rare to see an accountancy job paying more than £40k.

@baabaamoomooneigh I'm even more relieved I got out then, to me the money was the only saving grace!

See?! So much variety!

I think at the end of the day what you earn all depends somewhat on how much you want to graft.
Unlike most people here, I am not ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified. I have a psychology degree but retrained after the first two DC and part qualified as ACCA but later switched to AAT and ATT because I could work around the DCs better. I have never worked in a big 4 firm. But with those two qualifications, I have managed to build a small practice with average fees of 70-80k.
I am now a single mum and work round my three children but I generally start work at 3 or 4am to make that happen. It's impossible to earn that much with the qualifications i have without working really hard and taking the initiative to learn more after the qualification. I spend a lot on training to keep on top of things. As someone said, there are loads of accountants, you have to make yourself stand out and once you know your stuff referrals come naturally and you can charge what you want and choose who you work with.

Soosiesoo the chartered thing is a bit of a joke though. I took over two clients from KPMG and the VAT returns they had done for quiet a while were all full of expenses mostly in dollars that shouldn't even have been included but they claimed VAT on all of them. The accounts were full of strange errors I didn't expect a big 4 firm to make. Having chartered and certified accountant status doesnt make someone a good accountant.
Being familiar with the accounting standards is what counts and experience. Loads of experience working with different types of businesses makes a huge difference

I am CIPFA, did it in my early 40s to compliment my other qualifications. I am responsible for accounting but that is only 25% of my job.

Nettle is right, i didn’t do it for the £, I did it so that I could apply for a specific role in local government and have a good chance of a head of paid service job in a smaller organisation (which I have), and, more importantly for me, relocate to where I wanted to live in the rural north of England.

Salary is ok, £40k for a four day week. I can be as flexible as I like, apart from having to set an example to my team.

You can move into all sorts of roles throughout your working life with the right qualifications.

Must add that my previous role was very London centric (not accounting but an allied field (post grad)). I earned twice what I do now twenty years ago.

If I could choose again I would study accounting after uni, just because I got stuck in London for 16 years due to my previous career choice.

I'm CIMA qualified. Started training while in an admin job in mid twenties and then moved jobs.

I didn't do ACCA as audit type stuff bores me rigid.

CIMA is more geared towards working in a company. I worked for a couple of years doing standard accounting month end type stuff but it does get a little monotonous! I enjoyed the work but it was generally same thing month end after month end (to be fair a lot of jobs are that not just accounting!)

I then moved more into business project work and data analysis type roles which I love. Changes all the time.

I now work more it an IT project department. So I use the accounting skills but not main part of my job.

I chose CIMA in the first instance because I felt it offered more variety.

Hi - I am 50 , and did my Chartered Qualification straight after university in one of the Big 5 . I was in audit for 3 years. Hated the work, but loved the study side. After qualifying I left the profession, went abroad, came back, temped, before getting back into accounting. It's not really for me but I suppose i didn't know what else to do. I've been in my current job for 20 years. I am a single mum, 3 kids, no maintenance from ex so all down to me. I earn a good salary and we have flexible working so suits kids. I do work full time. I hate it, I do management reporting so basically the same thing month on month, but I can't leave due too my responsibilities. I will probably be there until retirement.

Ellie I completely agree. Having worked in Finance a long while, I've come across lots of accountants who are more qualified than I am but for whatever reason, the basics often aren't there. I guess you get that in various job roles though! That's certainly not downgrading the qualification though.

To be fair, I'm quite happy with a 35-40k salary. I have 33 days holiday plus bh and work very flexible hours. I've also been offered roles recently, whereby they offer very flexible working too. Having 2 young dc, this is worth its weight on gold.

I'll be studying CIMA steadily over the next few years, so that when my DC are older, I can commit to a more challenging role and command the salary to match (subject to role availability, obviously!).

Aat defo opens doors, the key is having the exposure and experience. Good Luck op!