To want to become an accountant...

[floppityhatesflowers]

I'm currently working 12 hours a week in the evenings as we have a 2 year old and 9 month old. So SAHM in the daytime and work a few evenings a week.

I can't do this forever as although it's quite an interesting job, I need more than this for my brain once our dc are in school full time.

I've always been interested in accounts and dabbled with sage software in my previous role and feel that my personality and skill set would suit this role well. (Although several people have told me its dull, which probably says more about me ). I was thinking of applying for a course now, and becoming a book keeper initially, trying to get some work in this area, then moving into getting my qualifications for accounting if all is going well.

Would this be a good starting place? I feel a bit clueless in all honesty!

You might be struggling for other reasons @lululu16

My former employer used to run a graduate accountancy scheme - those with accounting/finance degrees weren’t top of the list when it came to being successful. That just gives you a head start with knowledge but it’s about other skills....

The fullness of the job depends on the place you are working. I have worked in a few different accounts practices and one of them was truly awful. We weren't allowed to talk to each other about anything other than work. It really put me off working in accounts for years. First place I worked was fantastic, really enjoyed the job and did a lot of different things, loved the variety of the different businesses accounts I worked on. Currently a book keeper and I'm finding it a lot more boring (doing the same think day in day out), but I only do a couple of days a week and the people I work with are nice.

My main job of my career wasn't as an accountant, I was credit manager at a huge international company, 95% was exported. Hedging foreign currency, letters of credit, bills of exchange etc, taking care of outstanding on average £250 million in sterling. Stressful yes, hugely interesting and rewarding, lots of travel, I have friends all over the globe which I'm still in touch with.

Last 12 years I have been self employed and very part time, just doing accounts for small and medium sized businesses. I'm happy to say they love me and don't have to worry things aren't right.

I stopped being self employed early April due to MTD, anti money laundering hike in fees and a client going bust on me for approximately 10% of my turnover.

I have gone on the payroll of my last two clients and will retire I think in a couple of years.

Accountancy can be hugely diverse and interesting.

@iggly what kinda skills we talking?

@lululu16

I’m afraid that degrees in accountancy and finance do little to prepare you for actual ‘on the ground’ work in finance.

I’m a ‘bread and butter’ accountant - I do a combo of high level and transactional/processing stuff - this is common in senior roles in relatively small businesses. For example I lead audit, set strategy but also reconcile the bank and deal with debtors.

We find that graduates in finance with no relevant work experience struggle with the basics: bank reconciliations, payroll entries, double entry in general, depreciation etc.

You need a firm grounding in the basics before progressing which some finance graduates find hard to understand

@lululu16

You can apply for graduate positions where you’ll get training and they’ll set out what they are looking for. Things like team work, relationship skills etc.

Or you could take the AAT route and study yourself and look for entry level bookkeeping roles?

I am an accountant and absolutely agree with Merrygold

I'm Chartered and the qualification (if you want to go to this level) is really hard work, it doesn't really cover the technical stuff- they expect you to already have a good understanding of double entry, it does cover, law, high level business management, audit, ethics, tax, an understanding on how the stock market works, business valuation etc etc. 14 exams and work based experience it took me almost 5 years alongside raising my child.

It is not boring at all I have diversified now but Management accounts is full on and very interesting.
The money is only really good if you become chartered although you can earn a fair salary through AAT.

I would suggest reading up on the subject plenty before taking the jump and starting AAT. You can do it from home and spread out the cost on a unit by unit basis.

As for the automation worry, there is no way a computer can take over the complexities that a qualified accountant deals with. I have found in times of trouble in companies my job was one of the safest as it was all the more prevalent that the directors knew what was going on.

Good luck

Hi LULU

I agree with Merrygold too. Most employers are not at all impressed with an accounting degree as it doesn't give the holistic skills and knowledge of ACCA/ACA/CIMA. everyone I know that did a finance degree has had to do a chartered qualification to get a good job. I was in a similar situation to you so I self funded the first 3 exams, once I had them under my belt the job prospects were much better.

[quote Polarbearflavour]I would look at the risk of automation to this profession.

www.pwc.com/my/en/assets/press/1608-accountants-today-automation-impact-on-accounting-profession.pdf[/quote]
Automation from robotics, possibly. But so much of accounting, management accounting and finance business partnering requires knowledge on how to interpret the financial framework for a particular business, or how to maximise business performance. Also problem solving, investigation, explanation of financial issues to non-finance people. There is a huge swathe of accounting beyond simple bookkeeping or financial processing that can't be done by robotics.