PT Accountants - what do you do?

[Mackrelmint]

I qualified a few years ago in the public sector, specialising in audit. I've only got four weeks left until Mat Leave for DC2 now, but by the time I go back to work I want to have a bit of an exit plan and to start looking for something else - I really really don't get on with audit...

I've done a little bit of googling on PT accountancy positions, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot out there, but thought there might be PT ACAs on here who could give me some ideas - if I can think of something that would suit me better I can start looking for appropriate training/experience with my current employed.

I currently do a 21 hour week and probably wouldn't want to be doing much more than that when I go back.

Are you a PT accountant? Can you tell me what you do? Thanks!

Hi, I qualified in audit (Big 4) and moved into a financial management job in industry straight after qualifying. When I got pregnant, I was working in a financial reporting job- very month-end heavy and so not really something I could have taken part time.

What I did was move within the team onto project work, product pricing, etc- things which are ongoing and aren't attached to a certain day. I think you might find technical accountant jobs similar- and they love people from audit!

The only thing I would say is that not many jobs are advertised part time to begin with, but I know lots of people who have started full time and successfully reduced their hours.

Good luck!

Hi cake - thanks for your reply (wasn't sure I'd get any - really need a general Careers section somewhere I think...). I have worked in the Finance team (management accounts) at current employer but as we are public sector and not that big wasn't aware of roles doing product pricing and so on so that's really interesting.

Also def something to think about looking at ft jobs with a view to taking pt down the road - I know someone doing that at the moment; I think withus you have to do 6mo before doing a flexible working application, which might be manageable...

Hi,
I also did "big 4" audit then moved into public sector accountancy roles, most people I know start full time and request flexible/part time after maternity leave, however they are accountant/senior accountant roles, those in principal or finance manager roles seem to be always full time as not much scope for reducing hours in these higher level roles it seems.
To be honest it's making me think about staying put at my level until I've had a baby (hopefully in the next year ish ) as it doesn't seem worth going for promotion if I lose the chance of flexibility and vaguely sensible hours!
If audit is not your "thing" now and you are wanting a change you might enjoy the budget preparation side of things or capital accounting/planning which seems to follow me around like a bad smell wherever I end up! I think an audit background does mean capital procedures are something you pick up more naturally as this is something I document and report in much more detail than my revenue budget just a thought for you!

I used to be an accountant - was in audit and went back PT after having DS which was a struggle (qualified during maternity leave). My office was v male dominated and someone coming back part time was not something that many tried to understand. Got pregnant with DD and decided I needed to do something else so managed to get transferred to my firm's technical department where nearly everyone worked flexibly in one way or another and doing 3 days a week wasn't odd. Would probably have kept doing it for longer but two years after coming back from maternity leave our childcare fell through and I left work. Now do exam marking in various ways and some other stuff to keep me ticking along.

I'm a Chartered Accountant - qualified in audit with a big 4 firm then moved into tax which I love. I work 22.5 hours. After DD1 I went back on 15 hours but it wasn't enough so after 2nd ML I increased my hours.

Things are never advertised part time are they!

i'm a manager at a medium/ small firm of accountants and work 21 hours over 3 days. However i was full time and the person covering my maternity didn't do a great job hence they were glad to get me back so agreed to my part time hours, i've never seen a part time accountancy job advertised, other than book keeping

I'm a part time finance manager for a charity. Qualified as ACA with Big 4 20 years ago now. Do everything financial (no other finance staff) plus a fair bit of other general managerial stuff. Have done similar finance manager roles for 10 years now - got the jobs advertised as part time, so not negotiated down from full time. In my experience the smaller businesses often can't afford a full-time ACA, but of course you've got the perennial problem of trying to do a full time role in part time hours. But it's true that getting part time work in this field isn't easy. Just looked on gaapweb.com, there are 28 part time jobs there in UK!

I'm an FCA, working in practice.
I am with the same employer that I worked for before I was pregnant (not who I trained with).
After ds1 I went back 3 days a week, and after about a year changed that to split the same hours over 4 days.
After ds2 I reduced my hours slightly to 20 a week over 4 days.
I am shortly going to increase hours to 25, with a core as at present and the rest done in the office in working hours (allows flexibility in school holidays).

It is probably worth talking to a couple of agencies, when another part-time manager I worked with wanted to move the agency she approached spoke to firms about her and she was interviewed on the basis of the role being part-time, which she then got.

Wow, this dropped off my threads i'm on and only just seen all these replies sorry. Thanks; it's really interesting. Making me realise I really don't have a clue about the types of jobs that are out there. I think talking to agencies when the time comes is probably going to be the way forward.

Not an accountant, but do work in finance. The part time accountants in my area do project work rather than financial reporting type jobs.

I think you are never likely to see a part time job advertised, but if you see a full time job you fancy advertised you should enquire whether it can be done part time. Going through an agency would probably be a good idea.

Hey guys,

This is my first time using mumsnet, we are looking to post an advert in the job section for a part-time Audit role. Also I would suggest looking at the first careers pages rather than relying on the recruitment agencies.

thanks,
Sabrina