Finance assistant/officer/manager roles without being a CA?

[ThisHonestQuail]

I work in private client tax, mostly been at big firms and am ATT and CTA qualified. I am looking for a new job but there isn’t much for me where I live and I do not want to work remotely. So I’m thinking of taking a sideways-ish step to a finance assistant/officer/manager type role.

I think realistically I would need to take a finance assistant role for a year or so just for experience and accept the salary hit - but would I need to do more qualifications too? I would be open to AAT or possibly CIMA but I don’t think I could ever face ACA/ACCA!

Thanks ☺️

Most accounts roles in commerce and industry are fairly basic. They usually involve a lot of sending out invoices to customers, credit control, bank recs, paying suppliers' invoices and making sure expenses are input to the correct nominal codes. There's usually a fair amount of reporting to do as well, but not at higher level.

With your level of experience you would be able to do AAT fairly quickly.

Thank you - tempted to just enrol for AAT now actually. It will at least give me something to focus on other than hating my current job.

In honesty I am a little worried I might be bored as a finance assistant, but think I need it on my CV to apply for more senior roles.

In the nicest way, from a private client tax background do you even have any accounts experience? How are you proposing to manage a finance function without that experience? Even if you think it's "boring".

It's not so much your qualifications as your incompatible experience that would concern me. I've seen too many disasters from people without a clue being put in charge of finance functions.

CIMA is more relevant if you want to retrain as an accountant in industry rather than a private client tax adviser.

I dont have those qualifications but have 44 years working/ 30 years experience in accounts and my roles have either been Assistant Accountant or Accounts Administrator. My only qualifications is a Btec in Business and Finance.
I orignally worked as an Reinsurance Accounts techinician which was premiums and claims. One underwriter went into run off and took over the finance side as well. Next job with a charity i had the package experience they wanted and they took me on as an Assistant Accountant, it was just me and the Finance Director and its been the role i have been doing ever since. I am always being contacted on Linkdin for similar roles.

Sorry perhaps you didn’t read the OP properly - I am not proposing to run a finance function off the bat. I’m saying I’ll start at the bottom and do exams. I don’t want to get to FD level anyway.

Anyway I did an accounting exam and have done stints in accounts, corporate tax and payroll so it’s not much but I’m not going in completely blind.

I have a finance manager role, and I'm one exam away from my acca qualification. I think someone with AAT knowledge would cope fine with my day to day duties - my ACCA knowledge does come in useful (although CIMA would probably would be more relevant for the industry I'm in). If you're determined to move into this sector you would do great to start your AAT.

Thank you, so helpful!