ACA qualification- career options?

[ThisUmberCoat]

Hi all,

I’m 23 years old and recently started a graduate advisory role in a big 10 accountancy firm, as part of which I’m completing the ACA.

I’ve got my first 2 exams next week (!!) so it’s very early days but I’ve decided for myself that I do want to complete the ACA but I’m not sure about potential next steps. I don’t think I want to progress in the advisory role that I’m doing beyond the time-qualified requirement, but equally I am not sure what options are out there for me- I know that I want to have children by 30 so I’m conscious that my (eventual!) role needs to fit around this and I want to be proactive about my career.

If anyone here has completed the ACA and has any advice/experience of what the ACA can eventually lead to, or can point me in the direction of any career coaching services/websites, I would be eternally grateful; I am open to anything at the moment as I don’t have much experience to guide me!

Hi! I'm ACA qualified, as is my DH. He has had a more traditional path - he stayed at the Big 4 for a while and then moved into an industry role in finance. I also stayed a few years but in a department that was more interesting to me and allowed me to build up expertise in a particular area. I now work in policy/research in that area for a charity which is very flexible albeit badly paid.

Other things that people I qualified with did include learning and development, business development, law, industry, teaching, politics, recruitment and loads of other things. An ACA is a great training and really sets you up for a whole load of careers. I also found that, as I came up to qualification, I had millions of recruiters contact me on LinkedIn!