Post-kids career crisis and change. Accountancy? Very lost.

[Cactus12345]

Hi, I have just had my second baby and am completely at a loss of what to do career and identity wise. I am very competent, have a good degree, a masters and a fantastic career in journalism but I just do not have the will to go back to the constant stress of deadlines and travel and hand my children over to nannies. I don’t know what has happened to me. Plenty of others in my field carry on after kids and seem to make the daycare plus nanny situation work. I just can’t bear to spend that much time away from them and not be mentally present in the evenings and miss the valuable development time with meals and baths etc. We have no family around at all to help. I want to get a skill that can be used with a view to eventually starting some sort of company, or working with startups. Is accountancy training a sensible option? I can study around the kids for the next year for two. Has anyone done this or, for anyone who actually has accountancy qualifications, have you managed to carve out interesting careers / flexible work that works around kids? My husband earns well, I have my own investment cushion set up and we can survive without my income for a good few years. I’m not worried about passing exams, I think I have what it takes. I am 40 and really want to work long term, but in something less nebulous than journalism. However I am also worried that accountancy will die/massively change with AI. Does anyone know any good resources or forums for such dramatic career changes? I really feel lost and like I am losing my identity, and failing compared to my high achieving peers and friends. Thank you!

Accountancy can be very deadline driven with long hours. I'm an accounting assistant helping prepare annual financial statements and have a daily deadline to meet - a client per day. Book-keeping, payroll and VAT are less pressurised AFAIK and I often see part-time jobs like those being advertised. Do you love working with numbers? I don't see any of these jobs being done by AI anytime soon btw.

Thanks, that’s useful info. I was always more science and numbers minded but ended up in humanities etc due to my uni course choice.

Accountant here. 1-2 years seems very quick to do the exams. It took me 3 years to complete the exams on a graduate scheme. I was working at the same time, but if you don’t get any exemptions from certain modules, there are lots of exams and they are quite difficult. Pass rates are usually 50% (ish) for the written papers, so the process would take longer if you fail an exam and have to retake. Would you go to accountancy training college? I’d imagine it would be quite difficult to teach yourself the material and easily pass the exams. Especially the written papers.

I now work in the public sector on a financial accounting team. After returning from maternity leave, I now have a flexible (part time) working arrangement, which is brilliant for my work/life balance. However, the year end accounts prep and audit time is always stressful and lasts a long time. We can’t take proper annual leave for three months during the time. Three weeks of school holidays fall within this period, which is always difficult to manage.

Thanks. What qualifications do you have? There seem quite a few out there.

Accountant here , there are various specialisms, the exams are daunting and long, many fields are deadline driven (year end, month end, tax filing etc). Have a serious look at internal audit, it may suit your skills set as a journalist. Some internal auditors are qualified accountants, but there are other non accountancy routes into qualified professional status. It can involve travel , but specific requirements will depends on the firm you work at.

Accountant here. I retrained after kids (previously in a MD role) and now work as a fractional finance director - leading on finance in a few smaller organisations who are too small to have someone full time. I’m self employed.

It works well around the kids and I manage most school drop offs, pick ups, school plays etc and have plenty of holiday time off.

The first 2 years after retraining were tricky because I needed to work in an employed position to sign off on my experience and therefore less flexible for kids. But that was partly the organisation itself.

Internal Audit as someone above said is considered similar but without the year end pressures.
Although prepare that you’d likely have to start from the very bottom and the exams are hard if you want qualification