Three Reasons why a Move into Practice can Benefit your

If you are currently battling with the decision of whether a move into practice accountancy is the right choice for you then read on! As a Finance & Accounting recruiter, I am often asked what the key advantages are of working in an Accountancy practice are and how it can make a positive impact on your accountancy career. In this blog, I outline the three main benefits to help you make your decision.

1. Structured career path

Within accountancy practices, most finance and accounting professionals have greater opportunities to progress and develop their skills at a faster pace in comparison to other industries.

This is due to a number of reasons:

For accountancy trainees and graduates, practice firms provide a review after one year of service, after which they will usually promote you to assistant level if your review is positive. After this, to get promoted to the next level of seniority, the average review time is every 2 years all the way up to Senior Manager Accountant level.

Another advantage of working in an Accountancy Practice is that the colleagues around you are all professionals in accounting, so there is great opportunity to gain exposureto a variety of specialisms, such as Tax, Accounts and Audit, as a way of increasing your knowledge in these areas and gaining guidance as a result.

Furthermore, mid-tier to Top 100 practices are likely to provide study support for either AAT, ACCA or ACA qualifications which aims to push finance professionals to qualify within 3 years. In industry, companies may provide also study support, but it’s usually down to the individual employee as to how quickly they sit the exams.

2. Different divisions providing different opportunities

Working in the external accounts team provides the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients, which could involve travelling to a number of different offices and seeing different accountancy cultures.

If you decide to work your way through the ranks and qualify within an accountancy practice, this could provide you with the insight you need if you later decide to move into a role within Industry. Plus, you will come across as more credible to the industries you have been providing services to, as you will already be familiar with the processes and procedures.

Working within outsourced accounts gives you similar opportunities to external accounts, however, you are likely to be dealing with a smaller portfolio of clients. This means you will have a greater chance with each client to investigate the more commercial aspects of finance instead of just completing the numbers.

3. A respected revenue generating status

If you work in a finance team within any industry you will only be able to impact finances by saving the firm money, however, when working in an Accountancy firm, your time and skills are the firm’s product. Quite simply; the better you are, the higher your charge price.

Being a member of a revenue-generating team, which strives to increase its range of accounting skills, can be a real motivator. This makes exposure to new areas of accounts much easier and effective compared to progression within an industry based role.

In conclusion, if you are looking for an accountancy role in which fast progression and lots of career development is your main objective then working in an accountancy practice may be the right career path for you.

To find out more about practice and the opportunities available to you, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us today.