Industry

GoWhest · 26-03-2014 11:30pm #1

I trained in a smallish size practice (about sixty people). I loved the banter in the office, the variety of work and the client interaction. When my contract was up I moved to one of the big 4. Although I can't fault the company, I miss the variety and client interaction. I seem to be doing the same thing day in, day out. Their isn't the same banter in the office either. I was considering the move to industry and went for an interview. The person was explaining the job to me, and to be honest it sounded painfully boring! Their were only two others in the finance office so I don't see much banter their either! The job involves day to day book keeping, bank recs, and preparation of weekly, monthly and annual accounts and a few other things. The job was in the financial services sector, which is a sector I've never had much interest in, but it got me thinking is every industry role like this? am I more suited to a smaller practice? Their are certain business that I am very interested in, if I hadn't pursued the accountancy route, I'd have gone into hotel management or aviation management. Would accounting jobs in these sectors be more interesting?

jjjd · 27-03-2014 3:58am

I would say if you enjoyed working in a small practice you should consider staying there. You could get your auditing certificate, do tax exams, work your way to partner level, even set out on your own, plenty of opportunities. Most people who make the move to industry do so as they can't stand working in practice any longer. Once you make the move to industry it can be extremely difficult to make the move back to practice, particularly the longer you leave it. Also working in industry tends to be more procedural and administrative in nature often. You may have little involvement or say in the running of the company outside of the finance function. You may have little exposure of meeting customers and suppliers, etc. In practice you would be expected to use professional judgement in your work, be a fee earner for the firm, attract new clients etc, meet clients on a regular basis so you would be expected to be involved more in the running of the practice as a business concern.

Prettyblack · 27-03-2014 3:13pm

Depends what kind of industry company you go to. A large multi national or IFSC company would have big finance teams and therefore plenty of "banter".

smcgiff · 29-03-2014 9:52am

Interesting OP and good responses so far.

To add, it's not unusual to start off fairly low in industry, but you can work your way from there and the options are pretty much limitless.

The complaint you make about big 4 is also not unusual, but people leverage their big 4 experience into excellent careers in industry.

But to echo what has been said above. Working in a smallish (wouldn't describe 60 people as exactly tiny) practice can be great.

Prettyblack · 31-03-2014 10:27am

60 people in a practice? That's pretty decent. Small practice would be like, 4 - 8 people in an office (of which there are many).

GR3YFOXXX · 02-04-2014 11:52am

It is smallish though by Dublin standards given that KPMG/PwC are circa 1,200-1,500

Prettyblack · 07-04-2014 2:31pm

Well there's only 4 of them!

Industry

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