Career in accountancy...?

emcor

I will appreciate your insights...

I am a 36yr old quantity surveyor. I have good experience in construction project management and subsequently been involved with a small telecoms company for 3 yrs as a freelance project manager where I was responsible for capital projects from feasability. I have good experiance in budgeting and business planning from this role and also in securing grant funding and EIS funding. I became attracted to accountancy and had considered CIMA. I left this job last year for another which did not work out and have subsequently become unemployed recently. I am based in the west of Ireland.

Some issues I would love your thoughts on are:

I have discounted CIMA as while it appeals to me a lot; employment options seem limited in the west where I would like to stay due to family commitment - is this a naive assumption ?

I have looked at ACA and this appeals to me. I wondered if there is anywhere online to get a deeper understanding of the syllabus for the exams ? In terms of hard skills there seems little difference between this and ACCA - is this a fair statement ?

A young qualified accountant I spoke to about the training contract route has emphasized that his experience is that it is a very long hours profession with ability rewarded with extra work (hours);he is currently a senior in a big-10 and works 9-8PM most days he says. What is a typical work week in practice ? Assuming a reasonable level of ability and experience what is a salary expectation in the west of Ireland for qualified accountant in practice outside of Big-10

Personality wise I have been described as (summary from psychometric assessment) an independent thinker, forceful & direct self starter, goal orientated, energetic, ambitious, enjoys challenging situations. I identify with this description. I also have excellent planning, analytical problem solving and strategic thinking skills which I feel would be a good asset in an accountancy career. I have been told I have great people and communication skills; though I am also a serious and reserved person. I struggle with monotonous detail and this is a concern for me. The traditional view of accountant as 'bean-counter' would not work for me as it would not have enough responsibility and variety and I would like your views on the personality described above for a career in accountancy practice.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Prettyblack

emcor wrote: »

I have looked at ACA and this appeals to me. I wondered if there is anywhere online to get a deeper understanding of the syllabus for the exams ? In terms of hard skills there seems little difference between this and ACCA - is this a fair statement ?

A young qualified accountant I spoke to about the training contract route has emphasized that his experience is that it is a very long hours profession

With your background you'd be better off training in business rather than in practice under a training contract - business training tends to be more based around normal office hours (I would know it, I'm an Elevation student and its much more flexible than the contract way of doing it), but I suppose it depends where you end up getting a position.

You could contact ACA about the syllabus or look on their website, there's bound to be more details there.

emcor

thanks Pretty black - will do

womandriver

They are not necessarily typical of hours outside of Dublin. I'm a senior in a large practice and I left the office this eve about 6.15pm and there were very few people around at that stage. This would be fairly typical for our office.

Of course there have been times I've worked much later but it's not the norm on a day to day basis. Generally here the juniors tend to be out the door at half 5 and the seniors may be there a bit later but not much past 6.30.

Maybe that's just our office but just giving you a different point of view.

emcor

thanks Driver - appreciate it. Always felt if you are getting the work done to a standard and efficiently no need for the huge hours especially with young family - exceptions allowed of course for deadline commitments.

Prettyblack

emcor wrote: »

thanks Driver - appreciate it. Always felt if you are getting the work done to a standard and efficiently no need for the huge hours especially with young family - exceptions allowed of course for deadline commitments.

Month end / quarter end will always have a bit of that, but yes I agree with you too!

bbari

Based on your previous education, you could get some exemption too. I had IT degree and I got exemption for one of the ACCA exams. You could apply for the exemption with both of ACCA & ACA and see where do you get more/any exemption. ACCA website lists all the course details.

Zoey22

Hi emcor, I previously worked as QS for nine years and after being out of work for a while I started sitting Acca exams. there is no requirement when starting to be working, so I tried to get a few exams done while job hunting. I didn't get any exemptions as my degree is construction economics so have to do all 14 exams. a year ago I got a role in a bank and am continuing on with the exams now and my employer will sign off on my experience requirement. it wasn't easy for me to change careers but needs must!!!! Hope it works out for you. I decided to avoid audit/ practice where possible as I have young family also.

emcor

thanks Zoey - interviewing for a trainee contract this week with a big-10 so see how this goes

Immy

I trained in small practice and never worked overtime.

emcor

Just this evening offered a training contract with Grant Thornton ACA - delighted and thanks for all of you inputs guys. Now the real work begins ...

bbari

emcor wrote: »

Just this evening offered a training contract with Grant Thornton ACA - delighted and thanks for all of you inputs guys. Now the real work begins ...

Best Wishes

Burgman

You are fortunate to have been selected by Grant Thornton - they have high standards and your selection reflects your obvious ability, drive and ambition. (I don't work there.) I am aware that they take training seriously and give lots of support to people to help them through the exams. However, from your start date onwards, it is up to you. Good luck.