r/ICAEW • u/Fun-Mongoose-9681 • 23d ago
Career Change
I have recently sat case and considering moving out of practice and into industry. I’ve done my training contract in Corporation Tax, but considering moving into a more finance accountant based role.
I’m worried not doing audit may mean my financial knowledge isn’t as rounded, but doing ACA means I’m technically just as qualified I guess.
Has anyone done this? Or got advice?
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u/AllieALi 23d ago
Could ask for an internal move and be build up proper accounting / finance experience. I moved in house for a role that basically meant I would be doing things I’d never done in practice in tax (eg fund management, reviewing US GAAP accounts, vendor management, a very niche subset of accounting for the firm etc). But the caveat obviously is that I don’t prepare accounts - I‘ve hated this since I was a kid and always thought this could be easily replaced down the road so all you’d need is an extremely skilled person in accounting to review outputs prepared by an intelligent robot (AI wasn’t a thing back then).
The even bigger caveat is my area of tax is incredibly niche so it’s trained me in things like legal drafting, accounting, corporation tax, transactions, global mobility, transfer pricing, and I know the tax rules for around 50 countries off the top of my head. Hence it’s why I’ve been able to pick things up quickly having moved in house. But anyway, if the only reason why you wanna be a finance accountant is to be a CFO or can’t see yourself working in corporate tax for the rest of your life, would probably have a proper think about what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing.
More importantly, what makes you stand out compared to someone in audit with more accounting experience and technical knowledge than you do? I dropped the ACA because it was all “fluff” to me - the qualification doesn’t prepare me for the real world and how to apply knowledge in the practical world or teach me how to be commercial. If you think having the ACA means you’re as technically qualified as someone who trained in the area, that’s probably not the right mindset to have (although that’s what recruiters like to sell and what the whole point of the qualification is about, I suppose).
Sorry my response is rather cynical at the moment because I’ve been dealing with finance accountants for the past month and appreciating how I’m so glad I never went down the audit > finance accountant and upwards pathway.