Accountancy: a career that adds up

Within a decade of leaving college, Jack had set up his own practice as an Accountant. From an early age, he’d known he wanted to work in an office, but it was a careers talk that really inspired him. Here he tells us about his journey – so far!

When I was young, my Dad worked in an office and wore a suit. I didn’t really know what he did, but I knew I liked the idea of a job like that!

By the end of Year 11, I still hadn’t really narrowed it down so decided to head on to Sixth Form College and study for A Levels. I chose subjects that I hoped would keep my options open: Business, Psychology and Economics. By this time, my older brother had gone on to University to study Business Management and I think I expected to follow in his footsteps. But just one careers talk changed that!

We had a careers fair in college when I was in Year 12 and one of the top ten Accountancy firms came to give a talk. They offered a ‘school or college leaver’ scheme where I could start working and study towards professional qualifications at the same time. Today, this would be an Accountancy Apprenticeship, but they hadn’t been written then! I thought this sounded really interesting; I had always enjoyed Maths (in fact, I had been able to take my GCSE a year early) so it seemed to click with me.

When it got to Year 13, while my friends were making their UCAS applications, I was researching all the accountancy firms within striking distance of home and applying to their school leaver schemes. Of course, the one I really wanted was with the firm I had spoken to at that careers fair – and I got it!

I know people think that accountancy sounds quite dull, but they were actually quite a cool firm to work for. As you would expect, they were serious and professional when required but a nice team and a good company to work for. We also had a few nice perks too, like always getting to take your birthday off!

My professional training started almost straight away. Because I had got a good grade in Maths, I was able to go straight in at the Level 3 AAT qualification. This is a modular course, with

days in the classroom and a final exam for each module. You cover specialist subjects, like VAT, Costing and Ethics for Accountants. I completed this in a year and then started the Level 4 AAT. Fortunately, this is modular too because the company merged with another one part-way through the year, but I could just pick up the module again when everything had settled down.

Within three years of getting my A Levels, I was a qualified Accountant and a licensed AAT practitioner. Of course, there are opportunities to continue training after Level 4 too. If I had wanted to become a Chartered Accountant, for example, I would have had to do degree-level studies, which could have taken up to a further five years. But, for me, I already had the idea of starting up on my own so I concentrated on getting as much experience as I possibly could.

My first company had let me go about 18 months after the merger, but I quickly found a job for a book-keeping company. Book-keeping is about the dayto-day transactions of a business, so still accountancy related, and it gave me a different but very relevant set of skills. After about a year there, I took some time out to go travelling and found a job as a Finance Manager when I returned. Still thinking about setting up my own business, this role gave me inside experience of how companies run, and my first experience of line-managing other people.

After about a year there, the idea of working for myself became really tempting. I liked the thought of being my own boss, of having the flexibility to travel if I wanted (even sit on a beach in Australia with my laptop if I wanted to!) and not having to work the usual 9 to 5 if it didn’t suit me. I started setting up Kiwi Accounting while I was still working as Finance Manager, but I quickly realised that I didn’t have time to work two jobs at once so took the plunge and jumped in. I haven’t regretted it for a moment! I get to work with all sorts of businesses, and I’m finding my varied experience often helps me understand their challenges and find practical solutions.

I don’t regret not going to University, but I do sometimes wonder what I would be doing now if my first employer hadn’t let me go. I expect I would be managing a department, rather than my own business! The school leaver scheme was amazing; there were a lot of applicants, so I realise how lucky I was to get it, but I think determination often shines through. I do wish that I had talked to more people around me about their experiences. I think I would still be where I am now, but I might have got here even quicker if I had listened to people who were further ahead in their careers.

Technically, anyone can call themselves an Accountant, without having relevant qualifications or be a member of a professional body. However, for the peace of mind of both customers and accountants themselves, the vast majority are qualified and hold a professional membership. In order to call yourself a Chartered or Certified Accountant, you must belong to a professional body.

We have listed on our website, makethefutureyours.com under ‘Careers’, more information about accountancy careers and the five professional bodies, which are the largest accountancy and finance membership organisations currently operating in the UK. They all monitor standards and promote professional development.

What skills do you need to be an accountant?

Jack clearly has a head for numbers, but he tells us that there are other important skills you’ll need to make a great accountant:

Attention to detail

– this is so important! I know many mistakes I made early on were ‘schoolboy errors’ where I was rushing or not concentrating. Fortunately, I have learnt from them and my attention to detail has really improved.

Logical

– things like collating accounts or filing tax returns have to follow a process so you often need to apply a methodical approach to your work.

Organised

– we always work to deadlines, where tasks are very time sensitive, so you need to be actively managing and prioritising your workload all the time.

Communication

– I think communication is perhaps the biggest ‘must have’. I always need to explain to clients what I need or what I am doing in terms they can understand, as well as to listen to what they need from me.