[ilovecatsforlife]

As the title says, after studying for all those long hours to get the ACA, where would you go from there? When people say 'industry', could someone give me examples of the sorts of roles you could go into. I definitely wouldn't want to spend the early years of my career after qualifying as an auditer, but I'd understand if that's the way it works?

Also, I'd only be able to get into PwC, which I'd say I'd have a fair shot at; because my GCSEs don't fit the other big4 requirements, so if I became qualified from a smaller regional firm, would it damage my chances of moving into industry upon qualifying?


Many thanks.

[monk_keys]

http://talkrec.co.uk/2010/12/10/2011...a-accountants/

[xfirekittyx]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
As the title says, after studying for all those long hours to get the ACA, where would you go from there? When people say 'industry', could someone give me examples of the sorts of roles you could go into. I definitely wouldn't want to spend the early years of my career after qualifying as an auditer, but I'd understand if that's the way it works?

Also, I'd only be able to get into PwC, which I'd say I'd have a fair shot at; because my GCSEs don't fit the other big4 requirements, so if I became qualified from a smaller regional firm, would it damage my chances of moving into industry upon qualifying?


Many thanks.

Don't worry there is a lot more to industry then auditing! However, from what I've gathered you can go into either industry or practice with ACA qualifications. I'm not sure about specific roles (I don't know anything about accounting other then what I've learnt from my boyfriend) He's doing a different board, ACCA but he changed firms and at his new firm the trainees on the bottom rung do ACA and he's in one of the biggest practice firms in oxford.

Auditing is only one area of accountancy so having an ACA qualification would not mean you were limited to auditing, however you may have to do a few audits as part of training (although until you're competent you won't be allowed to do it by yourself). My advice would be to look for a trainee role, in a firm/area you want to go into as they will generally pay for training costs as long as you stay with them for x amount of years and they will generally decide what board you study on so you won't have to worry about that.

As for the big 4, someone who was training with my boyfriend in the old firm got like the highest score in the country in her exams that year and got scouted, his old firm was really very small and quite bad so it is possible to get there in unconventional ways. You don't have to start there to end up there if your GCSE'S aren't good. But if you don't work for the big 4 it doesn't mean you won't get a good salary or a rewarding and challenging job somewhere else.

[M1011]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
As the title says, after studying for all those long hours to get the ACA, where would you go from there? When people say 'industry', could someone give me examples of the sorts of roles you could go into. I definitely wouldn't want to spend the early years of my career after qualifying as an auditer, but I'd understand if that's the way it works?

Also, I'd only be able to get into PwC, which I'd say I'd have a fair shot at; because my GCSEs don't fit the other big4 requirements, so if I became qualified from a smaller regional firm, would it damage my chances of moving into industry upon qualifying?

Many thanks.

I take it you're looking to join in audit then move out after 3 years once qualified? That's a pretty well established route which lots of people follow (myself included hopefully). That link above is really good at showing the variety of places new ACAs can go to. That said, don't feel to negative about audit. I've heard from others that while it can start out with a lot of due diligence stuff (dull), by your third year it's more about managing people and controlling the projects etcetera. Still not going to be the most thrilling service line by any means, but it sounds like it has potential to be engaging and interesting at times.

As for the second part, obviously having a big 4 on your cv has advantages in terms of prestige. However there are plenty of good firms outside of the big 4 (think Grant Thornton for example, there's a top 50 list somewhere on accountancyage.com) which are definitely worth investigating. If you do end up somewhere smaller you'll lose some of the impact of the brand name, but you'll have sat all the same exams and the qualification you have will be the exact same. So there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to make a move in to any of the fields mentioned in the first link.

Good luck!

[tupac1111]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
As the title says, after studying for all those long hours to get the ACA, where would you go from there? When people say 'industry', could someone give me examples of the sorts of roles you could go into. I definitely wouldn't want to spend the early years of my career after qualifying as an auditer, but I'd understand if that's the way it works?

Also, I'd only be able to get into PwC, which I'd say I'd have a fair shot at; because my GCSEs don't fit the other big4 requirements, so if I became qualified from a smaller regional firm, would it damage my chances of moving into industry upon qualifying?


Many thanks.

I am sure you can apply to the other big 4 firms even if you don't meet the gcse requirements as most of the big 4 allows you to explain why you couldn't meet the requirements. Do you have any extenuating circumstances in relation to your gcse's?

[ilovecatsforlife]

(Original post by tupac1111)
I am sure you can apply to the other big 4 firms even if you don't meet the gcse requirements as most of the big 4 allows you to explain why you couldn't meet the requirements. Do you have any extenuating circumstances in relation to your gcse's?

Not really, I think Ernst and Young said they would accept resits, so I could just resit English and Maths by the 3 year. I was only entered for foundation in Maths, and as for English, I wasn't very focussed back than. So only got C's in both. It seems like the Big4 are nice to have on a CV, but it isn't the most important thing. I think the ACA in itself is seen as respectable. I can't imagine only 4,000 accountants each year from the big4 find good jobs in industry.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

[ilovecatsforlife]

Also, how common is it to get the ACA and move to a large firm's finance department? I'm not sure if that's classed as 'internal audit'?

[M1011]

(Original post by ilovecatsforlife)
Also, how common is it to get the ACA and move to a large firm's finance department? I'm not sure if that's classed as 'internal audit'?

That's pretty much what people tend to mean when they say 'move to industry'. Doesn't have to involve internal audit, although that is one area that you could apply to if you decided you enjoy audit but want to move for more money.