Careers

When navigating the transition from trainee to qualified accountant, there are a few things you can do to make it easier for yourself. Tanya Thomas explains how In the last few years, you were accepted into a training contract and have lived an extended life as a student while also working full-time. It has been busy as you balanced study with work AND a social life.  You are almost at the finishing line—the end is in sight. The big questions are: what is next and how will you achieve it? We talk to newly qualified accountants daily, and our conversations vary dramatically. Some are 100 percent certain about what their first role will be out of contract, others are still working it out, and there is a continuum of people in the middle. One thing is for sure: while you are completing your training contract, there are things that you can do to make your transition into life as a qualified accountant easier.  Step 1: Remain aware During your time in practice, it’s crucial to stay proactive and adaptable. Keep your senses sharp – ask questions and be curious.  Initially, you might be assigned to a specific industry group, but remember, this doesn’t have to be your niche for the entire contract. If you feel another client or industry group might suit you better, don’t hesitate to discuss it with your manager. They might be open to accommodating a change.  Remember: if you don’t ask, you won’t get. Step 2: Get to know your colleagues Try to maintain a balance between work, study and getting to know colleagues and your broader circle.  Many practices treat trainees to generous nights out. Make the most of these—go out, let your hair down, and find friends. Often, these will become lifelong friendships.  Step 3: Move your body Stay active during your training contract. Make time for exercise. This could be at the gym, a team sport, or yoga. Whatever you choose, own it and enjoy it. You need to be active to remain healthy and relieve stress. Step 4: Present your best self When you begin your job search after qualification, you will be asked to demonstrate:  what types of accounting roles you want. You may not know 100 percent which direction to take, but some initial ideas will make the world of difference as you commence your search. you know what types of industries interest you. It is important to be able to talk about your preferred industries, as each industry has its own nuances.  you can build rapport with managers and partners in an authentic and honest manner. They all started in the same position you are in now and should be able to understand/empathise with your journey. Ask questions, ask for advice, ask about their weekend, and listen to their answers. you have interests and passions outside of accountancy. Chatting about these passions in your interview will bring you and your CV to life.  your awareness of what is happening in the world. Subscribe to a variety of newspapers and read them daily. your evolution and growth. Your LinkedIn profile should not be static – it should reflect you. Make it professional and warm. Make sure the photo does you justice. A smile is always important. you’re always working on your CV. Keep a file of the work that you have been doing – both everyday tasks and special projects. When it comes time to complete your CV, you may find that it is hard to remember all the elements. By keeping a continuous record, you should not have problems completing your CV with relevant and interesting content. that you can upskill. The world is changing, and with the arrival of artificial intelligence and data analysis, required skills are changing. Make sure that you are not only aware of this, but that you are also enrolling in as many relevant courses as you can. There are lots of ways to prepare for that time when you finally qualify as a Chartered Accountant, but start your preparation while you are training and not the day of your final exam. I promise this preparation will be reflected in your first salary out of contract. Tanya Thomas is a Director at A+F Recruitment

Navigating post-contract options can be overwhelming. Bernie Duffy helps Chartered Accountants explore diverse paths within the finance sector, offering insights on market segments, role titles and staying in or moving from practice For many people, coming out of contract can be daunting, with most unsure of their potential options.  The specialisation for your career should depend on your interests and, ultimately, your long-term goals. Step 1: The market Before we start thinking about the types of roles you might want to take, you first need to step back and look at the wider context of the market.  At Barden, we use what we call “The Three Pillar Model” to simplify the market.  The market can be broken down into practice (accounting firms) and non-practice. If you enjoy practice, there are a lot of options to build a great career.  Non-practice can be broken down into two separate pillars: financial services (any company with a financial product or service) and industry (companies with a non-financial product, so everything from retail to manufacturing and tech). It's easier to move within a pillar than between them, and as you gain more post-qualified experience (with a salary reflective of that specialism), that difficulty increases. Step 2: Understanding role titles The second you start to read job specs and consider different roles, you will notice that companies call similar roles by different names.  Broadly speaking, qualified accountants moving to non-practice will see three different types of roles: financial accountant, financial analyst, and internal audit.  About 75 percent of people from practice will start in some form of financial accounting. Financial accounting is the historical side of accounting; accounting for things that have already happened – looking at month-end and year-end reporting.  These roles will vary depending on the company's organisational structure, usually with roles in larger companies being more set and defined and smaller companies having broader and more undefined roles.  Financial accounting can be a great first move to learn the foundations of the finance function, and can mean pivoting easily into any of the other roles later.  Approximately 10 percent of people will make a first move into a financial analyst position.  Financial analysis is the forward-looking side of accounting, which will include activities such as budgeting, forecasting and variance analysis, usually with the goal of becoming a finance business partner.  The final 15 percent is split between internal audit (around 7.5 percent) and other areas such as tax accounting, corporate finance, and system and project accounting.  Internal audit can be a great way to pivot audit experience into industry but is very different to external audit.  Internal audit roles vary from company to company. They can be operational or finance-focused and, in many cases, used as a stepping stone to a more commercial role in the company. Step 3: Staying in or moving from practice The practice pillar is also still an option and worth considering.  Staying in practice or within audit are good options if you are enjoying it or want to develop your skill set further.  A lot of people who have been trained in audit don’t consider other options within practice. Some of these may be worth considering, particularly if you are trying to pivot your career and skillset in a different way.  Other departments include corporate finance, advisory or consulting, management consulting or financial accounting advisory services, data analytics, or environment, social or governance, to name a few.  You should think of the career path you want to follow from the department you are considering and ensure it aligns with your long-term goals and will be of benefit to you spending time there. At the end of the day, it is all trial and error, and some moves will require stepping stones, so don’t worry if your next role isn’t your forever role.  Focus on taking steps in the right direction and getting as much learning and development as possible. Bernie Duffy ACA is a Senior Associate with Barden’s Accounting, Finance and Tax Talent Advisory & Recruitment Practice, and she supports Recently Qualified Accountants. Contact Bernie at bernie.duffy@barden.ie or via LinkedIn  

In the pursuit of sustainability, businesses must navigate the intersection of profit and societal well-being. Susan Rossney, Sustainability Officer at Chartered Accountants Ireland, unravels the profound impact Chartered Accountants wield in shaping a resilient future The word ‘sustainability’ means many things to many people, but there is a definition that the world agrees on. Set out in 1987 by the United Nations Brundtland Commission, sustainability is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”  For businesses, this means generating a profit while not having a negative impact on society and the environment.  For me, it means the capacity to endure. There are many ways that Chartered Accountants contribute to the world at large, and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals is one of the more important tasks for the future. Sustainability vs ESG There is some confusion between 'sustainability' and 'environment, social and governance (ESG)' that needs to be understood before any work can be done.  Sustainability is a principle;  ESG is a framework.  While sustainability is broad, ESG is more like a lens which allows investors to examine a business in terms of how the environment, society and governance will impact that business.  It also allows other stakeholders – like customers, for example – to examine a business’s impact on the environment and society and its governance.  UN Sustainable Development Goals  The Sustainable Development Goals started as eight goals by the United Nations for the world to achieve at the turn of the 21st century, called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). All UN member states committed to help achieve them by 2015.  The MDGs focused on poverty, hunger, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, diseases, environmental sustainability, and global partnership for development. In 2015, these goals were succeeded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are the goals that drive international sustainability policy today.  The SDGs are 17 Goals that form the framework and are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.  The 17 Goals are all interconnected, meaning that one goal can’t be achieved at the expense of another.  For example, economic growth can’t be achieved at the expense of clean water and sanitation. Who are the UN SDGs for? The UN SGDs are for governments, businesses and even individuals.  Ireland's progress against each SGD is measured using a set of United Nation and European Union agreed targets and indicators.  Businesses track their progress against the SGDs and report on them in their annual reports and/or in their sustainability reports.  Many professional associations, including Chartered Accountants Ireland, have embedded sustainability in their strategies.  UN SDGs and Chartered Accountants  The role of Chartered Accountants is changing, and accountants are now ideally placed to help companies achieve their own sustainable goals.  Chartered Accountants act in the public interest and are committed to protecting long-term value for organisations and society. This contributes to the sustainable advancement of today’s global society.  As Sustainability Consultant and CEO, Karen Sugrue Hennessy has commented, finance stands as a pivotal enabler in the acceleration of climate action and CFOs are stepping into a critical leadership role to achieve both corporate and national climate commitments.  And they are well-placed to do so: accountants work in practices and businesses of all sizes, and in a wide variety of roles throughout the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Many take an active role in sustainability reporting, but even more are business owners, financial service providers and entrepreneurs. All are trusted advisors, who recognise risks and opportunities and act on them. Chartered Accountants have a crucial role to play in helping businesses become more sustainable, not only by helping them develop processes that tackle sustainability issues, but also by driving a change in mindset and culture through an organisation.  Good data collection, for example, is fundamental to achieving the UN SDGs, and accountants are central to the design of data collection protocols, and their use throughout organisations.  Chartered Accountants’ training equips them with the skills, professional scepticism and a rigor in critical decision making. As trusted advisors, they have the potential to influence and encourage businesses to make sustainability-led choices. They can advise on procurement policies and procedures that focus on sustainability as much as cost control.   Chartered sustainability Sustainability is the guiding principle of Strategy24, the vision for Chartered Accountants Ireland as a growing, evolving, modern organisation.  Our vision is to create a sustainable business model, supporting our members and profession in creating a sustainable society in this time of global uncertainty.  Our core values are underpinned by the principle ‘For Tomorrow, For Good’.  You can find out more in our Sustainability Centre.

Navigating the notorious "Where do you see your career in five years?" question in an interview demands strategic thinking. Denis Galvin, Partner at Barden, shares his top tips for crafting a compelling answer to turn this common interview hurdle into an opportunity to showcase your strategic vision and ambition for career success Beyond the answer to your biggest personal weakness, failing to give a good answer to the common interview question, “Where do you see your career in five years?” is the next surefire way to ruin a great interview.  We all know it’s a common question during interviews, so why aren’t we better at answering it? When you’ve interviewed as many people as I have, the answer to this question can come out as bland, vague and usually accompanied by a few ‘ahhs’, ‘umms’ and false starts, giving the impression you have not given a great deal of thought to your ambitions but, instead, came up with an answer you think I would want to hear.  However, as a recruiter, it leads me to wonder: if this is how you go about planning your career, is this how you would go about running a department? Here are three ways you can prepare yourself to answer this age-old interview question and get it right. 1. Tailor it to the role you’re interviewing for: imagine a ‘future you’ The fact is, not many of us have clear career plans. We might have an idea of an end goal, but rigorous, self-directed career planning, although advised, is rarely done. Most of us rely on the organisation we work for to define this for us.  If you don’t have a clear ambition, all you need to do is imagine a ‘future you’ within the context of the role you are interviewing for.  What has been said about career progression within this new organisation or the people you’d be reporting to? Is there a typical career path already defined you could use to shape your answer? If it’s a flat organisation with not much room for upward progression, what potential lateral moves could you make? Is there a particular area you don’t have experience in and would like to develop skills in? Possible answer: “You’ve told me quite a lot about your career pathways. What is important for me is that I can build a toolkit of skills to enhance my overall performance as a finance manager. Therefore, in five years, I like to think that I would have proven my value and received the opportunity to move into a leadership role in commercial finance, an area in which I currently have limited exposure.” 2. Take control: set your own milestones that speak to the needs of the business Think about the role you’re interviewing for. Does it entail a two-, three- or five-year plan? Will long-term planning be a part of the role? If it is, then in five years, you will have delivered the objectives contained in the business plan of the organisation for which you are interviewing.  If they are talking about long-term change or business transformation, how does the role in question feed into these larger programmes, and how can you use this information to visualise the ‘future you’? Possible answer: “This role clearly has an important mandate, which is to support the delivery and adoption of the three transformation initiatives you have spoken about, which you anticipate will take four to five years. I would like to think that, nearing the end of this period, with regular communication with my superiors, I would be able to define my next career move, depending on the strategic priorities or needs of the business.” 3. Above all, be clear, concise and confident Clarity and precision of thought are essential when answering any interview question.  Someone who shows a lack of ambition at an interview is unlikely to be successful. Even if you are ambitious, but you fluff this up, you will appear as though you have not given your career enough thought, which may raise serious (if unjustified) questions over your capacity as a leader.  However you decide to approach this question, ensure you give it some serious preparation.  If it’s a question that makes you feel uncomfortable, practise until it feels natural.  Whether you record yourself, get your partner or friend to ask you the question, or write it out and learn it, become comfortable with your answer and how you want to say it.

Leo Norris, Head of Education Delivery at Chartered Accountants Ireland, shares his eight tips to help students get the most from the Institute’s fully online education offering. We’ve come a long way in our first full year of online Chartered education delivery and both the education team and our students we’ve learned a great deal. There are, however, tips that can help you get the most from your online education experience. Many of these are based on best practice in online education but also from observing the behaviours of successful students last year. Take these on board and discuss them with colleagues and fellow students. 1. Be proactive and committed So, what have we learned from the last 12 months? To be successful in online education, students must take a proactive, committed approach. The student is responsible for their studies and overall time management. The Learning Hub will record your activity on the platform to ensure no-one falls behind, and you will receive email reminders to complete a session – but it is ultimately up to you to manage your progress. Remember, this is your learning journey to career success. Own it! 2. Watch the webinars Second, you should make the most of live webinars. They are your chance to connect directly with the Institute’s team of lecturers. These webinars are available to explain the practical application of a teaching concept and demonstrate how that topic might appear in an exam. Webinars are not there to explain basic concepts – that is done in the recorded lectures. Your attendance at live webinars will be recorded from November and will cover both your attendance and engagement. These records will be passed to the larger training firms, which are eager to monitor their students’ involvement.  3. Practice good time management Give yourself enough time to undertake the self-study sessions before live webinars. The pre-read material is short (e.g. a series of ten-minute lecture videos). Much of the content is “gated”, so some material will need to be viewed in sequence. For example, Management Accounting Session 1 must be completed before starting Management Accounting Session 2. It also means that students must open and engage with the preparatory materials to have access to live webinars. 4. Take care of yourself One of the most important things we’ve learned from the past 12 months is the importance of looking after ourselves as we slowly emerge from confinement to something approaching normality. Students are balancing work with professional education and exam preparation at home, so schedule time to relax and recharge. Keep in contact with friends, take up a hobby, and make the most of your professional network.  5. Minimise distractions The flexibility of online education is great, but it also has some pitfalls. Do your best to minimise distractions. That could include disabling notifications on your phone or studying during typically quiet hours in your household. Time management will be a crucial element of success, so set short sprint targets.  6. Treat yourself Understand what motivates you and plan a reward for overcoming a particular study milestone. That way, you will stay energised and focused. And make them short-term goals!  7. Embrace short bursts of studying Work in short bursts and give yourself maximum windows of study time, not minimum, in order to be most focused, energised and productive. So tell yourself “I’m going to spend no more than 45 minutes attempting two questions in Session XXX”. This is useful as it more closely replicates the exam deadline experience. 8. Online education is real education Finally, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that online education isn’t the real thing. It is as real as it gets, with real exams to prove it. Chartered Accountants Ireland will reach out regularly with surveys to hear what’s working for you, both at a subject level and across the broader programme. Please take the time to respond, as your feedback will help us improve our teaching, education delivery, and course material throughout the academic year. And, if you need to, contacting us couldn’t be easier. Visit the ‘Contact Us’ page on the student section of the Institute’s website. But first, please read the relevant Student FAQs as they may have the answer to your question. 

Not achieving your desired exam results isn’t the end. Bernie Duffy, Senior Associate at Barden, explores your employment options, opportunities and interview prospects after you have had to repeat an FAE exam There are two things to remember if you did not get the FAE exam results you were hoping for:  Even though it may seem like it, this is not the end of the world, and there are plenty of options; and  Many highly intelligent and successful people have found themselves in the same situation.  Working with Barden and having the chance to collaborate with some of the most successful accounting professionals in Ireland, I know of at least five CFOs of incredible companies who did not pass their FAEs on their initial attempt, and some of them attribute not passing as pivotal moments in their career.   Not passing your exams is a cloud, for sure, but with many silver linings. Figuring out your employment options After the results have sunk in and you have had time to chat with family and friends, the first step to take is to speak with your employer.  Arrange to have an initial chat with your manager or partner. Make sure it is someone who has worked with you and with whom you have a good rapport – they are likely the person who will support you when putting a case forward to HR to repeat the exam.  Ask if your employer is willing to support you in resitting the exam, both financially and with study leave or time off in lieu. In the best-case scenario, they would be supportive of this. If, however, staying with your current employer isn’t an option, you could use this time off to focus on preparing for the repeat exam.  Understandably, this might not be a financially viable option for everyone, but if you are in a position to put your head down, focus on passing the repeat and look for a role once you have completed the exam, this can take some pressure off. If this is feasible, the January exam sitting could be the most achievable.  If taking time out is not an option, there will be plenty of companies that hire at this level and are happy to support you on this journey.  We would suggest looking at “finalist” level accounting roles, which are generally tailored towards people close to qualification but not yet fully qualified. In most cases, companies will offer exam support and salary increases or even promotions once you have passed the exam. Taking a break You can also use this as a defining time in your career to consider your long-term options and career goals. This will be different for every individual; some people will be more comfortable going into another practice firm, and others will use this opportunity to pivot their career towards industry.  Whether it’s a move to a smaller practice where you can gain accounts preparation experience or a move into a finalist accountant role in industry, you can use the situation to develop your skillset and experience further, providing you with more employment opportunities in the future. Prepping for the repeat Take some time to reassess your plan for success in the repeat exam. There may have been other personal factors contributing to the exam result, but be honest with yourself: do you feel you could have done more?  As noted by Edel Walsh, focus on creating a realistic study plan and exam techniques, timings on questions, organising your notes and folders, speaking to friends or colleagues for advice or considering signing up for some additional revision courses as a refresher.  It may also be worth considering if you have selected the right elective or if you could potentially be more interested in another one. Approaching a repeat during an interview A question we are frequently asked is how to approach the question about not passing an exam in an interview and what employers’ opinions on it are.  We would always advise focusing on the positives from the situation and showcasing what you have learned from the experience and your plan to ensure success going forward.  Answers such as, “It was the first exam I had ever failed and was actually a very important learning opportunity for me. I think I am more resolved and resilient as a result” might be useful. Most employers realise that failure is inevitably a part of life, and it is how you deal with and overcome it that counts. No matter your circumstances, there are plenty of options available to you. Do not let one exam define you. Instead, use it as a motivation to become even more driven and successful.  Remember, you learn more from failure than success.