Career Change: From Finance/Accounting to...?

richdeniro

Hi All,

I was just looking for some advice in moving away from finance/accountancy into another field.

I have been in finance for around 7 years now and am 33 years of age. I fell into it by chance applying for a internal finance/admin role at a foreign countries Embassy based in London. I enjoyed what I did there but was made redundant due to cuts in 2012.

After being made redundant I took up the ACCA and found employment as a Accounts Assistant in a private sector organisation and have been there for two years but recently have really started to dislike my job. I just don't find accountancy comes naturally to me. I am fine with the basics like Sage, Prepayments, expenses, debits/credits, etc but once you get beyond that into more advanced accountancy I am at a complete loss.

I passed the first three knowledge exams of the ACCA but soon gave up after I failed some of the skills papers. I found that my heart just wasn't in it and I didn't find it at all interesting and so find it almost impossible to study for it.

I have been plodding along in my job for the past two years but I know that unless I find a new career I will just stay in Accounts Assistant jobs until retirement with no real chance of progression or pay increases.

I was just wondering if anyone here has made the leap from Finance into another field in order to get some recommendations of the types of jobs I could look for.

I know I have a lot of transferable skills - When I started in my first finance job at the Embassy I quickly progressed from 26k to a 42k salary in the space of 4 years. My role had a lot of operations and admin to it so wasn't solely finance. I have fairly good Excel skills up to Pivot Table/Vlookup level and find picking up new systems fairly easy.

TrickyDicky101

If you live in London and thus need to maintain a decent wage (unless you have a partner to fall back on?) you are going to struggle.

I think you need to spend some time deciding what it is you want to do instead so you can focus on a positive goal rather than a need to not be an accountant.

Unfortunately, the reality is that the grass often looks greener the other side of the fence no matter what job/career you are in.

I was desperate to leave accountancy for at least 13 years after I started but I always hit a brick wall in deciding what I wanted to do instead (and that I could afford to pursue). I'm fortunate in that I like my job now and seniority certainly has its perks.

InsideInsurance

Know a few Project/ Programme Managers that started their careers in accountancy, though all were fully qualified accountants.

Really, short of anything that requires vocational qualifications then you could go to whatever you want assuming your realistic about what level you will enter at. As above though, ensure you dont just end up in another job which you dont like.

asajj

I'd suggest to look at something like Prince qualification so you could perhaps look at project management roles where you can also make use of admin and organisational skills.

To be fair, I'm way more experienced and qualified than what you are describing and my earnings are nowhere near yours I'm not in London though but just don't forget salary levels would not remain the same.

Someone I know has moved to London to work in project management as she wanted to be out of accountancy and never looked back. I sometimes envy her but I'm not as personable as her or confident(and i'm older) so not sure if I can do it.

richdeniro

Can I make the move into Payroll?

What kind of qualifications would I need for that?