Considering an accounting career - lack of entry level roles

Pennywise

casterlyrock wrote: »

Do accounting firms lets completely inexperienced people shadow them to gain experience?

Yes, but at minimum wage, because you're competing against school/college leavers for those same minimum wage (or less) training places. You can't really expect a comparable wage to what you're doing now when you're basically entry level who will need a lot of hands-on training to get you to even starting to be able to earn your keep. On the job training is time consuming and expensive for the firm, so you're not going to get a decent salary until you start to become self-sufficient. You're looking at a year or two before being able to work on your own with minimal supervision - it's not as if you'll be doing it after a week or two like a lot of on-the-job training.

martinsurrey

as all above,

If you're not going the whole 9 yards and looking at a place on an accountancy firms training program which is 3 years with a degree to ACA or 5 years without for AAT+ACA (which are stupidly competitive for places), your best bet is looking below accounts assistant roles, at support function roles in accounts payable/receivable, payroll or others of the like.

Many of these might offer AAT study support and after a few years you can move to accounts assistant, from my desk I can see the last person who used that route.

Yes it is a competitive field, but working your way up is not only possible, but encouraged.

Pennywise

Polarbeary wrote: »

Isn't accountancy one of the many professional roles that could be automated in the not too distant future?

Not in my lifetime. Garbage in=garbage out. Just like that woman on Dragon's Den who hadn't a clue about numbers and told a load of rubbish re her margins etc - when challenged, she just said that was what her Sage reports showed!

Low level data entry can of course be automated and that's been happening for 20 years and continuing to develop rapidly. But that's just data entry, barely regarded as book-keeping and absolutely nothing like "accountancy" with is a completely different discipline to book-keeping/data entry, which, yes, is all about interpretation, planning, etc., skills which are personal and not automat-able.

Polarbeary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941 this is pretty fascinating and suggests what jobs could be automated....apparently 35% of UK jobs will be in the next 20 years.

I don't want to say that anybody's profession or job will be automated but one of the reasons I moved from a PA role to a healthcare professional role (currently studying) is that I can see a future where secretarial roles are much diminished, the above website suggests a 66% chance of automation. Obviously that isn't definite at all but with jobs being outsourced and fewer secretarial jobs around I don't think there will be plentiful employment in the future.

somethingcorporate

Polarbeary wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941 this is pretty fascinating and suggests what jobs could be automated....apparently 35% of UK jobs will be in the next 20 years.

I don't want to say that anybody's profession or job will be automated but one of the reasons I moved from a PA role to a healthcare professional role (currently studying) is that I can see a future where secretarial roles are much diminished, the above website suggests a 66% chance of automation. Obviously that isn't definite at all but with jobs being outsourced and fewer secretarial jobs around I don't think there will be plentiful employment in the future.

That link is rubbish. It says there is a 95% chance of a chartered accountant being automated but a 7% chance that a financial manager would. Very similar, if not identical skill set. I think as per the above posts the 95% is assuming the number crunching can be off-shored and automated and the low numbers on the financial management element is the interpretation and use of those numbers.

asajj

Polarbeary wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34066941 this is pretty fascinating and suggests what jobs could be automated....apparently 35% of UK jobs will be in the next 20 years.

I don't want to say that anybody's profession or job will be automated but one of the reasons I moved from a PA role to a healthcare professional role (currently studying) is that I can see a future where secretarial roles are much diminished, the above website suggests a 66% chance of automation. Obviously that isn't definite at all but with jobs being outsourced and fewer secretarial jobs around I don't think there will be plentiful employment in the future.

Some jobs evolve - accountancy and finance roles are much more than simple data entry , journal postings. However higher level jobs are not easy to automate due to various reasons. Yes certain amount of them could be automated but somewhere else in the business, there will be a need for an accountant/finance manager to liaise with customers.

Carl31

'Accounts assistant' isn't really an entry role in my opinion, that's more likely for someone who's got some finance experience already

A straight up accounts payable/receivable role will be a start. It will be almost data entry, but give you an appreciation for how the sub ledger works

Are you sure accountancy is for you? How do you know with no experience? To get to the top roles takes a lot of wading through monotonous work. It's worth it in the end but manyou give up. The professional quals require lots of dedication too, especially if you self study

robatwork

somethingcorporate wrote: »

That link is rubbish.

Couldn't agree more. The BBC do an OK job reporting news. But predicting the future - they are lousy. Tomorrow's World which I grew up with was pure science fiction, but was presented as things we would see in our lifetime. Mostly robots doing secretarial jobs (sounds familiar) and flying cars and bikes.

So no, accountancy isn't a dead-end career with no future.