We all know that people who have made the effort to get professionally qualified in accountancy are highly talented people with huge potential.
Despite this a huge number of them quickly hit the career glass ceiling and never realise anything like their personal and earning potential.
Having worked in accountancy for over 25 years and coached many clients within the accounting profession, there seems to be a number of reasons why they hit the glass ceiling.
Reason 1: They Hide Behind Their Computer
I don’t mean this literally. The essence of what I am saying is that they spend all of their time manipulating data and number crunching rather than getting to know about and supporting the business.
Reason 2: They Can’t Manage Others
Most accountants I worked with were great at getting things done. They have the ability to get through volumes of work. On the other hand a lot less of them excel when it comes to managing others. Too often this seems to go on to the too difficult pile.
Reason 3: They Can’t Present
Technical content is always difficult to get across in an engaging way. Rather than trying to think creatively about how to overcome this they often just present more detail or use more jargon.
Reason 4: They Underestimate What They Have To Offer
Accountancy exams are extremely broad in scope these days. They are in my view equivalent to and possibly more rigorous than an MBA. Rather than letting people know what they can offer they are often too narrow in focus when it comes to selling themselves.
Reason 5: They Think Soft Skills Are Optional
32 years ago when I started out in accountancy you could get by even if you had pretty poor soft or interpersonal skills. These days the role has changed so much that these soft skills are really what gets you to the more senior levels in accountancy.
The Bottom Line: While many accountants get stuck in their career, it is often small changes in the way they operate and sell themselves that helps them to once again get clmbing the career ladder.
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants to achieve the more career success. He invites you to sign up for his free audio masterclass
