Career Success For Accountants

What Should Be In Your Career Plan

Most accountants invest a lot of time, energy and effort getting their professional accounting qualification.

As they struggle through the exams they understand that they are making a long term investment in their future.

I recently did some research into what it takes to reach a senior level role in accountancy. It revealed among other things that getting to a more senior level was becoming more challenging.

Some people have asked me whether I had a written career plan. The honest answer is no. At the same time I had a clear idea that I wanted to go as far as I could.

So whether you create a formal or informal career plan, what should be in it in my view?

Broadening your experience

I didn’t move jobs that frequently. When I did I was always looking at opportunities to broaden my experience. Think about experience you need to gain to meet your medium to long term goals and aspirations.

Building your confidence

This might seem like a strange one so let me explain. I’ve noticed that an awful lot of accountants tend to lack confidence or self belief. One way of building your confidence is to take on projects or tasks that stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone.

Building your resilience

In the ideal world everything would run smoothly, people would co-operate and everyone would work well together.

In the real world there will be conflict, difficult situations and setbacks.

Being resilient is about bouncing back from those situations or handling them well.

Building your network

I learned over the years just how important my network was. Are you actively building and keeping in touch with your network?

Building your skills

Technical skills are important, especially in the early stages of your career. Yet what I found and what the research revealed is that technical skills alone won’t take you very far up the career ladder.

Building the skills to be more personally effective now and to prepare you for future roles is not an optional extra but key to your long term success.

Duncan Brodie helps accountants perform to their potential at work and achieve their personal career aspirations. Sign up for his free research report here.

About the Author Duncan Brodie

Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.

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