T+O+M BLOG

FOTOM Jadie Petch talks to Keith Ryan about her career path after starting out in audit. In part one she discusses "That lucky break"

'I would be willing to give her a shot once she's had experience at the company or in a similar role'. These were the words spoken by the FP&A Manager of an ASX 200 company when a qualified CA, working as an Assistant Manager in KPMG Audit, applied for a Finance Analyst position in their team.

So, how do you get a role in industry after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant if your experience is limited to audit? If most managers in industry value experience over potential, then unless there is excessive demand, or you are fortunate enough to get that ‘lucky break’, there is always going to be someone who has prior experience, putting you at a disadvantage.

Even if you are offered a job in industry, how do you know that it is the right role? You may know that audit isn’t your desired career path forever. But what is?

Being an auditor no doubt teaches us an invaluable skillset - one that can be adapted and applied successfully across many roles. In audit, we are exposed to high volumes of people across multiple clients and industries giving auditors a wealth of knowledge and usually excellent communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. Despite this, how do you get to where you want to be when 1) you likely haven’t figured this out yet and 2) you don’t have the required expertise?

My first experience interviewing for a role in industry was very different from that described above. It was for a pharmaceutical company that needed a finance professional to assume a broader role covering FP&A, Management Accounting and Financial Accounting. I spoke to a recruiter who explained the position was a short-term contract and encouraged me to take the role until I found something longer-term. I loved this role! I loved it so much that I ended up extending my contract there – twice!

Having come from the “Big Four” to a company with an annual turnover of c.$50m and a finance function of around 15 employees, the Financial Controller valued my opinion and trusted me to work independently. When I arrived, there were a lot of fixes required as the company had undergone a technical outage. More importantly for me, there was so much I could learn from working at this company. The size of the team meant I got to know everyone on a personal level and understand exactly how their roles sat within the finance function. Understanding processes from the other end, working daily within finance systems, performing reconciliations, creating budgets and forecasts, running a P&L, and providing analysis were all things I had never done before and was now doing daily.

The sense of community and my understanding of the business model made me question what I wanted from an organisation. We often have an ideal perception, but it is experiences that help refine our ideology.

For me the more contract roles I explored the closer I was to refining what I wanted long term. I have noted several reasons why contracting helps you to figure out what drives you and how you can land a permanent role you love. We will explore this throughout the rest of this series.

If you are looking to make your next career move, whether it be staying in audit or making a leap, please get in touch with one of our friendly Accounting & Finance team members.