Fast track

Although John Lennon once famously said that “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”, for many people, plotting a course for their career is an important part of working life. But while previous generations would have had a clearly defi ned (and some might say linear) route to follow, today’s accountants have far more scope to choose their own path. So, how important is a career plan, and what does a good plan look like?

Charlie Walker, founder and managing director at Harmonic Finance, is one of the most interesting voices in this area. As someone who specialises in identifying and placing talented finance professionals into a range of companies and roles, he believes the last 15 years have seen a real sea change in the diversity of opportunity for newly qualified accountants.

“Obviously there have always been early-stage businesses but, certainly back when I started in terms of how businesses would get funding, we’ve had this increased development of the venture capital community in the UK and Europe – which was historically more US-centric,” he explains.

A choice of paths

Because of this, Walker points to several options open to new accountants: they can go through a more traditional path; maybe big four or practice and then into a listed business (whether on AIM or a larger listing). Or many are now being given the option to go in at a much earlier stage business, where they’re the first finance hire as a new qualified accountant. “That gives them quite a different career route that will accelerate at a different pace to that within a listed business.”

For someone who ended up as finance director, Neil Morling followed what he describes as a fairly typical career path. “Did I have a plan? No, but in my day you could see quite a clear path: you qualified, became a senior, you became a financial controller/chief accountant and then it was up to finance director – and the finance director was very much still this iconic ‘head’.”

Today, he says, it’s very different.

“If you can show even at an early stage that you bring value to the company, you’ll move far quicker and in the environment we’re in today, with all the challenges; especially given that we really haven’t had a settled period for a long time,” Mr Morling says.

“Indeed, they’d be daft not to (progress you) because I think that’s where the attention is today, far more than the idea of ‘if I produce a set of accurate accounts two weeks after month’s end, haven’t I done well?’ People now want insight the day after.”

Fail to plan

The key to progression is taking on more-and-more responsibility where possible; being accountable for results; and driving and delivering results. “You do need a plan,” says David Blair, a portfolio FD who can look back on three decades in various finance roles.

“These are personal to you and it is perfectly valid for them to be other than financial. You can always earn more money, but you can never recapture your time. So invest it where you get the most return. You have one life, live it well.”

Mr Blair says he often practises a type of ‘doublethink’, where he views himself as his own client and applies just the sort of strategic tools that he would in a business setting. “Start with some basic SWOT analysis and determine the key resources and constraints that you have to work with. What are your key drivers and, critically, your values?

“Having established your plan think about the resources that you will need. There will be financial implications certainly, but what skills do you need and what support mechanisms? Do they come from your partner or professional network?”

Mr Blair points out the importance of professional accreditation: “Do you need a practising certificate? Are there any other regulatory implications (the regulatory framework is not going to ease in the 21st century)? What about IT and other infrastructure you will need? How do you know it is secure?”

Technically gifted

Chris Kinsella agrees that the days of accountants being viewed by the wider organisation as traditional process-focused, self-contained and backward-looking – but necessary – overheads who made only a limited contribution to the business are long gone. As a seasoned finance director – and a frequent recruiter and employer of emerging finance talent – he sees today’s accountants as the heart of the business.

“Accountants [must be] highly commercial and skilled communicators, highly professional key contributors and business partners, and who set high standards of ethics. Many accountants, as their careers progress, need to develop management skills, presentation skills, and leadership characteristics,” he says.

And, Mr Kinsella believes, their career plan must build in the ability to engage with technology in a productive and proactive way. “The challenge for the future is to embrace tech and automation productively, and to evolve and to adapt the role of the accountant,” he says. “The roles least likely to be automated will increasingly be knowledge-based management positions.”

Automatic for the people

Charlie Walker says that in his work with emerging financial talent, while technology has had an impact on the number and focus of finance roles, a clear path that builds on some fundamental skills is still vital: “The trend in automation, particularly at a more junior level, will continue apace over the next five years but it’s not yet at a stage where we’re seeing a massive culling of more transactional finance talent.”

Indeed, in Mr Walker’s view, any career plan has to embrace automation and take a proactive approach. “A lot of the trend towards greater automation is positive because it’s freeing up more junior talent to get involved in more of the commercial finance business partnering,” he says. “That means they’re actually able to then have conversations with marketing about how they’re going to measure ROI spend and build models around that, or to spend more time with the business intelligence and tech teams.

“And the thing that I’m getting repeatedly from people who are head of finance or at ‘junior’ FD level now is that they feel liberated, because they still have to check this stuff with their team but they are getting an extra eight hours a week to work on strategy, or things that are actually adding value to the business.”

Christian Doherty is a freelance journalist