Newly qualified? What to consider when planning your future career
Accountants face career decisions at every stage of their professional lives and for newly qualified accountants figuring out the next steps can be daunting.
Congratulations! Your years of hard work, effort and dedication have paid off and you're now a newly qualified Chartered Accountant. Your CA qualification can take you anywhere and there's a world of opportunities available.
The decisions you make following the CA qualification will have implications for your future, and you might be asking - what comes next?
Many new accountants will have clear career ambitions. To perhaps land the coveted role of CFO, to make Partner at a particular firm, or move into the world of entrepreneurship and start-ups. The career options for newly chartered accountants are varied, but what isn't always clear is how to achieve your desired result.
We know that whatever route you choose you'll have a fantastic career - it just needs a bit of planning. Read on for advice and tips on how new CAs can achieve their career aspirations.
1. Think strategically about your Career Plan
Think strategically about your career goals. As a newly qualified accountant understanding the career paths available to you is crucial and will help you determine your career objectives. What area of accountancy is your skill set most suited to? What are you passionate about? Do you need to do more training for your chosen specialism?
Be open to opportunities and look to gain experience in your chosen area. Research the career paths of those you admire, build professional networks and work to understand what a business needs from its future leaders.
Use this Newly Qualified Accountant - Journey Ahead guide from our CA Careers Partner Hays, to discover the career paths available to you and to help get you on the right track for success.
We also recommend taking a look at our CA jobs section for more careers-related information and for details on current job vacancies from our range of CA Careers Partners, if you are in the process of looking for a new role or are working on developing your career plan.
2. A mentor is a must for your Career Development
Having a mentor who can offer career advice is invaluable. Your mentor may be someone you know and admire (your manager or a more experienced colleague) or your mentor could be an impartial expert in your chosen field or someone who is a fellow CA. Your mentor will share their own experiences, may support you in bridging a specific skills gap or can advise you on decisions that could impact your future career.
ICAS truly understands the importance of career mentoring and we know that it is a vital activity for career success. With that in mind, we recently launched our new career mentoring platform, so that we are providing our members with the very best experience and service.
If you are seeking a mentor, learn how to get started by visiting our career mentoring section of the website.
3. Take advantage of your introductory CPD offer
At every stage of your career, there are core skills areas that you need to develop and sharpen to truly create an outstanding professional profile. Using the ICAS Professional Development framework, you will be able to plan your route to personal success, choosing select training courses within each of our key skills competency areas to ensure a fully comprehensive and effective approach to undertaking Continuing Profession Development (CPD). When planning your CPD, don't underestimate the importance of developing your non-technical skills as you progress in your career. Sometimes it's your interpersonal expertise - or soft skills - that sets you apart.
ICAS works with selected CPD partners to deliver a range of high-quality CPD opportunities for our members. If you're looking to build your communication or interpersonal skills, we can help you. Our lead training partner BPP Professional Development has designed an exclusive introductory CPD welcome offer for newly qualified CAs, to help support you in developing your core professional skills. The welcome offer includes:
- A free online NQ course pack
- 50% discount off your first face-to-face or Online Classroom Live course booking*
There's also a range of other learning and development opportunities and CPD focused content from ICAS to keep you motivated and inspired.
To redeem the Offer, ICAS members must call BPP on 0330 060 3303 or email LDicas@bpp.com to place the booking quoting the reference “PDICASNEW” and their ICAS membership number when making their booking for a face to face PD Course or for an Online Classroom Live PD Course. To redeem the free online PD Course pack, members must visit the following website, log in to their ICAS account, and follow the Offer instructions on the website: https://www.icas.com/members/newly-qualified/continuing-professional-development/cpd-resources/nq-course-pack. This NQ offer is subject to BPP Terms and Conditions. You must be a newly-admitted ICAS member to take advantage of this offer. The offer ends on 1 February 2024.
For more information on Professional Development and to see the full offerings available, visit the Professional Development pages below:
ICAS CPD courses
Free NQ course pack