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 (CA). 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 and also meet the ICAS CPD requirements.
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.
Read this article on what to do now you've passed your exams and use this Your Journey Ahead - Newly Qualified Accountants guide from our CA Recruitment 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 Career Development Resources 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), perhaps an impartial expert in your chosen field, or a fellow CA. Your mentor will share their own experiences, may support you in bridging a specific skills gap, or advise you on decisions that could impact your future career.
We understand the importance of career mentoring and know that it is a vital activity for career success. With that in mind, we offer a mentoring platform to provide our members with the very best experience and service.
If you are seeking a mentor, learn how to get started by visiting the mentoring section of our 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 hub, you will be able to plan your route to personal success, choosing select CPD 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.
We work 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, let us 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 newly qualified course pack, including three on-demand online courses:
- Commercial nous and adding value as a finance professional
- Dealing with change
- Stress management - introduction
- 50% discount off your first face-to-face or Online Classroom Live course booking*
*To redeem the above BPP 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 for 50% off a Face-to-face or Online Classroom Live course booking, and to redeem the free online NQ Course pack. This NQ offer is subject to BPP Terms and Conditions. You must be a newly-admitted ICAS member who qualified as a Chartered Accountant on or after 1 April 2024 to take advantage of this offer. The offer ends on 5 March 2027.
There's also a range of other learning and development opportunities and CPD focused content from ICAS to keep you motivated and inspired.
