Chartered Accountants - Consider a career in financial services
30 Apr 2018
Grace Caraher
We’ve come to the end of a two week period of Spring Conferrings for the ACA Chartered Accountants. It was a huge achievement for all those being conferred in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. So after the celebrations, where to now?
The really good news for accountants is that the market is incredibly buoyant right now and can offer the newly qualified accountant a broad range of roles within industry, practice and financial services. We have continued to see a steady demand for those in audit, financial reporting, management accounting, compliance, internal audit, financial analysis and group consolidation.
Financial services is one sector that offers plenty of career potential for chartered accountants. A recent survey from Brightwater showed that nearly 50% of financial services firms expected growth across their firms in 2018 and we have certainly seen an increase in the number of jobs registered with us. Growth sectors within financial services include aircraft leasing, insurance, fintech (Dublin is a major hub for this) and asset management. Roles at the newly qualified level are mainly financial accounting, financial analysis and internal audit, all of which offer great career development paths.
Benefit packages are hugely important across the industry with many firms looking to create novel or unique incentives to make them more attractive than their competition. Standard benefits include pension, healthcare, income protection, death in service benefits, education support, professional membership fees and generous annual leave. Additional benefits depend on the company but we’ve seen companies offer options such as medical checks, dry cleaning, lunch allowances, subsidised canteens, flexi time (working from home options) and gym subscriptions. Bonuses can be up to 10% for newly qualified accountants.
If you are interested in moving, remember to update both your CV and your LinkedIn profile to reflect your new status as a chartered accountant. You’ve worked hard to get it so don’t be afraid to shout it from the roof-tops!
We would be delighted to speak with you to discuss what opportunities are open to you even if you’re not quite ready to move yet. We can give you insights into the market, salary trends and what sector offers the best career paths for you. So if you want to talk, give me a call!
Grace Caraher is Senior Consultant with Brightwater’s Financial Services division. For further information and a confidential discussion about your career please contact our Brightwater team below on 01 662 1000 or email: [email protected]