Where to next is a question that many (including me!) have to face into when leaving the bubble that is audit at a professional services firm.
It is very hard to know what is out there and what to do next having spent so much time in the audit bubble.
I speak with candidates every day who are looking to make the move out of audit and when asked what their ideal next step is, there really is a mixed bag of answers.
Some are happy to go straight into financial accounting / reporting, some want to try advisory while others want to go straight into FP&A or a commercial role.
Below if a quick rundown of the most popular options as you look to your next chapter.
Financial Accounting / Reporting
The most popular (and most likely!) option given the volume of roles and transferrable skills. Moving into a financial accounting / reporting role is the natural progression when coming out of audit as many of the skills are similar.
Financial Accountant roles usually involve supporting month-end close, posting journals, consolidation, preparing financial statements at half year-end and full year-end and other adhoc activities such as process improvement.
FP&A
A very popular response from audit first movers when asked what their ideal next role looks like.
While going straight into FP&A may sound a tad sexier than financial accounting, the reality is that most businesses want people to understand the fundamentals from a financial accounting perspective before jumping into FP&A or a commercial / business partner type role .
Many candidates that secure roles in FP&A have either worked in the space previously or have done a stint within the business in financial accounting and then moved laterally.
FP&A roles involve budgeting, forecasting, preparing financial models and collaborating with the wider business to understand drivers for results - activities that you don't gain a huge amount of exposure to when working in audit.
Commercial / Financial Analyst
Another popular response when I speak with professional services first movers around what their first choice would be coming out of audit.
Commercial Analyst roles have a heavy business partnering component - providing analysis to drive business decisions, supporting budgeting and forecasting and other commercial initiatives.
Again while not impossible, it is definitely more difficult to go straight into these roles from audit given there is a strong commercial aspect.
Moving to Advisory / Consulting
I moved from audit to consulting and get the question regularly around how to make the transition.
Unfortunately, it is difficult (although not impossible) to pick up an advisory role coming straight from audit especially when coming from overseas.
The reason for this is that there is strong demand internally in Australia from candidates looking to make the move from audit to advisory and so, it is a big ask for companies to take on a candidate straight from audit who may require sponsorship.
I was lucky enough to do a stint in KPMG Management Consulting before making the move to Australia and so picked up a consulting role once I got here - If you are set on moving to advisory / consulting, I would always say try and gain some experience in the space before making the move overseas.
In summary, there are plenty of options when making the move from audit given the skills and experience you have gained.
If you have any questions around your next step as you look to move out of audit, send me an email to paul@lemontalent.com.au and we can organise a confidential chat.
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