I also qualified at PwC and left for industry. A lot of what you said in this video rang true for me too, and how I felt in my first role outside practice. I especially agree about money being a mirage. If the job isn't giving you momentum and opportunity for progression then it quickly goes stale. great video and insight. Cheers for sharing
very helpful to me at my current stage in life. There is a difference between putting food on the table and doing what you love and find productive.....Paul from nairobi Kenya..... Keep up the good work Paul
Paul this video spoke to me! I literally felt the same way when I left public accounting after 7 years. Even though I got a pay raise at the time I think being more challenged and working towards something is more important than a few thousand dollar raise
Totally agree with you!! I’ve been through the exact situation as you. A lot of people also questioned why I quit my stable job and went back to practice.
after i graduated i went straight into industry where i did alot of ad hoc stuff at the expense of not practicing my craft thoroughly had i gone into practice. For example we didn't do tax returns or the like because we only dealt with the commercial aspect of the company. After 7 years moved into practice just to get an idea of how it all works. My intention is to use this knowledge to open my own firm, i have so many ideas on how to improve processes, but management is restrictive in what you can and can't do. It's rewarding if you go it alone, as with anything i think. You can earn alot more if you are a established company, theres also alot of tax perks as you well know. There is a misconception though that accountants are always well paid, it isn't necessarily true. I found practice accountants to be lower paid than in industry, but the added perk in practice is you learn your craft well and are doing pure accounting, this is generally where you can add value to your client base. It's not a profession i reccomend to everyone. The creative aspect isn't their that much, however if you know SQL , VBA, you can process spreadsheets more faster and accurately leaving you with more leisure time.
It is so true, you qualify so that you can stop doing the repetitive time consuming processing jobs and move into more decision making challenging things. I have just quit the job and moving from very broad role of FC to more narrow FA role but at least it’s going to challenge me. Maybe I will move on as soon as I learn new things. Thanks for sharing
4:55-5:20 I had this problem at Pwc and hated it. I don't mind working hard and long hours but doing nothing throughout the day then something become urgent at the end of the day... I was just fed up. Not to mention the timesheet problem playing jenga with billable and non-billable tasks when I was hardly given billable tasks. A question regarding your qualification, am I understanding right that you didn't have to go to university to be a qualified accountant in the UK?? If that's the case I'm really amazed how flexible things are in the UK, in Hungary that wouldn't be possible.
And then there is me, looking for a boring accounting job because overtime everyday in the elements working on planes is just a bit more challenge then I wanted lol. I will gladly bind documents for more then double of my salary.
Reading comments in accounting videos, despite that accounting practice can really really be boring for some (I personally don’t), I noticed that a lot of us worked for so many years in industry before deciding to quit the profession. 😬😬
What does it mean when it’s your 2nd week at work and you’ve been kind of nervous because you’re new to the job but you ask one of your trainers and she says your doing great and she asks “how long have you been here, since last week?” “I reply “yes since last week” and she says “yeah you’re doing really good”. But she has given more work to the one that has been there for 7 months and the guy who’s been there for 1 month, and not me…. Does that mean she doesn’t think I’m ready for that amount of work? I work for the city as an accounting clerk. ….. am I just overthinking it? I was working really fast and balancing with my money while the others were kind of messing up with their counting and then all of a sudden yesterday and today they started working faster than usual…… any thoughts? Like I’m not sure if I’m being useful or resourceful Is accounting environment supposed to be like this? Did I waste my time getting this job? Like it seems like they talk and as soon as they see me or I enter they stop talking
Can i ask a question: I am currently a fresh audit associate of PwC and also CFA Level 2 Feb 2022 Candidate. My plan is to go with audit to acquire expirience about 3-4 years and finish the CFA level 3. Could you kindly give me an advice of a target position outside of audit after senior associate or assistant manager, should it be M&A or Private Equity, Investment Funds?
Hi Paul. Can I ask for your comment on the trend of learning Business Analyst and Data Analyst Coding for FP&A role? If I wanna stay in Finance and Management Accounting (Financial Controlling, Finance Analyst…), should I follow this trend? Thanks
Hey Paul I’m in the US and I’m not interested in becoming a cpa but still want to become an accountant for a stable and well paying career. Is this path possible without a cpa?
What does it mean when it’s your 2nd week at work and you’ve been kind of nervous because you’re new to the job but you ask one of your trainers and she says your doing great and she asks “how long have you been here, since last week?” “I reply “yes since last week” and she says “yeah you’re doing really good”. But she has given more work to the one that has been there for 7 months and the guy who’s been there for 1 month, and not me…. Does that mean she doesn’t think I’m ready for that amount of work? I work for the city as an accounting clerk. ….. am I just overthinking it? I was working really fast and balancing with my money while the others were kind of messing up with their counting and then all of a sudden yesterday and today they started working faster than usual…… any thoughts? Like I’m not sure if I’m being useful or resourceful Is accounting environment supposed to be like this? Did I waste my time getting this job? Like it seems like they talk and as soon as they see me or I enter they stop talking
