I have been working in practice as a Tax Assistant for over 3 years now, CTA qualified, nearly a qualified CA and I was wondering how easy or possible it is to move from tax practice to non tax industry roles? I am looking for a change and feel that I would prefer it industry but I am being told by recruiters that making such a move without relevant audit experience is hard...
Does anyone have any experience of making such a move and how they did it?
Many thanks
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Replies (3)
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Moving into Industry
I moved out of Chartered Accountancy 6 years into a Finance Manager position. I applied directly to the Company advert rather than use a recruiting agency. After 5 years of that type of work I decided last year that I wanted to move back into a Chartered Accounting firm and was getting knocked back by agencies (Your tax experience is to out of date but we have a variety of commercial roles etc) Agencies want commission and are not that interested in what you want to do with your life.. I ended sending my CV through to a bunch of CA firms with a speculative letter and got offered a position that way.
Did the same thing myself
I qualified with the ACCA through a CA firm and moved into industry 4 years ago, more money, a change of scene etc etc
Like Phillip above, I would love to make the move back - simply from a job satisfaction point of view. I miss the work, the client interaction, the variety. To a certain extent however I feel almost stuck given the money I am on in industry (although far from owning a yacht) is a good bit more than i believe i would get in practice.
All I would say is to think carefully if it really is what you want, and for what reasons you want to make the change.
In saying that, you could always move back again, but from a personal point fo view, I dont enjoy the work in industry as much and motivation etc has taken a hit (despite the brave face).
Just make sure you are moving for the right reasons, as i have found out the money indusrty offers is great, but my enjoyment actually doing my job has suffered.
Best of luck with what you decide.
Craig
I moved into Financial Services
Hi
I did it but went into financial services, I worked in the Tax Dept of a small size CA firm for 3 years although I didn't go as far as doing my CTA exams.
In applying for the bank I found that they were much more concerned with your qualifications and ability to hit the ground running in a new enviornment rather than your experience, although they did pose the usual competancy based questions.
I have to agree with Craig though, after a couple of years I had lost the love for the job and tried to get back into practice, which was proving difficult. In the end I set up as a sole trader after being made redundant by the bank which I suppose says it all really.
Have you thought about maybe going into a more general practice role?
Good luck.
Bernice