accountantscoach

Welcome...

  I'm Carol McLachlan, accountant, NLP Practitioner and professionally qualified coach.  My 18 year career at Ernst and Young as an Auditor and Director of Resources has equipped me with a real understanding of the professional and personal issues that accountants face.  My skill is in enabling accountants and other professionals to tap into their own inherent resources to achieve their maximum potential.  Find out more about my background and philosopy.

Reasons to be Cheerful - part 1

Problem solving: Can we fix it? Yes we can!

Accountants solve problems. From CCAB syllabuses, to job ads, to client expectations, there's no denying that problem solving is a core professional skill. Just think about the problems you solve every day: the thorny tax issue, the holes in the accounts, the judgment call. And yes, other professionals solve problems too. But I'll wager that the sheer depth, breadth and variety that accountants encounter takes some beating. Forget Jim: the accountant'll fix it!

'Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles, they toughen and make strong.' (Norman Vincent Peale)

And what a transferable skill! Think about it. Problem solving per se is a highly marketable competency. Wikipedia extols: 'considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills'.

Let's un-pack this problem solving talent; what does it actually mean in practice?

• To be: systematic, organized, methodical, intellectually dexterous, adaptable, resourceful, objective.
• To do: planning, analysis, practical knowledge, application, prioritization, conflict resolution, assessment, implementation, resolution, surmount obstacles, evaluate, make decisions, use judgment.

Forget problem solving 'per se', just a few of these attributes sprinkled through your C.V, will go a long, long way!

Sharpening the saw

So let's take this inherent strength and make it even stronger. Here's how:

• Leverage your preferred operating style. Are you a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic thinker? Take the test on the website: www.theaccountantscoach.com. Once you've identified your preference, exploit it, seeking new modes working (graphical, audio, applied tools). Merely raising conscious awareness of your style will capitalize on your natural resources, further unlock your potential and achieve synergy.
• Systemise your approach. Figure out your problem-solving processes, pin them down and avoid getting stuck in a circle of solving the same problem over and over again. Not only does this save time, but it boosts performance in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations. And reduces stress.
• Engage the right brain. Add a soupcon of creativity. Beware of pernicious 'left brain accountant' labelling. Mental skills are actually evenly distributed throughout the cerebral cortex and we the potential to develop all our skills. 'Left or Right brain dominant' just means you have not yet developed your full skill set. You are sitting on untapped resources.
• Work your human resources - smarter. Your team, your (life) partner, your kids, your non-accountant mates. Team work means - even more - synergy! New perspectives are invaluable - that's what coaching is all about. And just moving thoughts to words can unlock conundrums.

So there you have it. Celebrate and promote your precious problem solving assets. Then hone them to perfection.

And the final words of inspiration from Duke Ellington: "a problem is a chance for you to do your best".

Making happy accountants

So you want to be happy? Simple: just shut your eyes and wish hard! Wham-bang, you’re happy! That’s Positive Thinking, and people (yes even us amongst us cynical Brits?) buy into it.

Do you swallow that? Many don’t. Some people actually blame Positive Thinking for the credit crunch (You wanna house? Have one!), and I bet that soldiers hope their commanders have something better than hard wishing up their sleeves. Or was the Charge of the Light Brigade a disaster because commanders didn’t wish hard enough?

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Are you an adult, parent, or child accountant?

What’s your take on Jekyll and Hyde, one-and-the-same protagonists of Stevenson’s tale of a physician and his murderous Other Self? Gothic Horror nonsense? Real human behaviour, albeit psychopathological?

Or something closer to home?

To put it another way, how do you see yourself? Are you a simple, uncomplicated soul? 
Or are you complex? Either way, 
I bet you don’t brag about your ‘multiple personality’, which suggests ‘disorder’.

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Accountants get into the Groove!

 

Two questions for you.

Firstly, when and where
do you enjoy yourself most?

And please, keep it to yourself! Although in fact we already know, because Chicago’s Professor Csiksentmihaly has established exactly when we enjoy ourselves most.

It’s when we’re

• designing, discovering or exploring something new,
• solving problems or overcoming hurdles (real or imagined),
• stretched but not stressed, and
• winning!

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Exclusive offers for subscribers to ICAEW Alerts

2 very special offers......

OFFER NO 1 from theaccountantscoach.com

A one hour telephone coaching session with writer and coach, Carol McLachlan FCA, theaccountantscoach  This is an exclusive opportunity to experience executive coaching completely free, no-strings attached.  You can use your one hour telephone coaching session to explore an aspect of your business/career or take a holistic look at your wider life goals. 

To set up your free session just email, quoting 'ICAEW Alerts offer' in the subject box.  Click here for more info. 

OFFER NO 2 from Notion Business Coaching

A FREE Trial Membership of our new monthly audio business growth programme - 'Business Success Strategies' PLUS we'll send you another Free Gift valued at over £800.  Click here to learn more…

more info on theaccountantscoach offer to Subscribers of ICAEW alerts

Have you read this months article in Audit and Beyond, 'Ch...ch...changes: turn and face the strain'?   Writer and coach, Carol McLachlan FCA, theaccountantscoach is making a very special offer available to subscribers of ICAEW Alerts.  This is an exclusive opportunity to experience executive coaching completely free, no-strings attached.  You can use your one hour telephone coaching session to explore an aspect of your business/career or take a holistic look at your wider life goals. 

To set up your free session just email, quoting 'ICAEW Alerts offer' in the subject box.

theaccountantscoach draws on her background as a Big 4 practice professional and practice manager, and her training as coach and NLP pracitioner, to help fellow accountants and business owners solve problems. Here are just a few areas;  time management, work life balance, effective communication, career design, performance excellence..........

As well as being ACCA and CiA's agony aunt, she is also a regular contributor to accountingWEB and ICAEW publications. 

To set up your free session just email with ICAEW Alerts offer in the subject box.

In her own words: ‘Collaboration is the key to how we will work together. 9 times out of 10 you know the answers, you know what you should be doing. I’ll help you turn that should into does and provide that final 10% of....well whatever it takes........inspiration, facilitation, innovation, consultation, motivation, perspiration.......you choose’. 

Read on for some of the benefits experienced by recent clients:

'As a small practitioner I have found Carol to be of great help...She has  enabled me to think outside of the box. I have found our intial sessions to be very useful and am looking forward to the next one'.  Practice owner

'Carol helped me reduce my monthly reporting turnaround from 10 working days to 5 working days. This is all down to the valuable time management techniques she has shown me'. Group Management Accountant

‘Your guidance helps me bring clarity to chaotic thought process, and extract the nuggets of brilliance I knew were there, but just could not find by myself’ .   Managing Director, Financial Services

 ‘Carol joins the dots of the information that I've read and listened to, and forms a picture clearly in my mind. The most valuable part of my learning process’.   Managing Director

'She is a good adviser to have in the current difficult situation that I am in. Talking to her regularly  helps me keep in focus and avoid complacency'. FCA

To set up your free session just email with ICAEW Alerts offer in the subject box

 

RHITG BRIAN OR LTEF BRIAN? WHAT A NO-BRAINER!

If yeou’r rignead tish Nelswetter yeou’r prolbaby an accatnount, therefore a left-brainer. If, however, you successfully decipher these first few lines, you have something of the right-brainer. So contagrulantios, you’re moving towards being a whole-brainer!

And whole-brainerdom is good: it means balance, synergy and fulfilment, and you need to nurture it!

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Confidence without the Tricks (2)

It’s time for the mouse to ROAR - or at least speak firmly without nervously twitching whiskers!
Here are twelve tips on acquiring and developing self-confidence.

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Confidence without the tricks (1)

Remember Oz, where the mighty Wizard was really an old man pulling levers and speaking through a microphone?
Or the Vikings - fearless fighters, but likely fuelled with drugs and alcohol?
All too often, self-confidence seems like a smoke and mirrors trick: in Oz, you’ll recall, the Cowardly Lion was brave all along! So let’s check some realities, because we all desire self-confidence and we all sometimes lack it

Read the full newsletter right here.

Procrastinate? Me? Can't it wait?

Ah yes, our old friend, procrastination. Thief of time, wrecker of careers, mother of painful regret:
‘If only I’d...’
We’re here again because, once you’ve fixed your goals and deadlines,
you’ve got to make them stick: as emphasised in recent postings! So let’s identify the enemy.

To read the full newsletter, click here

Learn to work your Cerebral Assets

The way you think can be a key factor in your success - and many people are failing to use their intellectual resources in the most effective way.
Read the full article that I wrote for ICAEW's Finance & Management faculty, right here

TopCAATs: the auditor's indisputed leader of the gang

Love the name, love the product.

This is a dream product for 'regular' auditors, like me, with a far from sophisticated IT skillset.  Did you ever baulk (or blow the budget) when expected to wheel out CAATs on a sporadic basis? Despite the costly training, by the time you actually get round to using them for real, you've forgotten virtually everything you've learned and any remnants are wiped out as a big dose of panic sets in.

If this sounds familiar then you must read my interview with Charlie Walker from Reinvent Data Limited.  Charlie has created TopCAATS, a suite of tools within excel, designed to be used by non-specialist auditors and accountants quite simply to make our lives easier.

Time Management not working? Try Time Leverage

The following article first appeared in the ICAEW's Finance & Management journal March 2009.

Have you reviewed your own ROI?

If not, 2009 is the year to get your personal assets working more smartly.  Forget the results by volume approach.  Time Management is just about trying to do more. Progress comes, not from saving time, but leveraging it.  Saving is limited to the hours you save; leverage allows you to multiply the effort applied. 

 Here’s how. 

 What do you actually want to achieve?

It’s imperative that you understand why you are doing what you are doing.  What’s it all for?  What are your goals?  If you aren’t clear, you need to draw up some well formed outcomes.    If you don’t, you are in grave danger of being efficient rather than effective. Efficiency is getting things done. Effectiveness is getting things done, to worthwhile effect, that take you towards your goals. What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it.  Efficiency is irrelevant unless applied to the right things. 

 Pareto and Parkinson

Remember the 80/20 principle?  If

80% of sales/profits come from 20% of products/customers or

80% of the effects flow from 20% of the causes

then

Which 20% of your activities contribute to 80% of your results?

 And then there’s Parkinson’s Law: a task expands to fill the time allocated.  How much do you get done in the week before your holiday? 

 Use these laws together as the bedrock of your leverage strategy.  Identify the critical tasks that contribute most to your goals and then set deadlines.   

 What else? 

 Modelling

Instead of trial and error get some role models.  It’s not easy to find one person who embodies all your values, beliefs and aspirations, so put together an inspirational composite.  How do they get results?  What patterns and behaviours do they use?  Look, learn and model.

 States of the Mind

Discover what psychologists call flow.  Also known as being ‘in the zone’, flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what they are doing, driven by energized focus. An extremely productive state, you’re at your most creative, sharpest, problem solving best and producing your highest performance.  Flow’s greatest foe is interruption; so bag some blocks of protected time. 

 Mindfulness is the act of consciously paying attention, in the present, on purpose and non-judgmentally. The opposite of being on "automatic pilot’’, mindfulness is efficient, reduces repetition and aids retention and understanding.  Plus the ability to notice what is going on, as it arises, also fosters flexibility in stressful situations. 

Learning/thinking styles

Once you understand your preferred styles you can leverage them.  Are you a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner? Do you like to get stuck-in or read and plan first?  What are your dominant types of intelligence?  Are you using mind friendly techniques like mind maps to optimise your learning, understanding and retention of knowledge? 

It’s time to work on the job, not just in the job

Time leverage involves some up-front investment.  It's natural to want to conserve resources but if you don't make that investment you'll lock yourself into the old way of doing things:

 

‘if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got’.

 

Leverage is the art of getting more done with the same, or less, effort.  How far will take you in 2009?

 

Carol McLachlan, FCA is a chartered accountant, executive coach and NLP practitioner.  She’s the founder of www.theaccountantscoach.com supporting finance professionals, both individuals and organisations, in a multitude of development areas:  career planning, work-life balance, time management, performance enhancement, communication.  For more professional and personal development tips, sign up for your free monthly newsletter at info@theaccountantscoach.com

 

Time Leverage

ICAEW's Faculty of Finance & Management presents Carol McLachlan, Introducing 'time leverage'

Thursday 30 April 2009 18:00 - 19:00

Chances are 2009 is still ushering in a troupe of challenges, complexities and unprecedented change, not just in the economy but for you, in your own role. As pressure intensifies and the demands from our stakeholders increase, the time has come to take a step back. 

It’s no longer enough to work in the job; you also need to work on the job. What worked for you in 2007 and 2008 probably won't cut it in 2009. You need a new approach and new thinking to deal with a rapidly changing landscape. You need to achieve more with the same or even less resource. You need Time Leverage.

For more details and to book online click here

The Wheel of Life

One of the most powerful coaching tools I use is the Wheel of Life. It's a simple tool which helps determine the current focus of your time and energy.  This in turn can help identify areas of relative neglect and thus define where you would like to make improvements.  The coach helps you consider each area of your life in turn and assess what’s ‘off balance’.

The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you'd ideally like it to be. It is called the "Wheel of Life" because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.  In the example above, the client feels that their highest levels of satisfaction are in the areas of Family and Partner which they have rated at 80% (4/5).  The lower scoring areas are Career and Finances and these are likely to be where they would like to focus and make improvements.

Email me at info@theaccountantscoach to receive your own Wheel of Life template. Or take up the special offer at our sister site,  worksmartplayhard and get your very own Life Audit.

It's February. Running on empty?

Whoopee! It's gone. January, farewell, the accountant's hell, season
of deadlines, screaming fits and stimulant-fuelled all-nighters: our pressure cooker month. At last the pressure's off and we can
sit back and...what?

Go on working like crazy, that's what - because February's just January without deadlines.

So how do you maintain momentum when there’s no pressure?

Read the full newsletter right here. 

Q&A: specialisation on CA qualification

I was wondering if you could highlight some of the specialisation available in the global industry after obtaining the CA qualification (the degree I am doing is audit focused).  

I am from South Africa, and the only obvious paths here are to do a Masters in Tax or Accounting science.  The universities are rather tight-lipped about what the curriculums entail. 

Are there any general guidelines you could share with regards to the international trend and demand for post qualification specialisations?

Just to be clear, let me summarise your request.  My understanding is that you are doing a first degree, with an audit focus, then planning to qualify as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa.  You are also now considering a further qualification or specialisation.

So here are some considerations:

Where does your passion lie?

Always, always, this should be your starting point.  It’s no good going for the most marketable experience or qualification in the world if it’s not going to fulfil your aspirations or suit your inherent strengths.  I suggest that you compile a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).  Call up experience from all aspects of your life: academia, work experience, leisure interests, extra-curricular activities, to determine where your strengths lie and what excites you.  You can use your findings to map across to your ‘perfect role’.  For more information to flesh out this exercise, read my article Your Career by Design, right here. 

Further qualification?

You are, or you will be, of course, already highly qualified for the global market.  The decision to take another qualification will depend to a large part on what you discover about your ‘perfect role’ and whether it requires further specialised study.  And it may seem obvious but there is a risk attached to ‘putting all your eggs into one basket’ at such an early point in your career.  Deep specialising at this stage will not take into account either your own personal evolution nor commercial developments.  My advice would be don’t box yourself in too soon; at the very least get some hands on work experience in your chosen field before you add another qualification to your repertoire.

Specialisation by experience, on the other hand, comes in all shapes and forms: by industry (say, financial services), by role (audit, tax, IT), by organisation (public sector, global, practice, industry).  And that’s just for starters.  It could be that by doing the exercise above you come out with a very obvious match, say tax (perhaps because you’re looking for a technical role with strong intellectual challenge) which takes you clearly down a particular path.  But it is likely at this stage in your life the match won’t be so clear cut and you are left with the possibility of a number of different paths to follow.  Don’t despair!  This is why a high percentage of graduates choose a broader base to start with – like audit, where they can develop a wide range of transferable skills.  A couple of years in, this puts you in a great position to make an more practically informed career choose with the benefit of hands on experience.  You might choose to make audit your long term career specialism or you may select aspects of this early career choice to develop into deeper expertise in another field. 

Specialisation is important. But it doesn’t have to happen at once.  The trick is to find some specialisation in whatever you choose – to give you your USP (unique selling proposition) – but build a broad range of softer, transferable skills at the same time.

Global trends and marketability

And it’s these softer, transferable skills that are really going to count as we move into the second decade of the 21st century. 

While the traditional fields of public accounting and auditing, cost or management accounting, internal auditing, taxation and corporate recovery still figure, some new accounting specialisations are emerging.  The post Enron world requires increasingly, assurance services for quality control and risk assessment as well as forensic accounting and fraud detection.  Additionally environmental accounting is a big growth area.  And e-commerce continues to flourish and will have huge impact on work in the sector in the future.

Vastly improved technology itself means that accountants spend more time on financial analysis, adding value to the business and to their role.  A role which is broadening as the corporate world continues to globalise, becoming more team-oriented and business practices develop increasing complexity. All of this will require a more diverse skills base from flexible interpersonal abilities to project management and adroitness to change.   

Any experience you can leverage right now on the transferable skills front, will stand you in good stead in ultimately securing Your Career by Design. 

And a last word on geographical demand, check out our Location focus series, where you can  see the trends and demands in countries from Australia and Greece, to the Caymans and the Middle East. 

Happy designing!

This Q&A first appeared on the audit agony audit page in CareersInAudit

Q&A: MSc to auditing

I am currently studying an Msc in Audit Management and Consultancy at Birmingham City University which I will finish in September. My first degree was in History and I have two years banking experience, but not in Internal Audit. I am wondering what the career prospects are for a trainee auditor. I have no audit experience but as part of the course I will be sitting IIA exams during the year. Will this count as experience?  

 

You’re in good company; my first degree was history too!  I entered into an Institute of Chartered Accountants training contract with Ernst & Young, undertaking my practical experience in their Audit department.  This, of course, is a well-trodden graduate path into audit, indeed a path that you could consider yourself.   If you look back at my ‘Agony Aunt’ responses over the last few months, you will find some considerations and advice on this particular route.  Your banking experience could prove very appealing to a potential employer if you choose a firm with Financial Services clients. 

However, I appreciate that you wish to take into account your IIA qualification.  By far, your best port of call for advice is your university careers service as well as the team who are actually delivering your MSc learning.  There’s no need to reinvent the wheel as they will be able to share with you examples of how previous students have exploited their IIA qualification.  This specific advice will be very valuable because on the face of it many students will be in your position – where the academic qualification is not parallel to  the practical experience.  Some of your banking experience may be relevant but if you were not involved in auditing itself, most will not be.

The Institute of Internal Auditors lay down the criteria for what constitutes ‘approved practical experience’ and here’s a taster for the PIIA:

·         Participation in audit assignments

·         Observation/understanding of risk assessment exercises

·         Participation in improvement projects within the internal audit function

·         Understanding the importance of effective business communications

·         Demonstration of practical IT skills

Without a doubt your university department will have worked closely with the IIA on the syllabus, so they will have a good appreciation of how to bridge the gap between the theory and the practice.

Part-qualified IIA jobs are available with a variety of different organisations in both the corporate and public sectors.  Worst possible scenario is starting from the bottom in terms of practical experience.  However, the fact that you have already completed the exams will give you to a head start over other potential trainees and could make you a more attractive candidate.

But that’s worst possible scenario.  Talk to your tutors and career advisors and find out how past students have exploited the qualification before you. 

And good luck!

This Q&A first appeared on the audit agony audit page in CareersInAudit. 

Happy or not, it's another new year

Any new year is a different year, and I’m betting 2009 is going to be seriously different: tougher than 2008 and unprecedentedly complex, a proper you-ain’t-seen-nothing-yet year.

So ring out the old, ring in the new, and out with old ways! The French say: autres temps, autres moeurs, which I’ll translate as ‘different times, different behaviours’. Horses for courses: what worked then won’t work now. Today’s problems require today’s solutions.

Read the full newsletter right here

Stressmass, twixtmas and an accountant's worklife balance

Christmas is coming but it’s actually twixtmas and the bleakness of January that are the real killers for many of us accountants.   Our business diaries are black with deadlines; our personal pages are bare. And we say ‘that’s life!’

Accountants? Work-life balance?
No way!

(Actually, it’s now called Life Balance, but it means the same: dual satisfaction with life and work, achieved on your terms, and holistically good for you, your company, everybody.)

But why can’t accountants achieve a balance? Have you heard the one about the frog?  Frog as in rana temporaria, the common frog who, dropped into boiling water, will leap to safety, but boiled up from ambient, will simply cook.

Read the full newsletter right here

Q&A: Career plan for auditing

I am AAT qualified and an ACCA finalist. I ‘m currently in the process of obtaining a degree in Accountancy as I feel it’s important to have a degree qualification. (I only have to do the final level as exempted due to ACCA part qualification).  I have been in industry & commerce and also a short stint in the practice. (not BIG 4).  I also have worked in an internal audit department of an airline but not in the UK. I’m in my late thirties.

At present I’m contemplating embarking on a career in audit. Will this work for me or should I stick to the industry & commerce? Appreciate your advice.

 

Your professional qualifications and experience in industry certainly won’t preclude you from a side-ways career move into audit.  Indeed, many employers will see these as a strong foundation.  However, to give you specific advice on the move and its suitability for you personally, I’d need to know a lot more about you: likes and dislikes, talents and weaknesses, personal and career goals and aspirations. 

What I can do, is provide a model that you can work through that will assist in your decision- making.  Here goes:

 

Phase 1 Know Yourself

·         Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 20 years time?  What’s important to you in your life and career?  What are your core values?  (Values are your personal operating principles which if not met, will cause you unhappiness.  Email me at info@theaccountantscoach.com to request your own Values Matrix).

·         What are you looking for from your career move?  Use your current and past work experience to identify aspects of your roles that you have found more/less satisfying. 

·         What can you offer?  What are your personal skills, talents, strengths?  What makes you special?

·         What are you prepared to invest?  Where are you willing to start on the career ladder?  What salary and benefit package do you require?  What further learning are you prepared to undergo?

 

Phase 2 Understand what’s involved your favoured career

An easy way to do this, is to simply compare and contrast the audit career you are considering with your current position.  What’s similar, what’s the same, what’s diametrically opposed?  Areas you might consider include: core skills, work life balance, travel, working environment, pressure, office and client relationships, team structure,  autonomy, career progression, financial package and security. 

 

Phase 3 Map across the first 2 phases

You’ve now got 2 lists and you can simply map across from Phase 1 to Phase 2.  You will then be able to determine if your favoured career is going to be a good match to satisfy your aspirations within a satisfactory tolerance range and at an acceptable level of personal investment. 

Q&A: Audit career for ACCA

I am ACCA part Qualified, still studying.  I am really interested in taking a pathway into audit. At the time of this mail I have got no work experience. How can you help me - even for a voluntary role in audit.  This will help me kick off my path to the profession.  I live in the UK and am ready to relocate to any location

You’re absolutely right to rate highly the importance of practical work experience –  for  two reasons.  Firstly, to ensure that you make your career decision from a fully informed stand point.  And secondly, to effectively market yourself once you have made that decision.    Even unpaid work will be valuable in confirming your suitability for your chosen career and equip you with the knowledge you need to articulate your strengths and ‘fit’ more effectively to a prospective employer.

Work shadowing is a great place to start. Many firms offer this to school leavers as well as those further on in their studies.  Some of the bigger firms operate formal work shadowing schemes but you also have a good chance seeking an ad hoc opportunity.  You will generally need to contact the firms directly.  But also consider if you have any contacts who could introduce you to their organisation and short circuit the application process.

Another way in is to use networking to build your contacts within the audit profession.  You could consider online networking and forums to find a buddy or a mentor – who could the find you an opening in their organisation.

Work shadowing can be a great introduction into an organisation.  Once you’re known around the place, it could provide the break you’re looking for – leading to further unpaid or paid work. 

Of course, the other possibility is direct entry. Many organisations have direct entry schemes where they’ll take you on with nil experience, providing on the job training and put you through the relevant exams if appropriate.  And this is not just Big 4 graduate schemes.  There are opportunities for non-graduates in external and internal audit positions in a vast range of organisations.

That said though, some work experience will boost your CV.  Even if not audit experience, any commercial exposure will be well-received by prospective employer.  And it will give you a commercial, practical base from which to make an informed decision on your chosen career.  Take retail work for example; get the practical experience and use this to appreciate where the role of an auditor would come in.  This sort of practical understanding and articulation of the role could prove very beneficial in securing your success at interview. 

Good luck!

 

 

Q&A: Audit qualifications for the UK market

I would like your help in deciding about which qualification is more suitable for me in the UK job market. I am based in Pakistan and shall be moving to the UK with a valid work permit. I have about 8 years of work experience within areas of accounting, auditing (Big 4), and corporate finance. Currently I am working more or less as a Financial Controller in an organisation in Pakistan. I would like to know if it’s better to do ACCA or PIIA/ MIIA. I am interested in working within areas of internal auditing, risk & compliance.

With your extensive experience within the accountancy profession, it may be advisable to keep your options broader at the outset of your UK career.  Bear in mind that you’ve not yet experienced working in the current UK market and you will be new to a career in internal audit.  Both are untried areas for you and there is no guarantee that either will fulfill all your career aspirations in the medium or longer term.  

Instead, first consider your existing qualifications and find out what will be recognized in the UK.  This will also very relevant regarding exemptions from any UK qualification you eventually decide to pursue. 

Your existing qualifications may well be enough to get you started in the UK, experience the market and give you a base on which to build a more strategic career plan. 

 And you do need to consider your career aims.  Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 20 years time?  Where do you see your career taking you to?  Whether you’re considering settling in the UK or working in other locations will determine the need to consider a global qualification.  What sort of organisation do you want to work for?  And more imminently, what are your short term earning needs?  How do these map across to the individual qualifications and their career paths?   What do the qualifications cost and how long is the study period?  What type of studying methods and study/work mix are available and how do these reconcile with your preferred style.   How portable is the study package from job to job? 

 You are already considering two qualifications, and I would use these as the start point of your research.  Clearly, the ACCA is a global qualification and this may be important to your longer term career plans.  The PIIA and MIIA, diploma’s of the Institute of Internal Auditors of UK and Ireland are more specialised, and of course, very relevant to the UK market.  But there are also many other qualifications what could be appropriate for you, including CIMA for example.

 So take some time to consider your short and long term career aims.  Talk to the student advisors at a variety of different professional organisations. Consider your existing qualifications.  And use the questions above to help you make a fully informed decision that will best equip you to reach your aspirations. 

 

 

Accountants: celebrating our assets

'Walk tall, walk straight, and look the world right in the eye’

(The Popes)

Er, yes, I know it’s a song about a jailbird – but hey! What a fantastic motto for a profession: what a fantastic motto for our profession!

Up until now my focus has been on sharing with you tips and techniques to enhance your personal and professional development. Today, I’m going to change tack. Today, let’s look instead at what’s right about the accountancy profession.  The features that attract over 11% of the nation’s best and brightest young graduates. A powerful technique that I’ve found my clients love.  Let’s celebrate our assets!

Read the full newsletter here

Multi-tasking: eradicating the blight

The sign of the times?
...Banks collapsing?

Or how about a bunch of tourists, oblivious to the fragrant beauty of Granada’s Generalife gardens, absorbed in texting?

That’s where we were last newsletter. Everywhere technologies crowding in and human wit crowded out. Social interaction wrecked as geeks
(yes that’s us now) fidget with techno-toys.

Read the full newsletter, Multi-tasking: eradicating the blight here

Multi-tasking: modern work place blight

Those Ancient Greek giants with fifty heads and a hundred hands apiece must have been whizzo multitaskers. Computers are. You, if human,are not.

Almost certainly, however, you are expected to be, have claimed to be, or aspire to be, an ace multitasker. You may even believe, mistakenly, that you are one

Read the full newsletter, Multi-tasking: modern work place blight here

An Accountant, a Comedian and a Parrot went to the HMRC

This month, it’s all about me: a true-life case study.   What I’ve done, what it’s done for me and what it could do for you.

I’ve been up to funny business. No, not embezzling clients’ funds.  I’m talking about learning a new trade:  stand up comedy.  Culminating in a live stand-up session at a night-club where I launched a one-woman assault on the stereotype of us accountants as just boring number-crunchers.

Busy being Busy. An Accountants' Parable

We’re busy being busy
Working the whole day through,
Stressed-out accountants
Effective or Efficient,
Which one are you?

You think that last line’s not a showstopper? Oh, yes it is - because strenuous, misdirected effort will eventually stop your show.

How to Grow Your Practice In a Recession

A specially designed Workshop for forward-thinking Partners and Practice Owners     

“How to Grow Your Practice In a Recession” A specially designed Workshop for forward-thinking Partners and Practice Owners

Practice owners and partners, now learn the tried, tested and proven critical success factors you need to implement to keep ahead of your competition, including 61 proven practice-building ideas that are ready to implement in your firm – immediately.

Designed specially for partners and practice owners

This workshop has been designed exclusively for partners and practice owners and aims to help you develop a positive vision for your future in these uncertain times, including:
•    What your prospects and clients really want from their accountancy firm in the current economic climate
•    Why this current global pain gives your firm a ‘once in a lifetime’ business development opportunity
•    How to seize that opportunity with a practical, tailored marketing and sales strategy for the next 12 – 24 months
•    Why Digital marketing is a cost effective ‘must’ for accountancy firms in this new economy
•    How to measure the effectiveness of your new plans and keep your goals on track
Whatever the size of your practice, you’ll benefit massively from the information you’ll receive. These are not impersonal seminars, but small workshop events designed specially for partners and practice owners which give you the opportunity to chat through any specific marketing issues confidentially with one of our marketing consultants. Although the workshop is sales and marketing focused, it requires no prior skills in these areas and you’ll go way with your own tailored action plan and a host of easy-to-implement activities all designed to improve your profitability.
During the course of the Workshop, you’ll discover many proven ideas, including:
•    5 Steps to formulate a Vision for your Practice
•    4 Important steps in creating a sound plan
•    5 Digital marketing ‘must-knows’
•    6 Ways to win and prepare for face-to-face appointments
•    How to profile your prospects’ and clients’ Style of Influence
•    The 10 most common direct mail mistakes
•    8 tips for successful email marketing
•    8 recession-proof ideas that cost little or nothing
•    3 cardinal sins to avoid when communicating with your clients
Plus much more
The Workshops will take place as follows:

London - Tuesday 24 February
Birmingham – Wednesday 25 February
Leeds – Thursday 26 February

Priority notification – first-come, first-served

You’ll need to hurry, though! Places are limited at each venue, so allocation is on a first-come, first-served basis only. We have also deliberately positioned the event at a price affordable for all at just £98 + VAT. As one of the first to hear about the workshops, you have the best chance to reserve your places on your preferred date.

To book, simply click here or for fastest service,
call 0800 803 0826 NOW.

 

100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
This essential workshop is covered by our 100% Full Refund Guarantee, so there’s no risk whatsoever for you. If at any time during the workshop you don’t feel you are getting great value from your attendance, simply inform us and we will give you a full refund, without question.

The Accountant says No! Say it. Mean it. Love it.

A long day gets longer. Interruptions. Phone calls. Endless emails! Your 9 pm dinner date is looking as remote and as jolly as Scott’s Last Camp - and suddenly they’ve called an unscheduled team meeting!

Wow! You’re so popular! But love it or hate it, you’re merely human and there’s only so many hours.
So, what could help on such a day? 

Q&A: Big 4 audit

I am an ACCA Professional Stage student in Nigeria.  I work as finance manager for a small privately owned company but my real desire is to work in audit for one of the Big four audit firms.

The challenge is how to get recruited by them as employment by these Big 4 firms here in Nigeria is highly competitive. I have submitted my cv at these firms and I wonder if there is any advice you can give me in order to help me increase my chances of being called for an interview at these firms.

Your starting point should be to get a strong handle on exactly what these firms are looking for, what they really value in their experienced hires at the relevant entry point for someone with your particular background.  Your knowledge and understanding of the firms’ competency framework is vital to enable you to measure your current skills and experience against their basic requirements.  Core competencies for the Big 4 audit will vary but are likely to comprise: communication skills (written and verbal), team work/relationship building, leadership, drive and ambition, problem solving and practical intellect skills, and ability to add value.  This information should be readily available from recruitment literature, Human Resources and/or an informal discussion with a current employee. 

But don’t overlook less formal research.  An example would be investigating the background of successful part qualified entrants and experienced hires.  This will help you build a modelling blue print to enable you to design your own recipe for success. 

Once you’ve identified the essential requirements, you can move on to develop your personal USP (Unique selling proposition).  You are looking for personal qualities and experience that make you stand out above other equally qualified candidates.  Remember though, it is vital to map this across to the firm’s requirements.  In other words, your particular USP has got to be something that the firm will value.

Your research will obviously involve acquiring information about the firm - from hard copy brochures and from their website.  But I would also highly recommend ‘people’ research; try and get to know some of the incumbent staff to add a further dimension to your knowledge and understand the underlying culture.  Use your own local networks to find employees of your target firms but also look out for open meetings (recruitment days, technical updates etc) where you can extend your network of contacts within the firm and request introductions to other relevant contacts.  You can even consider contacting the firm direct and asking them for a work shadowing opportunity – invaluable in optimising your understanding of their requirements but it also gets you on the map in terms of them getting to know you.  Don’t forget online networking too; you may be able to track down ‘insiders’ via blogs and forums. 

Once you’ve grasped what the firms really want in their candidates you can then turn to your presentation to ensure you can effectively communicate it.  You will have built up a checklist of competencies and you need to map your own experience and skills to match these. This is not just at the application stage; make sure you can clearly articulate these key qualities and be prepared to back them up with practical examples.  You may find at this point that you’ve identified gaps in your skill set; depending on the degree, you may decide to seize the opportunity seek practical experiences or further training to fill those gaps. 

Clearly your CV and/or application form will be your point of entry to the firm, so it is vital that they effectively communicate not only that you meet the firms basic requirements, but also in such a competitive environment, that you have even more to offer.  Beyond the initial application stage, the networking activities that I’ve mentioned above will also be very useful in achieving  that ‘foot in the door’, getting your face known and remembered, and possibly even short circuiting your application as a candidate ‘not to be missed’. 

All in all, the key is patience.  A highly competitive market place means you can’t necessarily expect overnight success.  Instead, take a longer view and plan your medium term strategy – and this will maximise your chances of getting you to where you want to be. 

 

Q&A: AAT career in audit

I am currently trying to embark on a career in audit.  I hold a degree in an unrelated discipline and would like advice on what is the best qualification to obtain.  I am registered disabled through an accident and am starting a 1 year full time AAT diploma in September.  I have found that as I have little accounts experience and no formal qualification I am not very employable.  For this reason the AAT will give me at least a foot in the door.

 I already know audit is where my future lies and would like to plan the best route into my idea position.  I would love a role that involves some travel (20-30%) but equally allows me to be home at weekends.

 I have worked since I was 16 years old but from 30 to 34 I have a 4 year gap in my work history due to a spinal oration and then a decision to be a stay home dad to our now 4 year old daughter.  I am now 35 so would like to be in work as soon as possible

 Any advice you could give me would be very much appreciated.

 

My first thought: are really capitalising on all the assets you already have?  For example, have you considered graduate entry programmes?  A non-relevant degree needn’t be a deterrent; many graduate employers are looking for the skills and potential conferred on the degree holder rather than the technical subject matter itself. 

Also, as a more mature candidate with 14 years work experience there will be lots of transferable skills that you will have within your repertoire.  The trick here is a bit of lateral thinking to match the relevance of your past experience to your future aspirations – tricky-but loads to play for. 

As you have already committed to the AAT diploma make sure you get the most out of it during your year of study. Once you’ve mastered the basics of double entry book keeping you should find it easy to get some practical experience, working with a charity for example.  This will be a valuable addition to your CV as well as giving you the opportunity to turn theory into practice and really hone those skills.  In fact any practical experience you can get paid or unpaid during the one year course will stand you in good stead.

 Having decided that audit is your future, I would recommend that you actually find your perfect role(s) and then look at the route to qualification.  Is it internal or external audit that you are attracted to?  What sort of organisation do you want to work for? – SME, blue-chip, not-for profit?  What are your personal financial requirements and aspirations?

First find the job you love, then travel back from the destination to find the starting point.  

And once you’ve done a bit more delving, to paint the picture of your dream job, come back to us and we’ll talk more specifically about qualifications. 

Q&A: Graduate audit, non relevant degree

I am currently at the stage of final assessment for various firms for a graduate audit position. I do not have an accounting background (degree in Biology) but have read up on auditing and have a fairly good feel for what the job is. Could you give me a few things that you feel are crucial for me to know about within auditing so that I am fully prepared for my final interviews.

 The key point here is that the interviewer is much more interested in assessing your potential as opposed to testing your breadth of knowledge.  That’s precisely why recruiters are happy with non-relevant degrees – it’s not the discipline that’s important it’s the potential demonstrated by the achievement of that degree.

 That said, it is vital to demonstrate a genuine interest in business, particularly where you don’t have an accountancy degree.  So be sure to keep up to date with the latest business stories; scan a decent newspaper on the day of your interview(s) and make sure you know more than an inkling of what’s going on economically – at least in the UK.

 The interviews and assessments will be designed to measure you against the core competencies required for the job.  These will vary depending on the organisation you are applying to, but here’s an indication:

• ·         Communication skills, written and verbal
• ·         Team work, relationship building
• ·         Ethics, professionalism, personal motivation
• ·         Attention to detail, high quality standards
• ·         Problem solving and practical intellect skills
• ·         Ability to work under pressure, to deadline

 And typically for a graduate entrant:

• ·         Drive, ambition, leadership potential

You can expect a good return on the time you spend investing in a strong articulation of how you can demonstrate these qualities.

As for the technical side of auditing, it’s actually your practical understanding that will count.  For instance, be sure you can articulate what you perceive as a typical ‘day in the life of an auditor’, crucially for that specific organisation.  Your research could include speaking to an incumbent staff member in this or a similar firm. 

And be ready too, for some very practical questions, calling for common sense and creative problems solving skills.  A favourite in my previous firm was: ‘as an auditor at a chocolate biscuit factory, how would you go about verifying the stock figures’.

Lastly, but somewhat down the priority order, it could be handy to be up to date with  developments in auditing (eg the world post-Enron, ISA – International Auditing Standards, UK IFRS convergence) but this will be specific to the organisation to which you are applying.

The real crunch will be the aforementioned: general business awareness, core competencies and a practical understanding of the job. 

PS a real differentiator is an ability to articulate a strong, convincing business case for choosing a particular firm. Challenging but priceless.

 

 

Q&A: audit and accountancy job moves in the recession

“Considering the current state of the UK economy, is now a good time to move jobs?”

 The current credit crunch and its implications - alarming forecasts of slashed consumer spending and imminent job losses – is never out of the news.  But the actual impact on the labour market, particularly in finance and audit sector is a little less easy to read.

While we can’t deny the front pages news of jobs losses at KPMG and Citigroup, some commentators are pointing to a resilience in the employment market .  Of ‘labour hoarding’ -  supporting current employment levels by curbing pay rises as opposed to major layoffs.

 So what does it mean to your career plans?  Well the short answer is, it depends.

 A natural reaction of job seekers is to fear the LIFO (last in first out) mode of operation.  And maybe in the old ‘jobs for life’ days this was a very realistic fear.  But in the 21st century where the ‘war for talent’ is rife, is this still a logical outcome?  If an organization has spent heavy, in time and money, to recruit you - you’ve clearly made the more than likely competitive cut.  Are they really going to axe you at the first sign of economic downturn?  Unlikely, though not impossible.  But it does all comes down to competition.  Any slowdown in the job market is going to intensify the ‘war for talent’ and increase competition.  This is where the quality of your CV, the relevance of your skills and experience, will count big time. 

 But it’s not just about the market.  It’s primarily about you.  The real test will be your strategic plans and how a career move will ties in.  You need to do your own ‘career audit’.  You don’t want to move ‘just for the sake of it’ which could be a real temptation if the number of vacancies is depleted.  You need to take stock of where you are now in your current role.  Are you still getting the level of stretch you need to develop your skills?   Are you running out of learning opportunities or at risk of stagnating?   How is your quality of life, your work life balance?  These questions are all paramount in making that decision - whether the time is right for you, personally, to tackle a potentially more challenging job market.

 So to sum up.  Right time to move jobs?  Well it depends.  It depends on where you are in your career plan. It depends on the competitiveness of your skills and experience.  It depends, of course, on your location, sector, level and role.  But above all it depends on you.  Your quality of life, your tolerance level, your values and your aspirations. 

The Emotionally Intelligent Accountant

Emotional Intelligence (EI) or EQ refers to the ability to understand your emotions, responses and behaviours. EI matters.  EI includes self-awareness, impulse/mood control, persistence, personal motivation in the face of frustrations and the ability to keep distress from affecting the ability to think.  Not to mention empathy, seeing others’ points of view and reading and appreciating their emotions.  EI is the key to better business performance.

The first test to developing EI is self-awareness: recognising your personal emotional strengths and weaknesses.  Once you’ve got a base line you can start moving forward. 

This test provides a baseline.  It covers 2 parts of the EI quadrant: Self-awareness and Self-management.  Don’t forget that EI also includes Social awareness and Relationship management, but the starting point has got to be ‘know thyself’!  

Click Download to rate your EI. 

Introducing The Accountants Circle: save time, deliver more

If you haven't found them yourselves, let me introduce you to an exciting new set of services from the fantastic, innovative Accountants Circle.  This is something rather different.  The Accountants Circle offers a unique approach to working with accountants.

The focus is on value, and how that value is delivered.  While The Accountants Circle provides accountants with quality website development and a variety of outsourced services, it's actually the guts of their membership concept that is really different.

At the moment many of you in practice, particularly the smaller practices, use a variety of tools and templates sourced from all sorts of people and places to help you deliver your service. It can be great to get your hands on something that helps, but often these require a fair knowledge of Excel and changes to formula each time they're used... so they can still be time consuming.  Sometimes you or your team spend time creating new templates to do this when nothing else seems easily accessible.

The Accountants Circle start with the premise that most accountant-provided services are not greatly different from one other.  So as a member of the Circle you can access tools designed by accountants for accountants.  And stop re-inventing the wheel!  The Accountants Circle draws on the experiences of its own team, along with the input and demand of its members in providing you with an ongoing development service. This is peer-based collaboration and leverage at its best, albeit with a small monthly membership fee.

As this venture grows, I'm quite curious to see just what they'll be able to offer accountants.  At the moment some of the tools are certainly interesting and should prove great value for many accountants in practice, especially those that deal with SMEs.  These do come personally branded for the practice and can make for some great marketing/promotional tools too.

Examples?   Where shall I start?  Let's try, templates for: preparing management accounts, providing budgets and projections, managing assets and their depreciation.  Remember, if these templates don't suit your needs, you can have them  modified by The Accountants Circle.  The same goes for new templates. If you are looking for a template that's not there yet, ask them to do it for you!  In other words, a bespoke service.   For such a modest monthly membership contribution, it shouldn't be hard to quickly recoup the cost against the value gained in terms of time saved, plus quality and assurance.

So, what are you waiting for.  Just click here and see for yourself.

 

Compliance Problems? Compliance Solutions......

theaccountantscoach is delighted to introduce and recommend PCP.  PCP Limited provides training and consultancy support for accountancy practices worldwide. They offer a range of technical products, courses and on and off site consultancy services to help you to cope with the current vast array of regulatory pressures.  PCP have now teamed up with theaccountantscoach to offer these services and products to visitors to the accountantscoach.com. For more information visit the PCP website at www.pcplimited.com or speak to Michael Scott on 0044 151 625 7042

A problem shared - a problem solved

Click on the link to read  the first re-vamped newsletter from theaccountantscoach - May 2008.  To get personal and professional development tips, especially for accountants, direct to your inbox, email me at info@theaccountantscoach.com

Mind Maps for Accountants

• A system to remember your presentation so you don’t have to read your notes
• A technique that helps you take a project, see the big picture, focus on the key areas and understand all the inter-connections
• A means of making note taking from journals, books, e-articles, quicker, more logical, better organised
• A method for brainstorming that presents ideas logically structured
• An approach to time management, enabling you to focus on your priorities, make efficiencies

How would you like to spend just 10 minutes learning a new skill that will help you in all of the above areas?  In the last year, Mind Mapping has given me all of these rewards and truly revolutionised my approach to knowledge, learning and business.  Read on for the accountant’s introduction to Mind Mapping. 

From BeanCounter to LionTamer: smashing the accountant stereotype

From Beancounter to Liontamer was the subject of my most recent contribution to Accountingweb. You can read the full article here. 
However, the topic of accountant stereotypes is also the subject of my first short stint in stand up comedy.  This summber I've been working with Take A Stand to learn a new trade.  You can read about my exploits in my  monthly newsletter.  To sign up for future newsletters on personal and  professional development technques especially for accountants, email me at info@theaccountantscoach.com.

Health coaching to optimise your well being

Poor concentration?  Fatigue?  Mental fog?  Suspected food sensitivities? Faulty sleep patterns?  Susceptible to every bug that’s going around?  
Sound familiar?
Or perhaps you have multiple health niggles.  Individual niggles which seem too trivial to see a doctor, but en mass they’re affecting your wellbeing. 

If this sounds like you, then I’m delighted to introduce you to someone who can help: Helena Ederveen – my friend, colleague and a past client.
Helena’s a highly experienced Clinical Nutritionist, and Associate Member of the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. She’s lectured all over the world and collaborated with other experts, as passionate as herself, to create her unique solution-focussed service as a Health Coach Adviser.
Helena’s approach is holistic.  Your body works as a system; so merely concentrating on one or more ‘fragments’ such as weight management or sleeping disorders will only take you on the proverbial ‘wild goose chase’!
Her service uses comprehensive biochemistry testing in order to establish what is impairing your health.   In her own words: 'Once you understand what is challenging your health, you can then take charge of your health.  You have an amazing body that will do everything to support you. But you need to listen to your body.’ 
Helena will teach you how to listen to your body.  And once you understand your own biochemistry, you can take your first pro-active steps towards creating beneficial change in your well being.  Helena’s expert, in depth consultation will introduce you to a new way of thinking and set you on the road to a healthy, happy future. 

And there’s more.  By tacking these small niggles now you could be taking the preventive route to avoid: cancer, heart attack, depression, diabetes and many more life-threatening disorders. 
I’m proud to be introducing Helena to my client base in the UK and Europe.  But wherever you are based in the world – she is now able to offer her unique service.  And we’ve collaborated to offer you a very special package. 
To take advantage of this offer and book a free consultation, go to her website A Holistic Health Coach Approach and click on the Contact tab, quoting CMcL as your very special discount code.
Helena’s passionate about health and wellbeing.  Share her passion.  Just imagine what it could mean to you when you learn how to take charge of your own health: working one-to-one with a health coach, focussed 100% on your goals, your actions, your results….

Especially for accountants

You’re a busy accountant.  Over-committed, under pressure, daily challenged.  In an environment of increasing technical complexity.  You want to find ways to work and play smarter.  You long to fulfil your potential in all aspects of your life and work. You want to take control of your career.  Or skill up for the next career move.  How do you find the time to think about any of this?

Who do you turn to when you want to bounce ideas, share your aspirations?  Who can provide a new perspective, a listening ear, a sounding board?  Who can help you make the best of the opportunities you already have, while planning the next move?  You need someone independent of your current career, non-judgemental and wholly confidential. 

The solution: working one-to-one with theaccountantscoach.  To set goals, take action, max your performance.  This is much more than Life Coaching.  Drawing on a long Top 4 accountancy career, both as a practising professional and developing other accountants, theaccountantscoach is the only independent to specialise in coaching the accounting profession across the globe. Using cutting edge techniques, drawing on extensive skills from personal experience in the profession, applying certified coaching expertise, you can have a bespoke coaching programme designed to meet your unique needs.

Choose between face to face, telephone or the innovative e-coaching programme.

And did you know that personal development (as well as professional development) coaching can count  towards your CPD requirment.  Think how relevant and valuable your CPD could be. 

Imagine what you could achieve, working one-to-one with a coach, focussed 100% on your goals,, your actions, your results……. Email now to book your FREE consultation.

info@theaccountantscoach.com

Carol McLachlan BA(Hons) FCA Chartered Accountant NLP Practitioner Results Coach

What the clients say
"I found Carol’s coaching style tremendously helpful to build confidence and to make important decisions in an effective and sustainable way."

"I now realise the talents and skills that I have… The encouragement and support received from my coaching discussions has made me feel 100% more confident in doing the job that I do."

theaccountantscoach is a specialised personal and professional development service designed to support accountants in tapping into their own inherent resources to maximise their personal and career success.  It is run by ex Ernst & Young chartered accountant and coach, Carol McLachan, who can show you that it is often the very smallest changes that can make a really big differences to achieving your potential

Accountants' CPD - The other P in CPD

CPD at this time of year? Well, why not? Last year's declarations are out of the way. You are on the home stretch deadline-wise. It might be time to start reminding yourself of your tentative CPD plans for the year. But have you asked yourself recently, what exactly is it? CPD, that is. Take the DTI’s description: ‘CPD is defined as the holistic commitment to structured skills enhancement and personal or professional competence’.

Did you know that? CPD encompasses personal development too.

Accountancy Training & Development - revised, reborn, refurbished. How you can maximise your ROI on your own Accountancy Training & Development

Accountancy Training & Development. We do lots of it, us accountants, do we not?  Starts with our professional exams, flows on into CPD.  It gives us the technical know-how to achieve our expert status with updates galore. And maybe even a sprinkle of management training thrown in for good measure. And what have you got at the end of it? A pretty generic Accountancy Training & Development programme, that's what. The recipe?  Good old Pareto: 80% technical, 20% softer skills. Bob's your uncle, job done.   

But how often do we consider what our job is really about?  Or look at skills development that would really serve us well?  Or put another way, how often are we sitting through courses or read bumph, that's pretty much irrelevant to real life at the coalface?

I've recently completed a survey of my own accountant coaching clients.  I wanted to understand the one skill or improvement which, if honed, could really be the difference that makes the difference.  What do you think I got back?  Well it wasn't intimate knowledge of IFRS 3 (revised) or nurturing their passion for corporate tax.  This is what they said:

Q&A: small firm to big 4

I am working in a small firm as an audit senior, responsible for preparing accounts (60%) and audit (40%).  I’ve now been offered a job as a Big Four Assistant Manager. I understand that auditing under ISA is about identifying weakness in internal controls and its implications.  However, during my 3 years experience I have never come across such a thing. We normally do substantive testing and follow Kestrian audit programmes.  What's the best way to prepare myself before joining?

Q&A: finding your next audit role

I’m an Internal Audit manager.  I had been making enquiries about alternative employment only to be served with a letter giving me 3 weeks notice (I am entitled to 3 months).  I have been employed with the organisation for 9 years, never had any warnings either verbal or written so I was quite shocked to be treated in this way.  The problem is that I am finding it very difficult to find alternative employment.

When I contact some agencies – I normally either never hear or I get told that the candidate field was very strong and that’s why I have been rejected.  Later I see the advert on a website seeking candidates from perhaps another agency.  What advice can you offer?

Accountants, are you visually, auditory or kinaesthetically preferred?

You'll know by now that we each have a preferred thinking and learning style, from my recent articles.

And now you have the opportunity to identify your own preferences in 3 simple steps:

1. Click and download the list of indicators here: Visual, auditory, Kinaesthetic, which are you? .
2. Switch on your conscious awareness for the next 48 hours.  You are looking to pick up words and phrases you use in both domestic and business environments.  Mark the list as you identify your habitual patterns.
3. At the end of the 2 day period, review your data.  You will discover your tendency towards one or more of the modalities.  

How can you best use your findings?  Contact me at info@theaccountantscoach.com to find out how coaching can help you leverage your individual style. 

Q&A: asking for a raise

I feel 2007 was a very good year in terms of my productivity for the company, how do I approach my boss about a raise? TS

Great start!  You’ve already tied the cost to the benefit.  It might seem obvious but in any commercial organisation, it’s going to be vital to establish that connection between ‘cause and effect’.  You’ve made that link by relating your request for a raise directly to the measurable benefit that you’ve conferred on the company.

Q&A: change of clients

What’s the best way to approach the partnership about changing clients?  NL

First be clear in your own mind why you want to change clients. 

If it is due to a short-term, one off issue relating to chemistry/relationships or ability to do the job, then act now.  It could prove an ethical matter if there are implications in the standard of your work.

However, if it’s more to do with career progression, personal strengths, likes/dislikes then you can afford to take a more measured approach. 

Q&A: from audit to management consultancy

I am very interested in moving from the audit into the general management consulting of my company – what’s the best way to go about this?  WS

This will be a competitive move and first impressions count.  Consequently, before you ‘go live’ with your career aspirations, ensure you are  knowledgeable about the sector, understand what’s expected in the role and can articulate your personal differentiator.  Bearing in mind these three key requirements, here’s some tips to help.