Blog > Common misconceptions on starting a career in accountancy
16 June 2022

Common misconceptions on starting a career in accountancy

When you say ‘accountancy’ what springs to mind? Incorrectly it seems to be a world of maths geniuses, spreadsheets, repetitiveness, yawning, brown acrylic jumpers with elbow patches. However, we all readily have access to information and experience that dispel this fiction.

Fortunately, many young accountants aren’t put off by these myths or training requirements and are keen to join the profession. Wilson Partners team includes many past graduates or trainees, so we quizzed them on the misconceptions that they had before starting a career in accountancy… which they all now know as untrue!

  • Repetitiveness. No two days are the same at Wilson Partners. We are never hunched over a spreadsheet crunching numbers. As they say variety is the spice of life!
  • Accountants have to be maths geniuses. Wrong! Many of us accountants have degrees in the arts, sciences or classics and yet are now qualified accountants. Some of us don’t even have degrees! Most of us however are problem solvers and are keen to learn. Life takes you on many paths. Embrace these opportunities.
  • Accountants work on their own. A key part of working in accountancy is teamwork and building relationships – we are often exposed to working with a variety of people in differing industries and can be pivotal in major projects that can change events, such as enforcing regulations.
  • Accountants can be dull. The classic. Most accountants are not introverted or less sociable any more than people in other professions. It’s down to the individual not the career choice as to what their personality traits are. We can safely say that the team at Wilson Partners are diverse in their personality yet still click, nonetheless. Plus our social gatherings can be quite noisy!
  • Accountants can only work at accountancy firms. Accountancy is versatile. You can work in a practice with a variety of clients, or you can work in industry for anything from football clubs to fashion brands. Fit your job around your interests, it’ll keep you growing.
  • It’s just tax. No, its not. It’s also business improvement, payroll, auditing, acquisitions, fundraising, due diligence, wealth management, financial advice, filing with Companies House, end of year statutory reporting, management accounting and cloud accounting helping businesses grow through sound advice and planning. Basically, anything and everything finance related…and whilst plenty of what we do is a legal requirement, the value-add to businesses goes way beyond keeping you compliant.
  • Timesheets. They exist, it’s not a clocking in/out system. Keeping track of time spent on client work makes for easier auditing!

If you want to find out more about starting a career in accountancy, please do feel free to get in touch with Amie Ellison ACA or Alice Pearce ACCA who are both qualified accountants and would be delighted to share their experiences with you.

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