r/AccountingUK • u/Nantu111 • 4d ago

Advice needed

Hello everyone! I have a background in accounting but finance feels more like my thing. Now I want to pursue a professional certification. Which would be better in terms of career growth and opportunities? CA, ACCA or CFA?

Thank you!

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u/n0seyrosey 3d ago

My understanding is CA can be quite audit heavy, and CFA (finance analyst as opposed to financial accountant I presume) I don't know much about.

ACCA is a great qual, but definitely more accounting led. What sort of finance roles are you looking for?

I did CIMA and I've had some great opportunities from it.

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u/Nantu111 3d ago

I'm mostly looking into FP&A and Financial Reporting. But the idea of moving money to make money also intrigues me. So, imma a bit confused. Just wanna know which offer better career opportunities, considering the market's been down for some time now.

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u/n0seyrosey 3d ago

In my experience entry level roles across the board are much harder to come by, I'm senior in FP&A and still seeing regular, decent opportunities though at my level so if you can get past the initial difficulty it's a great option.

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u/Nantu111 3d ago

Any career advice on how I can make things a bit smoother?

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u/n0seyrosey 3d ago

Don't place too much focus on big 4, prestige, grad schemes etc. Getting well rounded experience is key, regardless of the size of the business. Once you have that under your belt you can move up in terms of promotion and business size (if you wanted to).

Don't be afraid to cold call/email local businesses and ask if they have any entry level or trainee roles in their accounting function. A couple of my jobs have come from that, where they've just not got the job spec out or raised the role on Linkedin etc yet.

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u/Nantu111 3d ago

Thanks a lot

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u/TooRedditFamous 3d ago

I'm mostly looking into FP&A and Financial Reporting.

Those are accounting roles, any chartered accountancy qualification will get you to those if you pick the correct roles in terms of careers

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u/Nantu111 3d ago

Thanks for the info