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Hi,
Is £30k a fair salary for a newly qualified (July this year) working in a relatively small practice? I agreed to this before thinking and am wondering if this is too low.
Thanks
Hi,
I have done some research as I am due to sit my final exam in December 14.
If I qualify I will be negotiating 31k to 35k as this seems to be the norm in my area.
I am already liasing with recruitment firms who agree this level is appropriate, however my situation is different. I have 23years of Accounts Practice & Audit experience and have just studied ACCA in the last 3 years.
The reason I took up ACCA is my current firm pay me nowhere near this level and I feel I am worth a lot more.
If I pass and they dont budge then its bye bye!!
Marky
Thanks everyone for your replies,
To answer Carl’s question, I have been working in accountancy for approx 4 years in a small practice. All of our clients operate under FRSSE so no experience to big clients. We do do a Statutory Audit but only one.
TBH I banged out my ACCA as it had been 2 years since my degree graduation so I was still in ‘pass exams’ mode if you know what I mean. I will be speaking to some recruiters today who seem to have found my details and try to get some more info.
I think I more inclined to move into industry so am having a think about that. In relation to why I am unsure about my pay is because I know I can leave for new ventures but don’t want to leave and then realize that it was not what I had hoped.
Regards,
I have had some free time today so have been trawling through some threads. I’ve noticed Carl that you mentioned that you are a hiring manager. What do you look at when assessing an applicant with only practice experience? Are people like desirable to big companies? Although the majority of what I do is statutory related, my work is very varied (management accounts, assurance engagements, VAT), and I believe easily transferable. Will this keep me in good stead with potential industry roles?
I am not gonna be one of those people who just states that salary depends on your experience, skills etc. What I will say is that as a newly qualified based in London, anything less than £35k and you could get more elsewhere. I managed to get £40k as a newly qualified myself, and now 1 year post qualified and I am at nearly £50k.
If I am hiring, I need someone that can do the job. I am generally very busy and although I am more than happy to train people, a proactive approach is welcomed. I would take someone with experience and no qualification over someone part qualified any day, I have seen people who are brilliant at passing exams, but struggle with the actual job, I think ACCA study can sometimes paint a bit more of a glorified picture of an accountants role than it can be, don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I am at the top of the tree, there were times on the way up when doing the monotonous tasks I had to question if I had chosen the right career
I have recently employed someone to deputise me (an assistant financial controller), for that role I looked for someone that knew their way round the GL, had experience of month end reporting, and could do the basic stuff, accruals/prepayments, balance sheet recs, some accounts prep without any supervision. Good excel experience is essential these days too, as a minimum I would expect someone to be comfortable with pivot tables, various formulae etc.. but most people are comfortable with that.
As an industry manager, I would certainly welcome a practice candidate, the work is more varied in industry I think, but can be quite a bit more stressful due to the deadlines etc… and working with non finance people can be incredibly frustrating at times……especially when they run the company
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