I am working as a Credit Controller for a Leading Transport Industry in the U.K. My role is mostly Credit control and Sales Ledger- Key accounts. The ledger size I handle alone is close to 1.5 million purely commercial debts.Size of the team is 15 credit controller and 2 supervisor and 1 credit Manager.
I would like a serious advice from some one who is experinced regarding how to get a job in Credit Control for Big 4 accountancy firms in the U.K. I have applied to many places and so far I have no luck, main thing of- puting I believe in my C.V is no real experince in B2B or other large industrial experinece. Overall I have 2 years experince only. I am currently doing ACCA and sitting F4 exams this December.
Can someone advice me how can I progress in my career (fasttrack) into big financial firms so to gain extensive experince in Credit control and becoming a Credit manager eventually.
you omit a few key details so I'm making some assumptions in my reply. (Please inform if you have a first from a good Uni and also how old you are as if your in your early twenties with a good quality degree that could change the answer totally).
Assuming such not to be the case I'm really sorry to say it but I feel that you are beating your head against a firmly closed door with that aspiration and I worry that you will waste a lot of time and effort and perhaps allow the more attainable routes to a good career pass you by.
There are only two ways into the big four. Either graduate intake program which will require firsts from a good Uni in real subjects or by becoming someone of interest at another firm and networking with the right people to get noticed.
It sounds as though you are doing well in your role and working towards a quality qualification. That is an excellent foundation to try and get onto the first rung of the ladder but it's going to take a lot of clever career moves to put yourself in the right position for your aspirations.
The worst part is going to be getting onto the ladder that you aspire to climb as you will find that even the lowest tier practices are not going to be interested until you have all of the ACCA exams under your belt which I susect is still about five years away and even then there is a lot of competition to get one of the few roles available that is necessary to move up from ACCA associate to member.
If you aspire to become a credit manager then have you thought of doing the ICM qualification as well as the ACCA one? It's a less crowded route and shows your commitment to Credit Control.
Look forwards to chatting soon,
kind ergards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Thanks replying but I am 27 and donot hold a quality degree as such. Is there any hope for me to get into big firms (maybe not Big 4's then)whilst studying ACCA with study support if possible. Do firms don't prefer Part-Qualified any more?
I thought by doing ACCA i will be more qualified than a ICM diploma holder.
-- Edited by aspa1 on Friday 5th of October 2012 11:06:23 PM
-- Edited by aspa1 on Friday 5th of October 2012 11:07:18 PM
the original reply was really to temper your attempts to break into the big four which for all but a very few will ultimately prove a futile attempt.
Come down the tiers and your PQ status will open doors although to be honest better roles will not open up until you have completed F9 and even then you will be in competition with a lot of others so any experience that you can gain en route puts you in a stronger position further along the path that you have chosen.
I may have confused slightly with the ICM comment. It wasn't instead of but as well as.
I have some exposure to a good quality credit control department of a similar size to yours and it seemed that ACCA was regarded as something special but ICM was an expected qualification for everyone there. (I'm not ICM but I was brought in for diffferent expertise that I have).
If your pathway is Credit Management then a quite specific qualification will help you but the ACCA qualification will mean that you are taken seriously by the wider financial community.
Whatever career path you take you will end up with some bits of paper specific to that path.
Take a look at the ICM exemptions as your ACCA should give to examptions. With some bodies having ACCA will get you exemption right up to membership.
Worth noting is that there are currently 260,000 ACCA students and 110,00 members. KPMG let over 300 accountants go a couple of weeks back due to reduced profit to partner ratios.
In such environment bo matter what you do there is no guarantee of employment but you are putting yourself in better position that those who have not gone down that path.
Having ACCA and ICM and experience will open the doors to a credit manager role. Its going to be a long hard path but I'm sure that with a lot of effort you will get to where you want to be by the time you are 35.
Just as an aside, I'm sure that you have it already but from dealing with the credit control departments of major companies (we're talking Glaxo size) the software that all companies of serious size use is SAP.
If you don't have that yet then maybe you should be looking at a move that will get SAP FICO on your CV whilst working towards the ACCA and ICM qualifications,
Good luck in your career,
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
