Senior Manager - Natalie Seymour

Well, it turns out that accounting isn’t that boring after all. Although those considering audit might want to take a careful look at what’s involved.

Accountancy was cited by almost everyone as a brilliant place to get a solid understanding of business and many people exploit the training as a springboard into other careers both within finance and more broadly (such as management consultancy). This makes it a pretty good option for those who aren’t entirely sure which direction to take but who want a solid qualification from which to build.

The exact qualification you sign-up to will depend on what interests you and what slant you want your training to have. Typically at the big 4 you’ll be going for the ACA, which probably has the edge in terms of prestige. If you’re interested in being an accountant within a business then you’ll be heading in the direction of CIMA. Public service has its own specialised training and that’s CIPFA.

Something that may seem a little counter intuitive is that you don’t actually have to be a math geek to be successful in this industry. Whilst it might help for more specialized areas such as tax and actuarial work, most people we spoke to didn’t have a clue what the whole top row of a calculator does!

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Natalie Seymour and I'm now a semi-senior in the accounts department here at Hale & Co.

What is Accountancy?

It's looking after company's accounts, making sure at the end of the year they know how much profit they've made or lost and they can easily understand how we've got to the figures and we can put it into a format that everybody can read.

What attracted you to this career?

I did my A-Levels and I was always interested in maths and that seemed to be the thing I was good at so when I left I decided not to go to university and went to look for a job in accounts. I registered with a recruitment company that specialised with accountancy jobs and I found my first job in Henley where I worked in an audit department as a junior straight from the bottom where they trained me up until I had some exams behind me and I could further myself and find a better job for myself.

What does your job involve?

My job here involves a lot of book-keeping for large companies and small companies. There are accounts prep jobs, some audits and tax work so you cover quite a lot of work here. Accounts prep is literally, you will get a year's worth of information from a company and we'll get all that information together and put it into a format that's easily understood by the client and also you have to register it at Companies House so not only the client understands it but other people looking at it can easily see what's gone on in that year. The book-keeping is literally looking after a company's accounts on a day to day basis so everything that's paid and received, we look after every single entry. The tax side is probably coming into the accounts prep thing actually, it's when we do the company tax, we calculate that and then produce a computation that has all the figures in on that.

What do you do on a typical day?

I get into the office, the phone is ringing, it's different clients all the time so you have to be quite on the ball as to who's ringing you and what they want, what they need. I actually go out to clients three times a week so I go out to see some of our bookkeeping clients. Emails come in left right and centre and any other work that comes into the office to be done, you will pick that up as well.

What are the speicialisms within your industry?

There's so many. You could specialise in audit and completely leave behind everything I've mentioned before, bookkeeping, accounts pre and tax. You can also specialise in tax, personal tax, company tax or you can go into solvency and you can become a standalone bookkeeper, there are so many different ones. We do have people who specialise in different things here. We have managers and partners in different departments who specialise in those things. As you progress you can work your way up to specialising as a partner in one department.

Why did you choose to work at a small firm?

What put me off going to a bigger firm is the lack of experience you get because obviously with a bigger firm there are a lot more people and you get put into a certain department and you're working on a very very small section whereas coming into a smaller firm you get experience and you get exposed to so much more which probably benefits you while you're training and then later on you can apply to a big firm and come in at high level with a lot of background experience which you wouldn't have got before.

Why did you choose the ACA qualification?

I'm actually going to be starting ACA in September. I just think it's a more recognised qualification. There's not much difference between them but I think it sounds better.

Do you have to study in the evenings after work?

You get study breaks. It depends again where you work. Some places let you have study leave and you will be out as block release so a few weeks at a time. Other places you have to do it evenings and weekends. Luckily here you can do it during work hours so block release is what I'll be doing.

What are the best bits about your job?

Probably looking after our biggest client which is quite high profile. They are a new client so I had to build up my relationship with them and keep them happy 24 hours a day. I've really made that quite solid now so that's probably one of the best things about the job I think.

What are the worst bits about your job?

The worst bit is probably repetitive work. Sometimes on the bookkeeping side it can be a bit mundane and a little bit boring but once you've done it you've got it out of the way.

What has been your greatest achievement?

Probably the biggest achievement is actually getting into this kind of field because my parents were quite old fashioned and wanted me to go to university and I said, no way, I'm not going and I managed to actually prove them wrong and got myself a job, worked my way up and it's 7 years later and I'm doing quite well for myself.

Any regrets?

Possibly a few things but nothing major because I think the first company I worked for I got exposed to so much and the training I got there was brilliant and it actually helped me get on the stepping stone to the job I've got here so I'm still quite young and I think I've probably done the right thing so far.

What is the pay like and are there any perks?

Obviously in a smaller firm you're going to get paid slightly less but as I mentioned before the other side of it is you get more experience. As you get your exam success you pay is going to go up and you will eventually hit the target you want.

How long is a working day and do you have to work out of hours?

Here it's 9 to 5.30. Overtime when required but it's extremely rare so no overtime and its nice that way.

Is there much in the way of travel?

The clients I go to see are fairly local to here so I don't do much travelling at all.

Do you have to be based anywhere in particular?

You can do it pretty much anywhere. You'll find that a lot of clients will probably use a more local accountant so wherever you work you'll end up working for those but if you work for a bigger firm in London the client spread is obviously a bit bigger.

What is the working environment like?

We do have a dress code, it's quite smart. Obviously clients coming in and out every single day means you have to look your best when they come in, first impressions count. The atmosphere is actually fairly relaxed. Sometimes it can get a bit tense when there are deadlines to meet but in all it's actually a really good working atmosphere and everybody is on hand to help you if you need help with a problem or advice so it's quite a nice buzz.

How did you get into your job?

When I signed up with the recruitment company I said, I want to get into accounts but I don't know anything about how to get into it, where do I look, what kind of job do I want? So this job came up in a firm a little bit bigger than this. When I had my interview they explained I could go on at college, do a course called AAT, move up through those exams which will then give you a stepping stone onto chartered or certified. They explained everything to me so I signed up at college. It's a three year course but you can do it in a shorter amount of time. I spread mine out quite a lot because I had other things going on so it's something you can pick up and put aside when it suits you. There's no time limit on when you need to do it and how long it takes. I think they are both as good as each other. The only upside on doing it the way I've done it is you obviously get experience as you train so when you finish the AAT you come out at the second level as a graduate but you have 3 years experience behind you that others haven't got so that's something to put on your CV.

What's the application process like?

When I had mine it was two interviews, I had my first with one of the managers and the second with the partners. I literally found out about the job through word of mouth but they do advertise in the local paper when they're looking for staff.

What are the key skills required for your job?

I think somebody who is really focused and really willing to take everything on board, good or bad. You've got to take criticism for something you did wrong because you'll never do it wrong again but you've also got to be quite hard working because obviously it's people's money and businesses you are looking after.

What's your top tip for breaking into your industry?

I think it's probably personality as well. Obviously the company wants to employ someone who is going to fit in with everybody else so you have to come across as if you will be able to do that, mix with a range of people, range of ages and be able to handle yourself when you are talking to clients as well.

What's the career progress and how quickly can you move up the career ladder?

Again, that comes with your training. The further you get with your exams the higher you get in your company structure and that obviously gets your pay to be increase and I think I came in here as accounts trainee and now I'm a semi-senior so I've worked my way up now.

How does the role change over time?

Yes, there's a lot more responsibility and I think you worry about the jobs a lot more because it's down to you and not to anybody else. We have a few younger people. I wouldn't say I manage them at all but you are obviously there to help them when they have problems like I was when I first started I suppose.

Is there scope for movement during or after this career?

There's plenty of scope for movement, that's probably one of the reasons I came into this sector because you can work in an accountancy firm, you can set up on your own, you can work from home, you can go into industry. There are so many paths you can take, once you are qualified you can go anyway.

What are the industry resources that someone interested in joining must know about?

As a student I obviously get an Accountancy magazine once a month sent to me. Unless you are a registered student you don't get that magazine but things like the Financial Times is something to pick up but if you actually go on the internet and look on these training websites they will give you an overview of everything you need to know and where to look and how to register.

Is there anything you would have liked to have known when starting out?

When I was looking for a job I wish I'd known a lot more about the training side of things. When you're looking for a job, nobody tells you where to go to college, where to do the training and it's only when you actually speak to somebody in an interview and you bring it up that they can actually answer some of your questions so I think people obviously need to make students more aware of where they can go to find this information.

If you weren't in this career, what would you be doing?

I probably would have gone into fashion I think, something that's quite fun but I never had the guts to go out and do something like that.