First Move Post Contract - Why It's Important

Training Contract? Completed it ?

Firstly, well done on coming to the end of a tough 3 / 3.5 years. A training contract isn’t an easy slog - sure if it was everyone would do it, right? Take comfort in the fact that the majority of those long days of studying & working are behind you (for the most part anyway - we won’t talk about month end ??).?

After spending the past few years in practice, the first real decision a newly qualified accountant comes up against is making their first move post contract. While this might not seem significant, bear in mind that this is the first time that you have properly engaged in the job market since Milkround, or even before if you completed an internship. What roles are on offer? What will my day to day look like? What impact will this have in the long term? This is an absolute minefield, but luckily the team here in Phoenix Search are on hand to help.

Throughout the next few blogs, we're going to tackle this head on. But first of all, let’s look at where you want to work. Company structure plays a huge role in the type of experience and exposure you can get, but is often overlooked. Let’s delve deeper into the typical four options:?

Group Function

This is where the Global CFO & CEO sit and, naturally, where the high level strategic decisions are made. From a finance perspective, different business units feed information in and consolidation activity takes place. This information is used to guide the overall direction of the Group, but is often somewhat removed from the day to day activity of the business.?

Shared Service Centres / Centres of Excellence / Finance Hubs

For global businesses with operations in multiple jurisdictions, it often makes sense for them to centralise certain functions, including finance. Think about it - having all finance talent sit together, share knowledge & streamline processes makes sense, right? In this environment, financial and statutory accounting takes place, with information streaming to the Group function to be consolidated & inform decision making.?

Strategic Business Unit

A strategic business unit (or SBU) is a relatively autonomous division of a large company that operates as an independent enterprise with responsibility for a particular range of products or activities. These can also focus on specific areas (i.e. the Irish market). Strategic business units are able to work independently to create strategic approaches that are different from the organisation, but are still accountable to the overall Group and feed information here.?

SME

The most popular form of business in Ireland (68.5% of the workforce are employed here), SME’s are defined as any organisation that has fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than €50 million. Accounting roles here are often all encompassing, with broad exposure offered across all areas of finance (financial accounting, payroll, analysis, budgeting, etc.)?

As you can see, company structure has a massive impact - activities undertaken in an SME are hugely different from those in a group function. There is no “right answer” as to what is the best option, it is all down to what you want from work and, importantly, in the long run.?

Interested in discussing your career and not just your next more? Feel free to reach out for a confidential chat or contact [email protected]