Chiefs & Indians

Despite the current economic “crisis”, I still read in the newspapers that Accounting will remain a wanted profession, (in Australia anyway) and a quick check around seek.com.au tells me there’re still plenty of jobs being advertised.

Even in the latest Charter magazine (the magazine for ICAA members) it had an article talking about how an organisation can attract and retain quality candidates, starting from those youngsters who just graduated from high school – the message is, get them early before someone else does!

So in light of this, how many times have you heard accounting firms saying – “We will offer you a structured career path with plenty of development opportunities”?

Let’s face it, the life in an accounting firm is this: Undergraduate -> Graduate -> Intermediate -> Senior -> Supervisor -> Manager -> Senior Manager -> Director / Partner

Even though I have not been in this profession for very long, this seems to be the typical “career path”. But the truth is, how many of us are interested in becoming a partner? I know I’m not. How many people have you seen leave public practice accounting straight after they finish their CPA or CA?

How many times have you heard that there aren’t enough experienced staff? Is it a myth? How come I look around my office and see Senior Accountants twiddling their thumbs struggling to charge a unit, while all of the unallocated jobs are labelled – “Graduate / Intermediate Level”? Is it the case of too many Chiefs and not enough Indians?

Are the seniors stuck in a life of reviewing junior staff’s work (let’s face it, it can be mind numbing at times) or doing ad hoc advice work which means you never have a steady stream of work? In theory, it’s not so bad (more challenging work, less compliance boredom). But in practice, how will they charge the required 60 odd to 70 units a day?