If money makes the world goes round, then the finance sector is what greases its cogs. As the recent Enron and Worldcom scandals have demonstrated, the responsibility and power wielded by accountants and actuaries is considerable. There has probably never been a time when the world has been more aware of the financial support sector, which makes it a challenging and exciting time to enter the field.

The sector is broadly divided up into two halves - actuarial and accountancy work. While accountants regulate and run business finance, actuaries tend to concentrate on risk assessment and long term planning, taking stock of a complete range of financial considerations to formulate strategy (generally in a greater depth and level of expertise than consultancy). Options for developing skills inside the sector are numerous, as are the range of accountancy firms (both in the public and private sectors, and varying in size).

The Way In

All the big accountancy firms and many other niche organisations recruit in the milkround, though if you do initially miss the boat accountancy recruitment agencies may be able to help - especially if you'd prefer to work in a smaller firm. As studying for and sitting the many and varied accountancy and actuarial exams is an expensive process, most firms will sponsor graduates through their training.

Accountancy qualification boards:

Chartered accountants: - Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (ICAEW, ICAS, ICAI)

Certified Accountants: - Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

Management Accountants: - Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

Public Finance Accountants: -
 - Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
 - Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) 
 - Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)

Masters in Finance Qualification

The Masters in Finance postgraduate qualification is becoming increasingly popular, perhaps because it offers the attractive combination of vocational training and a broad scope of areas within the sector (at the London Business School, for example, the four core courses are Foundations of Finance, Capital Markets and Financing, Corporate Finance and Valuation, and Financial Accounting and Analysis). Most institutions offer the option of full or part-time study, emphasizing the vocational nature of the qualification. The majority of people on the course take it as a career break or in evening classes, and as with the MBA, experience in the sector is advisable before starting the course.

Key Skills

In addition to an strong enthusiasm for all things financial and business, communication skills are a must in the sector, as a crucial part of both accountants' and actuaries' jobs is to communicate solutions to their clients' problems - such a solution is effectively useless if the client doesn't understand what it is! Basic numeracy is obviously expected of all accountants and actuaries, though this need not be substantiated with Maths qualifications beyond GCSE level. Though the hours are long, work is quite structured, so there will be a definite sense of accomplishment on project completion.

Pay & Lifestyle

Pay and career level is primarily determined by membership of accountancy houses, achieved by passing exams - you can't call yourself a chartered accountant before passing an exam to join a chartered institute. This in effect means that you will have to spend much of your first months in the job studying as well as working, which makes for a demanding start. However, the advantage of all this is that the pay increases with qualifications, so you can expect a pretty decent wage.

Roles

Accounts Executive

The agency’s main contact point for clients – typically handles all the logistics of managing clients’ accounts and strategy, including monitoring the progress of projects.

Accounts Planner

Concerned with the relevance of advertisments to their target audience and their effectiveness in the market place. This will involve liason with market researchers and focus groups, and reporting back to both the agency and client to maximise impact in present and future campaigns.

Media Staff/Planners

Similar to the accounts planners, but primarily liasing with the media in order to ensure the clients are getting the best possible exposure. This will have some element of design as well as liason.

Creative Staff

The hub of the operation, envisioning innovative and imaginative ways to sell campaigns. Creative work is team-based, and can be as much design- as concept-orientated.

PR Officer

Project management: In arts administration, the project manager (as the name indicates) will take overall responsibility for the financial and logistical operation of the organisation (but not the creative side). The manager is also in charge of delegation of staff, effectively a human as well as physical resource manager.