What’s an alternative career for an accountant?
From risk management to trading stocks and bonds, here are 10 answers to the question, “What’s an alternative career path an accountant could consider?”
- Risk Management
- Project Management
- Accounting Professor
- Military Analyst
- Personal Financial Advisor
- Business Analyst
- Chef
- Money Writer And/Or Blogger
- Commercial Financial Broker
- Trading Stocks & Bonds
Risk Management
Risk management professionals help organizations identify, assess, and prioritize risks to their business operations. They develop strategies and implement measures to mitigate or eliminate these risks, with the goal of protecting the organization’s assets, reputation, and financial stability. Overall, risk management can be a good fit for accountants who are interested in using their analytical and financial skills to help organizations identify, assess, and mitigate risks to their operations.
Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing & Outreach Manager, UK Passport Photo
Project Management
A position in project management may appeal to an accountant who is prepared to adopt a more comprehensive perspective of the workforce that makes up the organization. Accountants are skilled at managing processes and have the perseverance to see tasks through to completion. They are adept at managing deadlines and know how their efforts influence organizational leaders’ choices.
Project managers, meanwhile, have time management and problem-solving skills that have already been established and developed by accountants. Thus, a job in project management can be fairly intuitive and a smooth transition that can be right for you if you’re an accountant looking to change career paths.
Peter Bryla, Community Manager, Resumelab
Accounting Professor
Accounting is a field full of potential career paths. Accounting professionals who are looking to deviate from their current roles might want to consider teaching at the collegiate level and becoming an Accounting Professor.
Teaching Accounting can provide excellent prospects for those with enough experience in the field, as the demand for Accounting Professors continues to grow due to increasing student enrollments. Accounting Professors are also able to enjoy a good salary compared with other accounting jobs, as well as job security and the pride that comes from passing on one’s professional knowledge and helping to develop young Accounting minds.
Jim Campbell, Owner, Camp Media
Military Analyst
Accountants are immensely talented individuals who can work in any institution with finances. An accountant can be a great asset in military operations, as the big crime sector, warmongers, and terrorists always leave a lot of paper trails whenever they are handling money. This fact makes it vital for an accountant to be involved with the military, as they will be tasked with following finances to help combat crimes in the country.
Yongming Song, CEO, Live Poll For Slides
Personal Financial Advisor
Become a personal financial advisor. With their analytical thinking, detail orientation, and research skills, accountants make great candidates for the position in question. The main role of a personal financial advisor is to help individuals manage their finances. It involves providing advice on investments, insurance, estate planning, taxes, and more. To become successful and credible in this job, you need to keep studying financial trends. It will help you make great investment recommendations for your clients.
As a personal financial advisor, you’ll also have to be good both at numbers and at people. Interpersonal skills and empathy are essential when you’re following this career path. Last but not least, the median annual wage for a personal financial advisor is $94,170, which makes this career option even more attractive for accountants, I believe.
Agata Szczepanek, Community Manager, Livecareer
Business Analyst
You can work as a business analyst if the strategic aspect of business appeals to you and you want to contribute to streamlining business procedures. Business analysts employ their analytical and problem-solving abilities to find inefficiencies, gather and present data on relevant processes, and suggest reasonably priced fixes. Additionally, they might carry out variance analysis and forecasts while collaborating closely with management.
Because a working knowledge of accounting and finance is necessary, this is a viable alternative career for accountants. Consider obtaining a certification in Microsoft Excel, Power BI, or another data analysis application to make the move smoother, since you also need to have a skill set that includes data analysis.
Janie Doyle, Marketing Director, Scvehiclehire
Chef
Accounting is a highly rewarding field that is prime for career growth. But there are many other fields an accountant could explore for their next career move. One option could be becoming a chef; the culinary industry requires complex budgeting and financial decision-making – skills an accountant would have at the ready with their background. It’s also possible to combine both accounting and chef talents, becoming a chef and accountant.
This profession melds both quantitative and qualitative analysis to help chef clients identify potential areas of improvement, providing efficiency and optimization in their business operations. With such unique credentials, they could serve as valuable assets in both minority-owned restaurants as well as global conglomerates.
Rob Smith, Head Chef, Your Private Chef
Money Writer And/Or Blogger
Money writer and/or blogger. This is a complete shift from the career an accountant is used to, but it’s a viable option in 2023. So much of the internet is focused on offering money advice, and accountants can use their knowledge and experience to benefit from this. An accountant can build their online image by providing advice to people and, in return, build an online company for themselves.
Through website ads, affiliate programs, influencer marketing initiatives, and so much more, an accountant could be quite profitable. It might take some time and the person will have to be smart and strategic about their decisions, but it is a very viable option as an alternative career path for an accountant.
Shaun Connell, Founder and CEO, Credit Building Tips
Commercial Financial Broker
Accountants are highly skilled assets to businesses, and a good one is worth their weight in gold. Given their understanding of financial reporting, ability to make fact-driven decisions, and network of business owners, a career as a commercial financial broker would be a great fit. At some stage, every growing business requires finance to take their business to the next level; however, accessing finance can be very challenging, as a lender’s requirements can be endless, and navigating the jargon only adds to the difficulty.
An accountant moving into this field would likely have an established network, good financial understanding, and a trustworthy reputation, which would allow them to fast-track their career and hit the ground running.
Greg Ashall, Founder, Get Business Funding
Trading Stocks & Bonds
One career path an accountant could consider is trading stocks and shares. This type of trading involves buying and selling stocks, bonds, and other securities with the aim of generating profits from changes in price. Accountants who pursue this career can use their knowledge of financial markets, investment strategies, and accounting principles to make informed decisions about when to buy or sell various securities.
Mark Mcshane, Marketing Director, Birmingham First Aid Courses
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