Specialise or Generalise

2007newlyweds

While training is it better to be in a more part-qual specialised role (e.g. audit) or a more generalised role (assistant accountant)

peugeot

It would all depend on what your career aspirations are. If you want to work in practice then a training contract gained in practice would mean that you would be expected to gain exposure to all practice work, not just specialisms such as audit but all areas, such as tax, assurance, business advisory, payroll etc etc. If you worked for either a mid-tier firm or a large company you would essentially move around departments.

If you worked in Industry then you would also gain various knowledge of the company's accounting processes, for example, purchase and sales ledger, nominal ledger, payroll, credit control and assisting the accountant/financial controller/director with ad-hoc duties.

When I was a student I started out in Industry and for the last 9 years have worked in practice (where I eventually qualified). This is not the norm - usually trainees get a training contract, qualify, leave and go into industry (I did it a bit skew-wift in that I left industry, went in to practice, got a training contract and then qualified and stayed in practice). All very confusing (even to me and I was the one that did it!!!) Like I say, it's all down to personal ambition.

Best regards
Steve