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In Conversation with Gareth John: How First Intuition is Inspiring the Next Generation of Accountants

To mark International Day of Accounting, we caught up with Gareth John, Policy Director at First Intuition, one of the UK’s leading providers of professional accountancy training.With a career spanning nearly three decades in both practice and education, Gareth shares his insights on the different routes into the profession, the habits that define successful students, and how the industry has evolved in recent years.Walk us through what First Intuition does and how it supports aspiring accountants? First Intuition is a professional education and training provider offering courses in accountancy, leadership & management and digital & data. From our early days in 2007 when we opened our first training centre in London we have now grown to over 500 staff working across 25 locations in the UK. In recent years we have seen huge growth in our accountancy apprenticeship programmes, as the vast majority of the employers we work with now take advantage of the huge benefits they deliver. Our support for aspiring accountants studying the AAT, ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW qualifications is extremely broad. We deliver technical exam training through classroom and online courses, with plenty of tutor support and award-winning study resources. In addition to this qualification ‘knowledge’ that we help our learners get to grips with, we also have a fantastic Impact Skills Programme to help them develop critical employability skills and behaviours such as communication, critical thinking and teamworking. Our apprentices also benefit from the support of our teams of dedicated skills coaches who provide pastoral support and encouragement as they progress through their programmes. We also offer lots of wellbeing and mental health support to the students in our care, as the exams they face can be very challenging and can cause anyone to suffer from anxiety and stress. What are the different qualification pathways people can take into accounting? In recent years there has been a big trend amongst employers of trainee accountants towards increasing use of school-leaver recruitment using the AAT pathway, often under apprenticeship programmes from level 2 to level 4. AAT can be a great entry-point into the accountancy qualification for a range of aspiring accountants from school leavers to mature career changers, and there are a wide variety of classroom and online course options which learners can choose from to suit their ambitions and lifestyles. After completing AAT many of those successful individuals will carry on to study for one of the higher-level accountancy qualifications such as ACCA, CIMA or ICAEW to become fully qualified accountants. Graduate recruitment remains another important pathway into the accountancy profession. Individuals with degrees normally study for the ACCA, CIMA or ICAEW qualifications. Some trainees may have exemptions from early exams depending upon their degree discipline, but they will still need to gather three years of work experience to become qualified. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in accounting today? Be curious! Ask lots of questions about what you are doing in your training, and why you are doing it. You can’t ever ask too many questions. The other big piece of advice I would give is to expect qualifying as an accountant to be hard, and to not worry too much if they fail the odd exam here or there. Accountancy qualifications such as ACCA, CIMA and ICAEW are some of the most challenging exams in the world, and the range of subjects studied is so broad that even the brightest student will find some of the exams very difficult. The main thing to remember is that it is this very difficulty which means that these are amongst the most prestigious and well-recognised qualifications in the world, which will allow you to have an amazing career and life! See the difficulty as a good thing. Embrace the difficulty! What qualities or habits tend to set apart the most successful accounting students or trainees? Discipline is extremely important. Even the most capable students need to develop a solid study routine in order to learn large syllabuses, practice plenty of test questions and attempt some mock exams, all before the real exam rolls around. And that’s often on top of a full-time job and a social life. Resilience is also essential. You need to be able to persist with study material you find complicated, and to bounce back from any exam failures, maintaining a belief that you are capable of success if you show enough determination. Tell us a bit about your own career journey. I fell into training as a Chartered Accountant because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life! An accountancy qualification felt like it would keep lots of doors open for me to move into lots of different career options, with lots of different types of employer, and possibly in lots of different parts of the world. Once I qualified as a Chartered Accountant I moved into professional training as an accountancy tutor as I really enjoyed helping other people to grasp complex ideas and see them fulfil their potential. This move into training was when I knew that I had truly found my vocation, something that I really loved, and still love today nearly 30 years later. In recent years I have been involved in helping to grow the First Intuition business across the country to our current scale. I personally opened a number of our training centres, and I still get a real buzz from setting something up from scratch and seeing it develop over time. I really love the depth of personal relationships that I currently have with employers of trainee accountants in many parts of the UK, and getting to understand the issues and frustrations that they face and which I can feed back to the awarding bodies we deliver qualifications for. How has the industry changed since you started out? In some respects the industry has changed an enormous amount. Accountancy has been one of the first sectors of the economy to really embrace tech automation and now AI, which has transformed the kind of tasks that accountants perform, and the skills they need. Accountants are now far more influential as business advisors than as number crunchers. The next big change starting to affect the profession is the roles that accountants can take on. In other respects though, the accountancy sector still relies on the same basic principles that it did when I was a trainee thirty years ago; professional scepticism, integrity and ethical behaviour are as relevant in the digital age as they ever have been.Gareth’s insights highlight just how rewarding and varied a career in accountancy can be. Whether you’re beginning your journey through AAT, progressing to ACCA, CIMA, or ICAEW, or supporting others in their training, the blend of technical knowledge, personal discipline, and professional integrity remains at the heart of success.We’d like to thank Gareth and the team at First Intuition for their continued commitment to developing the next generation of finance professionals and for sharing their expertise in celebration of International Day of Accounting.If you’re an aspiring accountant looking to take the next step in your career—or a business seeking talented finance professionals to join your team—our specialist consultants at Sharp Consultancy are here to help.Visit our Job Searchor Client Page to find out more about how we can support your journey in the world of accountancy and finance.

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What are payroll professionals looking for from employers when considering their next move?

Sharp Consultancy offers candidates and clients a team of highly experienced specialist consultants who are immersed in the region’s transactional finance market and can offer expert knowledge and unrivalled understanding of the marketplace.

All this week, we have been highlighting some of the key trends and issues affecting the market which has seen our team of specialist consultants share their in-depth knowledge and expertise to offer the best possible recruitment advice to employers and candidates working in the sector.

To round off National Payroll Week (Mon 6 – Fri 10 Sep), Liam Connolly, Consultant offers advice to those considering their next career move.

Payroll professionals have very successfully adapted to remote working over the last 18 months. Most candidates are now looking to continue in this vein and in many cases are seeking out a hybrid of remote working and office based working practices which allow for greater flexibility whilst retaining regular in-person contact with their colleagues. Additionally, as the CIPP has become more recognised candidates are much more forthcoming about requesting study support to pursue further qualifications, and in line with this, opportunities for progression are also of high importance to candidates.

Currently, the market is very candidate light; for many, the motivation that they had to move say, 18 months ago, simply isn’t there. With many businesses overhauling their approach to flexible and home working due to the pandemic, a vast number of ‘reasons to move’ have somewhat vanished almost overnight. The removal of lengthy commutes, achieving a better work life balance, reducing face-to-face contact with difficult team members, have all contributed significantly to a higher reluctance to look for new roles. And as a more ‘balanced’ approach to office and home-based work becomes more of the norm, businesses will need to work much harder to develop and promote their own individual USPs around culture, progression opportunities, training pathways and increasing responsibilities to attract top talent to their organisation. Candidates must be savvy when it comes to weighing up these nuances and not be swayed simply by the promise of a higher salary or better benefits.

In the first instance, candidates should have a clear reason for wanting to make a move from their current role, whether this is to achieve a better salary, gain a higher level of responsibility or desire to explore similar roles within a different industry sector. It is vital that candidates can align what their potential new employer is looking for with specifics about their current role and are able to speak in detail about key aspects of their skills and experience such as volume of payroll, weekly or monthly frequency, timesheet staff etc; they also must look at each company’s own objectives and understand how they will be able to help them achieve their career ambitions.

Those candidates who can offer knowledge and experience that may be valuable to a new employer - for example awareness of international payroll, understanding of pension deductions and furlough scheme contributions - will find that they are able to stand out from the crowd and secure the pick of available opportunities. And as the requirements of payroll professionals evolve and the role is viewed less as an administrative position and with more emphasis upon value-added management information, it is vital to ensure the right personality and culture fit along with a skill set fit that is right for both parties.

Integrating new employees has been a challenge for many businesses in recent times; ensuring that new employees receive the right amount of attention, training and integration from the outset whilst working remotely has presented opportunities to explore new methods for team meetings, developing strong support networks and utilising one-to-one training via virtual platforms. Candidates are keener than ever to understand the onboarding process and employers that blend flexible working patterns, attractive training and progression opportunities and a positive work environment will find themselves in the strongest position to secure the best talent.

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent transactional finance professionals across the full spectrum of roles including accounts payable, credit control, payroll and purchase ledgers. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT US today to find out more.