Pexels N Voitkevich 8927687

Trainee Accountant to Senior: How to Progress in Practice (Quickly!)

​Throughout my career as a specialist recruiter in professional practice, I’ve had the privilege of working with many talented, ambitious accountants, and some have progressed faster than others. While every journey is unique, there are clear patterns in what helps people move from trainee roles into more senior finance jobs within professional practice. Drawing from this experience, I’ve put together a set of strategies any accountant can adopt to accelerate their career up the professional practice ladder. These tactics have proven to be highly effective for those aiming to achieve their professional goals efficiently and successfully. ​​Embrace Increasing Responsibility​As you begin your career in accountancy, the scope of your duties often starts with basic tasks such as data entry, reconciling accounts, and preparing reports. While these tasks are important for building a foundation, taking on more responsibility is key to developing the skills and experience needed for progression in practice.Start by volunteering for more complex tasks that stretch your skillset, such as handling larger client accounts, managing financial forecasting, or (if possible) participating in audits. These challenges will expose you to new aspects of accountancy and allow you to learn beyond the day-to-day duties. Another way to progress quickly is by taking on leadership roles within a team or department. Taking on the responsibility of overseeing junior staff, delegating tasks, and ensuring deadlines are met can significantly enhance your development and provide you with the invaluable ‘management experience’ which is essential for trainee accountants looking to advance to the next step in their professional practice careers. ​Continuous Learning and Self-Development​As you challenge yourself with new responsibilities, actively pursuing knowledge and development goes hand in hand with completing further qualifications. Traditionally, most accountants I work with are newly or nearly AAT qualified which is a fantastic accomplishment in itself but for those with aspirations of climbing the ladder the next step should be further studies. Qualifications such as the ACA, ACCA or CTA (depending on your chosen specialism) will allow you to strengthen your technical expertise. It’s worth mentioning here that a good training contract and mentor are invaluable for the next step in your journey and should be a big factor when deciding to look for a new role after completing your AAT. ​Finding a Mentor Another important aspect of progressing quickly in accountancy is developing relationships with more experienced colleagues, supervisors, and managers. By seeking mentorship from more experienced professionals, you can gain insights into how they managed their career progression. Also, they can guide you in taking on appropriate challenges and responsibilities and help you navigate the complexities of the profession. Many of the most successful finance professionals credit their career growth to strong mentorship relationships established early in their journey. ​Networking​Networking is one of the most underutilised tools for career progression in finance. While it might feel intimidating at first, networking allows you to connect with and learn from likeminded individuals, stay informed about trends in professional practice, and discover new opportunities. One of the primary reasons networking is important is that it helps build valuable relationships that can last your career. By connecting with colleagues, senior professionals, and other stakeholders, you gain access to a wealth of knowledge, insights, and opportunities that can propel your career forward. Ultimately, networking is not just about what you can gain but also about what you can offer to others. By fostering meaningful relationships, you contribute to a collaborative and supportive community that benefits everyone involved. Here at Sharp Consultancy, we host events across the year and have a long-standing relationship with various institutions and training groups including S&DCASS (Sheffield and District Chartered Accountants Student Society), LCASS (Leeds Chartered Accountants Students Society) and First Intuition to host events that bring studiers together from various firms throughout Yorkshire. It really is a brilliant first step in your networking journey. ​Whether you're just starting out or already on your way up, accelerating your career in professional practice comes down to a mix of mindset, opportunity, and action. By embracing responsibility, committing to continuous learning, building genuine relationships, and tapping into the right support networks, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to thrive. If you’d like to explore how to take that next step—or just want to chat through your options—I’d love to hear from you. Let’s connect and start shaping your future together. Charlie Marper, Business Manager, charliemarper@sharpconsultancy.com – 0114 261 1700 ​Looking for your next career move in finance or accountancy? At Sharp Consultancy, our expertise lies in matching your potential with the perfect temporary, interim, or permanent position. With a well-established presence in Leeds and Sheffield, our seasoned team of consultants extends their services across Yorkshire and beyond. Don't wait for opportunity to knock, reach out to us TODAYand let's chart your career path together. ​

Read article

Sharp Consultancy - Terms and Conditions

​​This page (together with the documents referred to on it) tells you (‘users,’ ‘user,’ ‘you’ or ‘your’) the terms of use with which you may make use of our website www.sharpconsultancy.com (“our site”). Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use the site. By using our site, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, please refrain from using our site

Information about us

www.sharpconsultancy.com is a site operated by Sharp Consultancy Limited (‘Sharp’, ‘Sharp Consultancy’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’), and our registered address is at Sharp Consultancy, 202 Meadowhall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 1BN.

To contact us, please write to us at Sharp Consultancy, 202 Meadowhall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 1BN or email contact@sharpconsultancy.com

Accessing our site

We process information about you in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. By using our site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is true and accurate.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our site.  You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms, and that they comply with them.

Access to our site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on our site without notice (see below). We will not be liable if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period.

Intellectual property rights

We are the owner of all intellectual property rights in our site, its branding, and in the material published on it.  The branding and materials on our site are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world.  All such rights are reserved.
You must not use any part of the materials on our site for commercial purposes, or purposes other than those contemplated by these terms of use, without first obtaining written permission to do so from us.

By submitting contributions or comments to our site, you agree to grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use such contributions or comments and to waive your moral rights.  Accordingly, we may freely use, edit, alter, reproduce, publish and/or distribute your contributions or comments in any format and media. This license,m will be free of charge and capable of sub-license.

Reliance on information posted

Information and other materials posted on our site are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed.

We therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to our site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only.  We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

Our site changes regularly

We update our site regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, we may suspend access to our site, or close it indefinitely.

Any of the material on our site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

Our liability

Accordingly, the information displayed on our site is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy. We cannot accept any liability for information provided by any users of our site or for their actions.

To the extent permitted by law, we hereby expressly exclude:

  • all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity;

  • any liability for indirect or consequential loss or damage; and

  • any liability for the following forms of loss:

  • loss of income or revenue;

  • loss of business;

  • loss of profits or contracts;

  • loss of anticipated savings;

  • loss of data;

  • loss of goodwill; and

  • wasted management or office time,

whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise.

Viruses, hacking and other offences

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

Linking to our site

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice. The website from which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set above.

Jurisdiction and applicable law

The English courts will have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to our site although we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

These terms of use and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

Variations

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in these terms of use may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our site.

Whilst we take all reasonable action to ensure content on this site is accurate and up-to-date, the content is published without warranty, may not be up-to-date and is subject to change by us without prior notification.

If any of these terms and conditions of use are held unlawful, void or unenforceable, then such regulations shall be deemed null; this will not affect the validity and enforceability of all remaining regulations.

Your concerns

If you have any concerns about material which appears on our site, please contact us.

Thank you for visiting our site.