How to Know if You Should Make a Career Change From Accounting

Accounting is one of many industries that’s seen a decline in recent years. The Wall Street Journal reported last September, for example, that accounting firms are facing a shortage of talent as people opt out of getting an accounting degree in favor of other professions.

Why, you might ask, are people leaving accounting roles or considering an alternative career at the entry level? Among other reasons, opportunities in tech are becoming more appealing for workers. 

Below, we explain how to know if a career change from accounting is the right move for you, and if so, how to pinpoint relevant transferable skills for other lucrative jobs.

How to determine if a career change as an accountant is for you

Making the change from accounting might be right if you’re tired or bored of the work you’re doing day to day.

This is to be expected if your responsibilities haven’t changed much since you started, your workload has increased significantly in a short amount of time, or there’s little room to move up or around in your organization.

It’s also possible that the accounting field, or the company you work for, doesn’t provide the kind of work-life balance you need at this very moment. Maybe your family is growing or you’re looking to move to another city, and an alternative career path will better accommodate those shifting priorities.

Why are so many accountants quitting?

There are several explanations as to why accountants are quitting to explore other career paths:

• ‍They’re unhappy with their salary or benefits: Maybe their income potential has reached its peak, or they believe other industries provide better perks.‍
• They’re burned out or work long hours: Accountants just starting out might be OK with a heavy workload or longer workdays, but as accounting professionals progress in their careers, this kind of lifestyle can become exhausting or unsustainable. As the industry struggles to hire new talent, current staff might also find themselves taking on more and more responsibility without proper compensation.‍
• There’s a lack of career advancement: Some traditional accounting roles leave little room to advance, or if they do, there’s only so high you can go in terms of responsibilities, leadership, and salary. When you reach the top of your career, especially sooner than you expected, it can be hard to not crave something new and different, or just more challenging.‍
• Automation is threatening their jobs: AI and other emerging tech is already making its way through the sector. While it may never fully replace human accountants and auditors, new tech is building efficiencies that require fewer workers to manage — leading to layoffs and hiring freezes. Accountants out of a job might see a career change as preferable to competing with the masses (or robots) for their next accounting role. (It worked for TripleTen graduate Antonio_{From the Big Four to Bigger Ambitions: Antonio’s TripleTen Story}, who landed a job as a production manager after leaving major accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.)

How to evaluate your transferable skills as you change careers from accounting

The best part about making a career change from accounting to a field such as tech is that you don’t have to start from scratch: You just have to identify your transferable skills. Even if you’ve formally trained in the field for years, or attended undergraduate or graduate school, there are plenty of other career paths you can use your accounting degree for besides accounting.

Some examples of crucial transferable skills cultivated in the accounting profession include:

• Expertise in data collecting and analytics: Maybe you’re a wiz with Excel or love to sift through hundreds of financial data points to spot trends. Tech is an especially data-driven field, so comfort with large amounts of information can put you ahead of the pack.
• Technical skills or programming languages: You might have done some basic coding to create a pivot table or automate a task you do frequently. Having that base knowledge will set you up well should you decide to deepen your training in say, software development or data science.
• Problem solving: Accounting and tech jobs alike require an affinity for solving problems because ultimately, your job in both is to fit a customer need, spot and correct mistakes, and build efficiencies for frequently-used products and services.
• Attention to detail: Every little thing you do in tech has to be done with care, or else software or hardware breaks. Accountants, similarly, need to pay close attention to the work they’re doing to ensure the numbers add up and financial statements are accurate.
• A hard work ethic: This is relevant to just about every job, of course, but if you want to succeed in a new field, you have to have the grit and determination to get stuff done, and on time.

Jobs to consider if you want to make a career change from accounting

No career path is truly off limits for accountants if they have the right mindset and get the proper training. That said, based on the transferable skills and type of work of an accountant, these may be some good options to consider:

Change your career from accounting to tech today

There’s an abundance of alternative careers for accountants, and it’s never too late to pivot your accounting career to something perhaps more rewarding for you.

The best place to start is how you position your resume. Focus on those transferable skills listed above, as well as any skills or experience that directly relates to the jobs you’re applying to. Consider whether you need more training through a certification, bootcamp, or even going back to school, and be picky with the role you choose. After all, a career change is only worthwhile if it leads to a job you’re happy with in the long term..

If the tech world has caught your eye, try TripleTen’s tech career quiz_{Quiz: Which Tech Career Fits You Best?}. It only takes two minutes to complete, and will present you with several job titles that fit your strengths and interests — not to mention, helpful information such as average salaries and potential career paths to guide you as you make your decision.