Everyone loves arguing that they have it worse, and it’s no different in accountancy. And, for finance professionals, the argument often revolves around "industry, practice, and public sector”.
Each camp has a decent case for their work being the most harrowing and, with the debate often getting dangerously heated, it seemed like a brilliant idea for us to put our oar in. So, let’s kick off by going through the three options one by one.
Industry – the rat race
Welcome to the world of internal reporting, strategic pivots, and monthly results that need to be "more positive, please.” As the bridge between finance and the rest of the business, it’s your job to tell the tight-suited teenager in sales that you can’t invent money. And with an audit that’s taking up eight hours of your day, it’s the perfect time to be asked by the new hire whether they can claim a horse on expenses.
Pros:- Decent salary, sometimes
- The office might have a fancy coffee machine
- People might actually know your name
- Budget holders who don’t know what a budget is
- End-of-month is end-of-sanity
- Half your time is spent explaining that cashflow is not profit
Practice – more bills than a duck pond
You serve clients, deadlines, and whichever partner just walked by asking for a "quick favour.” Your day is measured in six-minute intervals, a concept that’s invading your personal life – you’re now measuring movie nights on how much you could bill your significant other. Not only that, but your inbox is a battlefield of shifting priorities, last-minute queries, and a client who "forgot” to send the bank statements.
Pros:- Variety of work and exposure to lots of businesses, which is obviously great
- Clear progression path, even if there are some roadblocks
- The buzz of busy season (if you're into that kind of thing)
- Clients who ghost you until 5pm on a Friday
- Living life one timesheet at a time
- You may forget your own birthday during audit season
Public sector – accounting on a shoestring
Some accountants work with money – you work with none. You keep public services running, you’re a crucial servant for the country! But instead of recognition, you get presented with a sudden change of direction that means your careful cost-cutting measures are immediately redundant. Oh, and you’re working on pre-millennium hardware.
Pros:- Flexibility and work-life balance
- Job security and a pension that certain newspapers love writing about
- You actually make a difference
- Endless red tape
- Budgets are always shrinking, but responsibilities never are
- You’re always to blame
So... who has it hardest?
Everyone. It’s a thankless, stressful job!
Industry bods face internal politics and job insecurity. Practice pros have a gazillion different clients all demanding a different service. And public sector accountants keep the whole country functioning with half the resources and twice the scrutiny.
Final thoughts
What are our words of wisdom that can carry you through this? Well, it’s probably that pobody’s nerfect and everybody’s different. Really, though, if you are constantly unhappy in your job, it’s probably got more to do with exactly where you work, rather than the sector you’re in.
Some people work for companies that look after their employees, a lot of other people don’t. Some practices offer a halfday on Friday, others offer a colleague so eager to become a partner they’re trying to creep under the boss’ door. And in the public sector, it can be the difference between working in a prefab in the bleak midwinter and finding a happy team that are working towards something genuinely exciting.
All that said, being an accountant is a uniquely demanding profession, and that’s one of the eternal truths of the universe. But a good accountant is always in demand and, if you need to move, it shouldn’t be too hard.
So, next time you're tempted to say, "Well my job is harder,” just remember: you're right, and you should say it.
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