4 minute read: OK, so you're a recently qualified accountant who's completed ACA, ACCA or similar qualification and you are looking for you first finance role in a company (often you say you want 'to work in industry'). Perhaps you are making a first time move from practice into industry, or, you are moving from a larger corporate company into a small business. As a result of your training you will be technically excellent and more than capable of during the job, but you may not have had the experience of working in a small business before. In this blog I want to give you a sense of what it is like to work in a small business as a finance manager.
If you've been working in a larger corporate business already you would have been following all of the existing, stringent procedures and templates to create management accounts and reports. It's a well tested path for what is needed on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Its unlikely that this will be in place for a small business, either because its not written down by your predecessor or because no one was responsible for it prior to you starting. As daily finance processes are cyclical and risk of error increases without 'a set routine' you will need to create finance calendars, templates and reports, and document processes.
For the exact reason that you will want to create routine and set up new procedures, existing staff will be hesitant or cautious about the changes you are implementing. Remember, prior to the existence of a formal finance function existing staff would likely have had significant freedom & trust to solve customer problems in order to make the company money. From their perspective, your introduction adds layers of administration to their existing day along with a sense that 'big brother' will now question their decisions. Whereas corporate employees will be used to processes (or resigned to the fact they exist!) you can expect to be challenged about these changes in a small business. You will need to show that you are not just defending value created by others but that you are adding value also. You will have to win over the team by demonstrating that certain new processes will save them time and effort, or, explain why certain procedures are necessary (for example, by avoiding unnecessary spend or reducing risk).
If you're working in a large accountancy practice or in a large finance team there is always that sense of security that you can go to your manager, colleague or another expert within the company if you are unsure of something. However, in a small business you are the finance expert! There will be times when you experience 'imposter syndrome' and question whether you are sufficiently qualified or have the knowledge. Its important for your own integrity and to keep the trust that you have earned with your colleagues that you don't just give an assumed answer. But likewise, you will be expected to go off and find the solution, be that via research, undertaking courses, confirming assumptions, or talking to colleagues. Surround yourself with people that you can trust and contact the right stakeholders, business partners, mentors or peers when you need to. For example, for technical matters go to your external, company accountants or auditors. Depending on the business the introduction of part-time, or contracted finance resources can also boost confidence and accelerate your learning and growth.
There are lots of things that need to get done in a small business. There may be no employee with the specialist knowledge to solve that problem and it's hard to rationalise hiring an external consultant for anything other than critical projects. From very early on you will find yourself working on company-wide projects. You need to have a mindset to be prepared to help your colleagues out where needed, help generate that report, choose a new system or empty the dishwasher! However, by working closely with, for example, the marketing team, you will gain a deeper understanding of how other departments work. These are opportunities that you may not get in larger businesses. By building up an understanding of how other departments run you gain a deeper understanding of business in general which ultimately makes you a better accountant and decision maker.
As part of a small team of decision makers, as a team player who helps get stuff done and as a finance manager who reports on the resulting drivers and performance of the business you are in a position of trust and authority. The accounts themselves will likely be small and uncomplicated enough that there will hardly be a transaction type, a supplier, or a product that you don't know about and if you're not already part of the senior management team, you will be included in many of those meetings. You will have a deeper, cross functional understanding of the business because of your role. You will often be asked your opinion, and your opinion will matter to the decision makers. Larger corporate or multinational organisations usually dictate strategy from remote departments or memos but in a small business you will be involved at a much earlier stage in your career.
When you join a large corporate organisation there is a defined organisational structure. There will be managers and managers of those managers already in situ. But in a small business those senior roles are yet to exist. I've known many finance managers who have grown and developed their careers as the small business they work in evolved into an ever larger company.