A career in accountancy can lead you in many directions. By gaining experience of the industry you are working in, a General Management position is always a possibility.
It is very important to take time to understand the wider organisation wherever you work. It is all too easy for a finance person to focus on the numbers and detail, and not really understand the bigger picture of what the firm does.
But it is this knowledge that will actually help you to branch out of finance. Management of staff is an important skill, and is virtually essential to any position you move into outside of finance. Try to learn as much as you can from mentors and/or positions you hold before looking to move within the organisation.
A finance career can also lead to more commercial positions. Not all finance roles are about balance sheets/profit and loss accounts and reporting. It is possible to get into a commercial role, looking at products, pricing, distribution strategy, etc.
All in all, there is such a broad range of finance positions out there, from Analysts to Financial Controllers/Directors, to technical Group Reporting roles. All of these require different skills and experience and offer the candidate completely different challenges.
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