Hi all,

I'm a small fish hoping to eventually be a big fish in the sea!

However, before all this I would really like some advise from anyone willing to read this post and impart some wisdom re making the transition from industry to practice and guidance as to what level I can or what level practice will alow me to enter. I came on here because it seemed logical to me.

Some history (some people will think I have done things backwards and inside out -probably true!): To start off with I didn't have a University degree or any form of professional qualificatoins. I worked casually in retail leaving school at 18 with no direction. After a voluntary stint at a local org (because I somehow had enough insight that i needed office skills in life) I landed my role in finance as a temp, loved it and for the next 5years worked myway up from a very junior finance assistant to an assistant accountant (4years for a small UK affilate of a large Suisse company manufacturing their products and 1year for a large US manufacturing plant in UK). In short without too much detail, at the end of this time I was submitting ISs, SOFPs and also regularly generating management reports re sales, profit margins, ad-hocs for kpi's and analysis etc.

After 4yrs at the dental co I knew I wanted to pursue accounting academically. I wanted to take a year out to focus solely on my studies and get a level of ACCA under my belt. I knew this was what I wanted to do because the demands of normal working hrs plus the erratic amounts of overtime would not allow me the attention I wanted to pay to my studies. However, I was scared to leave my experience at this point as I thought it was 'flimsy' and somehow convinced myself that it would be better to get more experience in a role that still required me to work under the management accountant, but gave me the opportunity to submit the monthly accounts more independantly, solidify /enhance my reporting skills and gain further experience in other areas I hadn't worked in eg ec tax. Sure enough I found the right contract job which gave me all what I hoped for and an amazing bunch of team to work with. Rewards were a little less than my previous role, but I entered the contract valuing what I would come out with in experience more. After this role I then felt confident enough to leave my experience at what I deemed a strong point and take a year out to focus on my studies.

So now I'm coming towards the end of the year out. I've passed 2 exams and have the final one of this batch at the end of the month and after that I start looking for work again and I will continue taking the next level of my qualifications in evening classes. The problem I have is that I would like try accounting in practice -the problem being is that those I have spoken to do not recommend going from industry to practice as it would have been better to go from practice to industry and even then some have mentioned that it is such a culture shock?!

Just from listening it seems to me that they have found the relationship between finance and non-finance colleagues in different departments difficult, but I have enjoyed this interaction in the past and found it a satisfying part of my work. Also I assume that there will be alot of involvement with clients in practice who are not necessarily from a finance background and also with colleagues in different department of the practice. I'm confused.

Another stumbling block for me is the entry route for most practices. Mostly they seem recruit graduates (any subject as long as it is a 2:1) whom they train from scratch and put through professional school. I don't have a degree :( and I don't even know if this is the right level of entry for me since I have 5 years solid experience in industry accounts and hopefully the first level of my ACCA by the time I start applying. Looking at 'experienced hire' sections of they often require people who have worked in practice and who are professionally qualified.

All in all I don't know where this leaves me. Are my 5 years of hard work wiped out because they are not in practice, will I have to start at the bottom again as a junior? I hope this isn't taken the wrong way, but I don't think I could afford to do that and it really frightens me. I was really hoping that by having the experience that I have and strengthening this with qualifications that it would help improve my chances of ideally working in practice and a decent cut of bacon to take home!

Anyone have any advise or experiences to share? Should I swim back and stick to industry where I have a good idea of my worth or float into practice unchartered territory?