After five years in an accounting career, what's next?

by Chris Spurio, CPA-OH, CGMA

Accounting is cool, or at least cooler than people think (hint: we prevent crises and help individuals, businesses and communities prepare for a better tomorrow).

But while it's critical to reinvigorate the pipeline, it's equally important that you — the accounting pro with a few years of experience under your belt — stay engaged. After all, you and your skill set are clearly in demand, and we need young, experienced people like you on board if we want to usher our profession into the future.

And while accounting leaders certainly shoulder responsibility for continuing to engage, develop and expose you to new opportunities, this is also the perfect time for you to be both highly active and reflective — focusing on where you've been and where you want to go. In short: it's time for you to develop your, "What's next?"

Here are some suggestions to help you take your job, your career — and our profession — to the next level.

Be your own CEO
Now that you've settled into your role, it's time to really take the reins. Ask yourself: What makes me valuable? What's my competitive advantage? How can I add new skills to my resume?

For instance, if you haven't already, maybe this is the right moment to consider an industry or niche specialization. It's up to you to decide: Think about both where your interests are and what the future may hold. Consider that many of today's most prominent markets — green energy, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, AI, blockchain, data analytics — were nascent ideas only a few years ago. Even a "traditional" industry, like the automotive sector, has seen EVs spur momentous change.

Finding your niche is especially important for today's accountants. Why? Historically, the makeup of an accounting firm has been a triangle: partners on top, managers in the middle and numerous lower-level employees at the bottom doing routine tasks. Today, the bottom corners are being sanded away, on one side from automation and technology, on the other from offshoring.

To get started, try following industry experts on LinkedIn and other social media. Take a course. Attend events, build a network, listen to podcasts. There are online groups for everything these days — just try plugging a keyword (e.g., data analytics, forensic accounting) into LinkedIn — so take the opportunity to submerge yourself. Take charge and do what you can to become an industry expert.

Rethink mentorship
Here's a perhaps controversial statement: Mentoring can be detrimental to CPA talent retention. That's because, more often than not, your mentors are guiding you down a path they took, back when technical skills were paramount, and it was a badge of honor to work 52 weeks a year without vacation. (Fortunately for me, a former mentor of mine told me to create my own path and often quipped, "It would take an act of God for me to miss a family vacation.")

Doing smarter, healthier and more fulfilling work might mean finding a different type of mentor, maybe one who doesn't even have a CPA, or is outside the profession altogether. Maybe it's having multiple mentors: one inside the company, for instance, and one outside it.

That's worked for me. I have several mentors/friends these days who give me the outside perspective I need, and I contact them depending on their experiences and the issue I may be having.

With that said, nothing derails a mentor-mentee relationship like not being prepared. You have to be all in — and ready to focus on areas that are important to you and where you may need professional development.

Create your own professional development roadmap
At five years in, now is the time to capitalize on professional development and training opportunities. These might, for instance, relate to new technologies, which can help you specialize, do more high-level work, reduce burnout, and deliver what customers today really want. Leveraging these technologies to play a more consultant-like role is also where more and more CPAs will find success, particularly as the bottom corners of the traditional accounting triangle get chipped away at by automation and offshoring.

At CBIZ, technology is now point-of-entry training: On day one, our new hires gain access to courses that develop business skills, new technology capabilities, and data analytics expertise.

Most companies will offer to reimburse you for courses. Try committing to taking one each year. Supplement it with knowledge you can find via podcasts and trade shows, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. There's a plethora of educational tools out there. But you only get what you put into it, so you've got to live and breathe it.

You are your own best advocate
A doctor friend of mine always reminds me how important it is for patients to be their own advocates. The same goes for your professional life. Don't wait for someone to tap you or let others dictate your path, especially now that you've developed some expertise of your own.

Accountants aren't traditionally known as the best communicators. But you've got to be able to start articulating what you want and need to grow your career. Write down some goals, or even a letter from your future self-outlining where you're at and how you got there. Talk to your manager, mentor and peers. Say it out loud. It's often the first step in making it a reality.

Five years ago, you were probably content just to have passed the CPA exam and gotten a job. Since then, however, you've learned, put in the hours and made important professional relationships. But it's likely that you — like our profession as a whole — are at a crossroads. You've become an expert in key areas and are looking toward what's to come.

Now is the time to make your own breaks. When I see someone who's self-motivated, I know their potential is unlimited. It's not about the quantity of hours, but how you spend them. At this moment in your career, it's time to decide where you want to focus and go all in.

If you do, you'll be the one deciding what's next.

Chris Spurio, CPA-OH, CGMA, is the president of CBIZ Financial Services.

Reprinted with permission from Chris Spurio, CPA-OH, CGMA. Read the original publication here.