Work Experience at Alongside Accounting

James (Owner) and Amy (Work Experience Student)

A career change is hard enough when the economy is as tough as it is – finding work experience is harder. By the start of the year I was convinced accounting was the right area for me, but I was still worried. Having one AAT diploma under my belt and starting another, I was concerned I’d end up being too qualified but also not experienced enough for the job market. I also wanted to understand how what we were learning at college, which involved manually drawing out ‘t’ tables and doing calculations via calculator, would apply to digital systems. As a result, I spent most of my break between courses cold sending emails and writing emails making a case for firms to give me some experience. When I got an offer for a couple of months working with Alongside Accounting, I jumped at the chance.

At our initial meeting, James and I were able to chat about our backgrounds, what I wanted from the internship and what he could offer me. I found it interesting to hear about the different ways we’d both got into accounting, and what his experience of the industry had been so far. After setting expectations, we agreed on two hours face-to-face contact on Friday afternoons (which provided a much-needed break from VAT returns at college!) and a half day’s work from home the following week. At the minimum, after nearly two months I would be Xero certified, understand how to perform basic bookkeeping tasks and help with some light business development work.

Accounting Work Experience

The biggest challenge I faced early on was accurately gauging how long tasks would take. Tackling my Xero certification seemed like it wouldn’t take too long, but four hours in and I’d only scratched the surface of all the different tools and methods involved. I was able to pick up the pace once the more complex sections were over and done with, but it was still surprising that it took as much time as it did. On the other end of the scale, matching receipts on Hubdoc to transactions and reconciling them took no time at all once I figured out the coding system. I could then use notes provided by clients to determine where various expenses and incomes should go, which was quite therapeutic. College work could be quite tough, so getting to start up a playlist and just breeze through some reconciliations helped to stop my brain from overheating! I enjoyed the business development aspect too: among other tasks I got to put some of my research and creative skills to use creating an advertising banner for the firm, as well as finding out more about local networking groups and putting together a pros and cons list for some of the top candidates.

Being a Business Owner

What struck me the most was how much marketing had to be balanced alongside a sole trader practice. It hadn’t been something I’d thought about before, but seeing how much work needed to be put into putting your name out there and making your business grow gave me a greater respect for people who strike out on their own. As well as that, I found it interesting how what I’d learned about accounting applied to digital software. Those moments of ‘ah, that’s how it works in practice!’ kept on coming when I saw how the arduous ‘t’ tables became seconds-long tasks on Xero. James was really supportive throughout our meetings, providing tea (and cake if it was available!) and talking through how he used Xero and why. He was responsive to any questions I had and provided some good advice on my job search journey. I also found the approach of watching, doing the task together and then going home to practice really helpful, as well as the Excel spreadsheets we had set up to track what I had done at home.

While it’s a little sad to be wrapping up the work experience, I now feel much more confident about my future in accounting. I have a better understanding of how to apply my learning to software like Xero, developed my bookkeeping skills and even have some business development skills to help me in the future. I now feel more confident that I have a future in accounting and can bring my experience to wherever I end up next.