Careers

What's in a name?

We look at the rise of glamorous and inventive roles for accountants

It seems that everyone has a glamorous job title these days, no matter how unexciting the actual content of their day-to-day work may be. Accountants have become 'finance specialists' or 'finance professionals', temporary office workers have developed into 'consultants', and even the people who take away your rubbish have stopped being 'bin men' and become 'waste management operatives'. Things have got so bad on the other side of the Atlantic that the Americans now have their own website – catch it at www.bullshitjobs.com – where you can generate a suitably impressive job title by simply typing in your name. Mine is 'Internal Factors Manager', which is definitely much more exciting than my actual one.
However, all this nonsense masks the fact that the proliferation of new job titles in your own profession is also a sign of new opportunities for accountants (sorry – finance professionals) that have come into being over the past few years. Take, for example, my own area of specialisation – internal audit. Now often referred to as 'operational review' or 'risk-based audit', this area has been pushed into the limelight by the enforced revolution in corporate governance post-Enron. Faced with regulations and legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel 2, CEOs of major corporations no longer see their internal functions as minor irritants or a handy way of stopping people running off with the petty cash, but as the safeguard which will keep them out of court or even out of jail. As a result internal audit has been propelled into the 'sexy' end of the accounting spectrum, attracting high calibre candidates and ascending salary packages.
Another role that has undergone a metamorphosis is that of 'Forensic Accountant'. Traditionally applied to individuals working within the police force, the term now covers a whole body of specialists in commerce, industry and banking, who work on tasks as diverse as the identification and prevention of fraud and the resolution of problems relating to systems integrity and security.
Other new job titles refer to disciplines that haven't changed but simply didn't exist a decade ago. Take, for example, 'Environmental Accountant'. This is a role that has been created to deal with the trend towards corporate social responsibility prompted by a mix of legislation and the need to conform with 'green' public opinion. Environmental accountants address the issue of how an organisation can be both profitable and environmentally friendly and work on a wide range of projects, assessing the viability of energy saving schemes, undertaking compliance audits and managing or preventing claims or disputes.
However, if there is one word in a job title that sums up how the world has changed for accountants in recent times it is 'international'. Historically meaning that you would get to phone someone in France occasionally or would live out of a suitcase, it now brings home the fact that all business markets are now truly global. And for the ambitious young accountant that brings the demands of operating on a worldwide stage and the opportunity to shine in front of management that can be based anywhere from Birmingham to Beijing.

Ross Andrews is head of operations in the East Midlands for Hewitson Walker

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