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To craft the perfect audit career you need to start planning early. To borrow from the property market, it is about foundation, foundation, foundation.

Giving yourself exposure to the right experiences early on in your career will put you in the frame for roles further down the line.

Languages 

If you want to get good international experience you will need a foreign language. This sounds obvious, but a lot of Brits do not have one.

A European language is a good asset, but if you speak Mandarin, Cantonese or Hindi and are one of the few Brits who can work in an emerging market, you will be in a very strong position.

That rarity factor works elsewhere, too. Like any professional service, from tax to consulting, there are some areas of audit that are more popular than others.

So choose your specialisms wisely. Focusing on areas where there are skills shortages will obviously make you more employable in the future.

Industry and practice

Once you have gained some experience, you may choose to leave practice altogether; after all different types of people suit industry and practice.

In industry you generally get more complete exposure to commercial issues from beginning to end than you might in practice, where you may only get involved in specific aspects of your client’s work.

Industry roles perhaps provide an opportunity to appreciate the bigger picture more too, but you will still need an excellent technical background.

Remember there is not the technical support to rely on that you might have experienced in practice.

If you decide to leave for industry you should weigh up the pros and cons of joining a company with a UK HQ or a foreign firm with offices in the UK.

You want be gaining high-level experience. If you join the UK outpost of a big US firm you may end up getting a smaller piece of the action.

Benefit of staying 

If you think you have made the wrong decision, our research suggests you have as little as three years to move back.

You might find it hard to convince some professional services firms if you have been out of practice for more than three years.

Of course, not everyone wants to break from practice. A clear benefit of staying in a professional services setting is that you have a clear career path laid out in front of you.

At senior manager level you will be funnelled towards becoming a partner.

It certainly makes financial sense to stay on board too. Although your bonuses may not be as large as they would be in industry, your job is probably more secure.

Networking

There is one skill set which separates the excellent from the also-rans and it is something of a holy grail amongst auditors.

It is the character trait in shortest supply in any audit environment, but it is vital if you want to make it to the top in practice, and is more essential in industry.

Sales skills, networking, business development, whatever you want to call it; selling makes the commercial world go round, and that includes audit.

To be a good business developer you will need to network. Make a list of everyone you know, everyone you used to know and everyone you would like to know better.

Just putting this down on paper will help to clarify who you have not seen in a while, and who you might like to get in touch with again.

Invite them to lunch, dinner, or even just a coffee and mostly, they will return the invitation, meaning you expand your social contacts exponentially.

The important thing is to actually do it, set aside time dedicated to networking.

Speak knowledgeably 

This is where most fail, it’s what Stephen Covey would term a quadrant 2 task, ‘important but not urgent’ and as such is easy to ignore. Make it something you do.

Establishing relationships with those in your industry and in the industries of your clients will give you the advantage of information.

If you can speak knowledgeably to your bosses and clients about their business, you will consolidate their trust in you.

The net result? Your employers will be more confident in your ability to manage both client relationships and the firm’s reputation.

Whatever route you choose to take to the top, you will need to be a good communicator.

Get hold of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.

Learn to use his ‘weapons of influence’ (Reciprocation, Commitment & Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, and Scarcity) to your advantage.

Lastly, whether you choose practice or industry, the importance of doing something you enjoy cannot be overstated. As the old adage goes: find a job you love and never work again.

Adam Nicoll is managing consultant at finance search and selection firm GRS Group.

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Related links

• GRS Group