If you work in an accountancy practice do you have to do audit work?

Question

I currently work in management accounts & am not enjoying it so am considering a change to financial accounts. I would like to prepare accounts for clients & maybe eventually specialise in tax. I don't want to do any audit work though...will I be able to work in an accounting practice or do you need to do audit if you work in practice? Which type of companies employ staff to prepare accounts? Thanks

Answer 1

In answer to part of your question: Most accountancy and audit firms will have specialised units that will rarely tackle anything other than one type of work. Those however would be the larger practices. If working for a smaller firm i suppose you would be expected to tackle any task assigned to you be it accounts preparation, audit or consultancy. Of course it wouldn't hurt to let your reporting manager know that you have a preference for non-audit work and see if he can accomodate. It is worth noting though that as part of your obtaining membership of the ICCA, you would have to undertake some audit work. If financial reporting/accounts preparation is your thing, i'd say look to the large corporations (5000+ employees).

Answer 2

A small accounting practise may have a lot of clients with incomplete records. They would require final accounts to be prepared together with the completion of tax returns. VAT requirements require bookkeeping of a standard that allows for the accurate completion of VAT returns, where relevant. This aids the completion of final accounts.

Larger practises may have departments dedicated to incomplete records. With small clients, the accountancy practise may also be retained for the purpose of keeping the books of account, payroll, VAT etc.

You have to remember that Accountancy firms engage a lot of their staff under articles. The employees intending to become qualified Accountants. Consequently, they will be required to cover a wide range of accounting duties in order to gain appropriate experience.

You make no mention of wanting to study Accountancy. Accountancy Practises are not Companies but Partnerships, or Sole Practitioners.