Promotions at Public Accounting Firms
Getting promoted at a public accounting firm is a surefire way to get ahead in your accounting career. While every firm might be a little bit different in terms of the actual titles, most public accounting firms are similar with respect to two promotion areas: timeline and frequency. Understanding both of these areas is critical to your future success at a public accounting firm. So today we're going to talk about it.
Promotion Timelines
Generally, public accounting firms require a certain amount of experience in a role before someone can be promoted to the next role. Most of the time, this is two years (or busy seasons) worth of experience and may be more at the higher levels of the firm. It’s important to be strategic with those two years to achieve your goals at the firm. For example, the year after promotion leaves a little more room for error because you aren’t being scrutinized to be promoted to the next level. However, don’t just slack off because performing too poorly after promotion may make management second guess their decision to promote you. Additionally, it’s important to really focus on the visibility and results of your work in promotion years to increase your chances of being promoted on time. Once you get past the manager level, it’s possible that other factors come into play for your promotion like business development or firm structure (is there space for another senior manager here?) and it will be your responsibility to figure out what needs to be done to be promoted within a reasonable timeline.
Promotion Cycles
Because many public accounting firms operate on an “up or out” model, many people will be promoted every single year. With this many promotions going on at once, it makes sense for the firm to only promote its staff one or two times per year. This can be a challenge for some because the timing may not line up with their level of comfort moving into their new role. If you ever find yourself in this situation now or in the future, my advice is to ALWAYS STRIVE FOR PROMOTION IF YOU ARE AT LEAST 50% CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF TAKING ON THE NEW ROLE. I’m emphasizing this because I’ve seen multiple people get caught on the wrong end of a firm’s promotion cycle, saying they weren’t yet ready for the new role, and then getting field promoted on multiple engagements to better prepare them for that role for an entire year-long promotion cycle. While it does make sense to take on extra responsibilities for a few months to prove yourself and support your promotion, it doesn’t make sense to go a full year doing 90%-100% of the work without the title or pay bump. While exceptions can be made in certain circumstances, it’s a good practice to never expect any special treatment on these promotion cycles since these firms like to maintain their standards wherever they can.
I’m Working at a Public Accounting Firm and Want to Be Promoted. What Should I Do?
If you are looking to be promoted in your public accounting firm, follow these steps:
Understand your firm’s process for promotion timelines (how many years of experience are typically required) and promotion cycles (when do promotions become decided and official) to strategically utilize your time to both develop yourself and showcase your skills.
Study up on the expectations of your current role and the next level. If possible, understand the difference between a “nice to have” skill and a “we can’t promote this person if we don’t trust them to do X” skill. Focus on developing the skills that are essential to the roles and supplement with the “nice to haves” if time permits.
Do good work in your current role. Because most public accounting firms put promoted employees in positions that review work, it’s important to function well at each level before progressing to the next level.
Assume some responsibilities of the next level. If your time and sanity permits, taking on some responsibilities of the next level (field promotion) will show your commitment to your career development and make the promotion process easier.
Good luck!