What is Field Promotion In Public Accounting?

If you have worked for a couple of years in public accounting, you may be familiar with the concept of field promotion. In the military, field promotion is defined as the promotion of an enlisted soldier during combat or under certain combat conditions. In public accounting, the idea of field promotion is pretty similar: assigning next-level responsibilities to an employee for a given job or set of jobs. Today, I’m going to talk about how field promotion works in public accounting, the pros and cons of it, and what you should do if you are field promoted. Let’s get started!

Why and How Does Field Promotion Happen?

Field promotion is a way for firms to expose their employees to the next level of their career without necessarily throwing them in headfirst. Once someone at the associate level has demonstrated enough competence for their assigned tasks, they may find themselves in the “in-charge” or “acting senior” role, where they know they are taking a step out of their comfort zone to take on new responsibilities. Depending on the circumstances, this role may involve the staff person taking on a small amount (20-40%) of the next-level responsibilities, or a very large amount (80%-100%) of next level responsibilities. By putting employees in this position before they are officially promoted, firms can ensure that employee’s skill sets continue to develop independently of promotion cycles and title changes. 

Sometimes field promotions are driven by the staffing levels of the firm, rather than the development needs of a single staff. When a firm needs an engagement team for a new client and there are not enough seniors available, the roles will need to be filled by someone, usually the staff. Regardless of the driving forces behind the decision, the staff put in the field promotion position are the ones that management deems capable of taking on the challenge. 

What are the Pros and Cons of Field Promotions?

Like every business decision, there are pros and cons to field promotion for all parties involved. Let’s focus on the pros and cons from the employee’s perspective:

Pros

Field promotion allows employees to take on some new responsibilities gradually that they would not otherwise be exposed to in their current position. This allows for a more personalized professional development that does not revolve around formal title changes.

In some firms, field promotion is a way to “test the waters” of some staff before they are promoted. By performing well as the “in charge”, “acting senior”, or “acting manager” on an engagement, you are proving to management that you are capable of taking on that role and deserve to be promoted.

Cons

Once an employee is field promoted, they will instantly take on a new set of responsibilities, which is good for their professional development (as discussed above) but can also contribute to stress and therefore employee burnout. 

The most commonly discussed con of field promotion is that an employee is not being paid for the value that they are contributing to the firm. Depending on the circumstances, this could be acceptable due to the training aspect a field promotion, or unacceptable if the work is less about training and more about filling an empty role. 

As always, the balance of pros and cons will depend on your situation and ultimately that balance will determine if your field promotion is exploitative employer behavior or healthy career progression. Be sure to be on the lookout for the positive and negative effects as they occur!

What Should I Do If I Am Field Promoted?

If you find yourself in a situation where you are taking on responsibilities for the next level, you should first congratulate yourself on being capable of handling things on a new level. Once you have given yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, you need to analyze your situation and determine if your field promotion is supporting your career objectives. It is typical for an upcoming senior associate or manager to take on some or all of the responsibilities of their new role for a few months prior to their official promotion, gradually increasing their responsibilities as they transition from their current role into their new role. However, it is not typical to be forced to take on all the responsibilities of that next level with no support or indication of upcoming promotion. If your employer has you performing at a higher level than your current role but does not intend to promote you or increase your pay to reflect the increased responsibilities, that is when you may have an issue.  If you feel that your title or compensation is not in line with your job responsibilities, you should start a conversation with your boss and/or human resources to gain more insight on the situation and hopefully come to a favorable resolution. 

It is important to remember that the idea of performing certain job responsibilities before an official promotion is a very hot topic in the professional services industry. Everyone you speak with will have a different perspective and opinion on the topic depending on their experience. I’ve seen some managers properly support and execute “field promotions” because they are only giving the employee some of the new responsibilities and not all of them at once. On the other hand, I’ve heard stories about employees doing far more work than they should based on their pay and title for an extended period of time. The best thing that you can do is understand your own situation and not jump to hasty conclusions based on the limited input of others. Hopefully this information helped you better understand the concept of field promotion in public accounting so you can act accordingly if you encounter it in the future!