eFinancialCareers

At the heart of every banking activity.

If you want to work in financial services as an accountant, the first thing to ask yourself is where exactly in the financial services industry you want to work. Investment banks hire accountants, but so do retail banks and niche players such as hedge funds, private equity firms, insurance companies and fund managers.

Our examination of the sector will focus on jobs for accountants in investment banks.

Roles and career paths

“As an accountant, you get to see the whole architecture of the company – you are at its heart,” says Annabel Thébaud at Calyon, part of Crédit Agricole. There are several key areas in which accountants work in investment banks.

• Product control – Accountants in product control work with trading teams. They keep a close eye on the profits and losses made on products being bought and sold, with a focus on both risk assessment and compliance with regulatory requirements. Product controllers tend to specialise in particular types of product (eg, credit derivatives or commodities).

• Financial control – Accountants in financial control analyse the bank’s overall performance rather than the performance of specific trading instruments. They focus on producing month-end, quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports. Fund accountants report on individual fund performance. Management accountants analyse results from a more forward-looking perspective – interpreting figures to help management make strategic decisions about the future of the business.

• Internal audit – Accountants in internal audit teams are responsible for checking that financial systems and controls within the organisation are being complied with.

• Regulatory accounting – Often working alongside compliance and risk management professionals, these accountants ensure that reporting activity complies with the legal rules and regulations of the countries in which the bank trades.

• Treasury – It’s the job of treasurers to structure the bank’s financial affairs (often working with colleagues in tax) so that suficient cash is available to meet its liabilities. They invest the organisation’s funds to maximise returns, including activities such as trading in foreign currencies.

A graduate might spend his/her first three years working six to eight months each in product control, financial control, internal audit, regulatory accounting and treasury.

Pay

Accountants earn more in financial services than in any other business sector. Basic salaries are higher than average and there’s also the potential to earn lucrative bonuses, most of which are announced and paid in the early part of the calendar year.

Pay in the UK is typically higher than in continental Europe – according to figures from recruitment firm Robert Walters, a financial controller working in an investment bank in France can expect to earn €50k-€75k. By comparison, their UK counterparts can expect £75k-£100k plus a 30-50% bonus.

Financial controller salaries in banking (5+ years' exp.) 2008
France €50k+
Belgium €65k+
Luxembourg €60k+
Netherlands €70k+
UK €94k+
Source: Robert Walters

Skills

“Working as an accountant, you need to like figures, analysing them and paying attention to detail,” says Thébaud. “But you also need to show self-motivation and the ability to work under pressure.”

Roxanna Kennedy, head of graduate recruitment at Lehman Brothers, says that while the firm doesn’t demand already developed technical skills, it’s looking for raw talent.

“Numeracy, problem-solving skills and teamwork all rank highly. Leadership qualities are also important – these may have been demonstrated previously through sporting activities or sitting on student committees, or may emerge while taking the lead on a project or group exercise as part of one of four assessment days.”

Don’t worry if you haven’t studied accounting or economics at university; banks rarely demand a finance-related degree. “We have lots of successful graduates who’ve come from a variety of academic backgrounds,” says Sarah Belcher, vice-president of product control at Nomura. “If you can prove you’ve learned and mastered a speciic discipline, you’ll be given the technical finance training you need.”

If you train as an accountant in an investment bank in London, most banks will typically expect you to have taken the exams run by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) or the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), although banks such as HSBC, JPMorgan and Macquarie are accredited to provide training for the ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) qualification. If banks hire qualified accountants, they will typically go for ACA qualified accountants above any others.

The situation is different in continental Europe. In France there are two different accounting qualifications: the DCG (Diplôme de Comptabilité et Gestion), equivalent to a three-year degree, and the DSCG (Diplôme Supérieur de Comptabilité et Gestion) equivalent to a master’s degree.

In Germany, accountants qualify through vocational training with an employer for two or three years, or through more complex university studies – which typically take six years – to become an auditor, management accountant or tax adviser.

Within the EU, arrangements exist between all the main accounting organisations, within which members of one national body can become members of others, usually through a short aptitude test.