young professionals – career motivation study

Young professionals – Career motivation studyAn insight into Chartered Accountants aged under 40 years

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia

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DisclaimerThe information in this document is provided for general guidance only and on the understanding that it does not represent, and is not intended to be, advice. Whilst care has been taken in its preparation, it should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting, tax, legal or other advisors. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult with an appropriate specialist or professional.

No warranty is given to the correctness of the information contained in this document, or its suitability for use by you.

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Note:

• Significance tests are performed between groups in tables and charts at a 80%, 90% and 95% confidence level. Where there are significant differences, these are marked with asterisks (* for 80% confidence level; ** for 90% confidence level; *** for 95% confidence level).

• A 95% confidence level means that if the study was repeated with the same sample size we would be 95% confident of finding the same differences.

CopyrightCopyright © The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia 2012. All rights reserved.

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Published by: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia Address: 33 Erskine Street, Sydney, New South Wales, 2000

Young Professionals – Career Motivation Study 2011 First edition

ABN 50 084 642 571 The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia Incorporated in Australia Members’ Liability Limited. 0412-44

3

A message from the General Manager – Members

and the NSW Young Professionals Panel Chairman ...................................................................... 4

Executive summary ................................................................................................................................ 5

Why analyse young professional career motivation? .................................................................... 6

Career time line ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Career expectations ............................................................................................................................... 7

Career path ............................................................................................................................................. 8

Career progression advice ..................................................................................................................... 9

Skill requirements .................................................................................................................................. 10

Future directions ....................................................................................................................................11

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Contents

©The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia

Our young members are an integral part of the future of the accounting profession in Australia. To put it quite simply they are the future of the profession.

Year after year I am amazed at the high level of graduates that we have coming through the Chartered Accountants Program who have worked hard to earn the designation of ‘CA’ after their name.

Against a backdrop of change including an ageing workforce in Australia and a continued demand from business for quality employees, it is important that we as the accounting community understand the challenges, developmental needs and demands facing young Chartered Accountants. In a move supported by the NSW Young Professionals Committee, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute) commissioned Beaton Research & Consulting to survey members under the age of 40 in Australia and overseas. The survey focused on finding out what young members felt was important to them through key stages of their career to date.

The information contained in this report is intended for use by employers, young Chartered Accountants and graduates.

In particular, employers should find the report useful and informative, particularly while building strategies around attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining the best people in their organisations.

We would like to thank all the members who took the time to complete the survey. The success of the report would not have been possible without their input.

Simon Grant FCA General Manager – Members

A message from the NSW Young Professionals Panel Chairman The results of this survey have provided a valuable insight in to the current career motivations and decisions of young Chartered Accountants. The Panel recognises that career expectations change over time and this survey has provided a current view of young Chartered Accountants who are focused on opportunities to learn, clear career progression opportunities and a work-life balance.

In response to the survey, the NSW Young Professionals Panel will continue to arrange and host events which provide candidates and young Chartered Accountants with the information, skills and advice required to progress their careers.

The survey benefits not only current young members but also employers as they compete to attract and retain capable graduates and young Chartered Accountants to their organisations. The survey should also be used as a guide to university graduates and young Chartered Accountants reviewing their career opportunities and understanding that exemplary technical skills are only part of the total skill set required to progress their careers.

This report is a summary of the full survey results, for those employers, graduates and young members who are interested in career motivations, challenges and the skills required. It provides a thought provoking insight into our membership.

Fergus Roughley CA NSW Young Professionals Panel Chair 2012

A message from the General Manager – Members

5

Executive summary

Opportunities to learn and develop new skills, career progression and prestigious places to work were determined as the most important factors for young Chartered Accountants in their early careers. These become significantly less important as they progress. Being well paid, work-life balance and flexible work arrangements become increasingly important later on in their careers.

While many Chartered Accountants start their careers in one of the Big 4 accounting firms, they typically move on to work for large commercial organisations or large, medium to small practices. Career change is mostly driven by new challenges and opportunities, pay increases or the desire to develop new skills.

Professional networking is the single most important skill that Chartered Accountants have identified for their future careers. Other future skills for the next two to five year career timeframe are teamwork, leadership and communications skills.


Young members are the future of the Chartered Accounting profession and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute) is committed to increasing its relevance and engagement with this segment.

As part of this commitment, the Institute established the Young Professionals Panels in each region to act as advocates, provide support for other young members and to provide leadership in the development of events. Each panel is made up of Chartered Accountants under the age of 35 from small, medium and large practice and Big 4 as well as commercial and finance organisations, the public sector and academia.

In order to improve our support for and engagement with this growing demographic, the NSW Panel felt that there was a need to better understand our young members – how and why they make certain career decisions, what motivates them, what is important to them in terms of retention and what they are looking for in their employers.

In response to this, the Institute partnered with the NSW Young Professionals Panel and commissioned Beaton Research & Consulting to conduct a national career motivation survey to explore:

• How career expectations shift throughout members’ careers;

• Why members change organisations and jobs, the challenges they face in this transition and their expectations for the future;

• What information and resources are used for career advice by members; and

• Which skills are important to members today and in the near future.

The survey was conducted with a random sample of Chartered Accountants, up to 40 years of age. The respondents were Institute members based in Australia and abroad.

The NSW Young Professionals Panel would like to acknowledge the assistance of other Young Professionals Panels nationally and Beaton Research & Consulting in the development of this survey and thank those members whose responses contributed to these findings.

By sharing our findings with other members and colleagues in the profession, we hope to work collaboratively to deliver more in terms of development to young accounting professionals and to ensure that we continue to support the diverse needs of a growing young member base as they progress through their professional life.

Why analyse young professional career motivation?

7

This report has been divided into four sections: career expectations, career path, skills requirements and future directions to reflect the chronological order of a young Chartered Accountant’s career cycle.

Career expectations Young members were asked questions about what was most important to them when they first started their career. They were also asked to comment on what is currently important to them and what they believe will be important in their career in two to five years time.

A graphical representation of the results of these questions is presented below.

What motivates members at the outset of their career appears to shift as they build on their experience as professionals. Opportunities to learn and develop, career progression and a prestigious place to work are the most important factors for those starting their careers. These become significantly less important as their career progresses. Conversely, being paid well, work life balance and flexible work arrangements are less important at the beginning of members’ careers but become increasingly important later on.

0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60

Opportunities to learn and develop

Early career Current career Future career

Opportunities for career progression

Prestigious place to work

Being paid well

A clear career path

Challenging work/being pushed to learn

Gaining transferable skills

The quality of the people in the organisation

Mobility (i.e. opportunity to travel)

Organisational culture

Great work-life balance

Immediate team culture

Variety

Effective leadership

Flexible work arrangements

Ethical practices

Social and environmental responsibility

Other

52.3

44.2

% % %

26.7

24.9

24.4

23.8

17.1

12.5

12.2

9.9

7.3

5.9

5.8

4.8

1.8

1.3

0.4

0.9

27.3

32.3

3.2

47.4

9.1

26.6

8.1

20.7

3.6

14.3

41.2

7.9

6.8

11.3

18.2

5.7

1.7

1.2

14.3

26.9

3.4

48.3

9.1

14.5

5.9

18.5

3.6

14.5

53.5

6.2

6.5

13.8

33.1

5.6

2.2

1.3

Career time line


It is also worth noting (in the data below) the differences of what aspects young members felt was currently important according to their gender. The graph shows that being well paid is far more important to men than to women. Women are also more interested in flexible work arrangements and work-life balance. Both genders were evenly matched when it comes to organisational culture, with marginally greater numbers of women interested in opportunities to learn and develop.

Aspects currently most important in career by gender.

Total %

Male %

Female %

Base (n) (1113) (571) (537)

Being paid well 47.4 54.5*** 39.4***

Great work-life balance 41.2 39.4 43.4*

Opportunities for career progression

32.3 32.7*** 26.7***

Opportunities to learn and develop

27.3 26.0 28.8

Challenging work/being pushed to learn

26.6 25.0 28.2

The quality of people in the organisation

20.7 21.1 20.3

Flexible work arrangements 18.2 9.6*** 28.0***

Organisational culture 14.3 14.4 14.1

Effective leadership 11.3 10.2 12.2

A clear career path 9.1 11.1*** 6.9***

Gaining transferable skills 8.1 8.1 8.1

Immediate team culture 7.9 6.4** 9.6***

Variety 6.8 6.6 7.2

Ethical practices 5.7 5.8 5.6

Mobility (i.e. opportunity to travel)

3.6 3.6 3.5

Prestigious place to work 3.2 3.6 2.9

Social and environmental responsibility

1.7 1.6 1.8

Other 1.2 1.2 1.2

Career pathMembers typically start out in practice, predominantly at one of the Big 4 firms and move to large commercial organisations or another practice role outside of the Big 4. Career change is mostly driven by members seeking new challenges and opportunities, pay increases or the desire to develop new skills.

Almost half of the respondents started out in the Big 4 (42%). Since then, the majority have moved on to different organisations (79%) or changed jobs within an organisation (59%).

A large commercial organisation is cited most commonly as a current workplace (22%), followed by Big 4 (13%), small practice (13%) and large practice (11%).

One in three respondents express some loyalty to their current organisation, stating their next career move is likely to be another role in the same organisation in the same country (27%) or a role with current organisation in a different country (9%).

Currently, members working in practice and business are significantly more likely to be looking at another role in the same organisation in the same country (30% and 35% respectively).

Close to one in five, however, will look for a role in their current profession in the same country (17%), significantly more prevalent among those working in government (29%) and business (29%).

Changing roles within their current organisation was more likely to be the next step for males (30% looking for another role in the same country and 10% looking to move to a different country), while females are significantly more likely to look for a role in their profession in the same country (20%).

9

The top three reasons for changing organisations and jobs within an organisation are:

• To embark on new challenges / opportunities (48% of respondents who changed organisations vs. 67% of those who changed jobs within an organisation);

• To increase pay (30% vs. 27%); and

• To develop new skills (27% vs. 53%).

Other reasons for changing organisations include mobility and international opportunities (20%), dissatisfaction with the job (19%), lack of promotion (19%) and to improve work-life balance (19%).

One in four respondents have not changed organisations since starting their career. This is more likely for those working in the Big 4 (57%) or practice (31%).

Career progression adviceRespondents are most likely to seek out career progression advice and information from friends, colleagues and family. Mentors also ranked highly as sources of advice, with HR departments coming in second last in the ratings.

The value of advice provided by mentors is again emphasised as they were viewed as being the group that provided the most valuable source of professional career advice.

A typical career path in the Chartered Accounting profession is summarised above, including only most frequently mentioned responses. (Note: the total will not add to 100%)

Number of times changed organisations> None (21%)> Once (24%)> Twice (17%)

> 61% of members changed jobs within an organisation with most of those changing jobs up to three times (82%)

Starting out> Big 4 (42%)> Large practice (19%)> Medium practice (16%)> Small practice (16%)

Present> A large commercial (34%)> Big 4 (10%)> Small practice (10%)> Large practice (8%)

Future> Another role, same org.,

same country (30%)> A role in current profession,

same country (21%)> A role in current organisation,

different country (7%)

Career path in the accounting profession

0 20 40 60

Friends

Colleagues

Family

Mentor/s

Managers/s

Recruitment firms

Job websites

HR department

Don’t know/have not sought career advice

Other

52

50

%

48

36

34

24

23

4

6

20 25 50 75 100

Mentor/s

Managers/s

Colleagues

Family

Friends

Recruitment firms

Job websites

HR department

None of the above

77

66

%

64

60

54

39

31

30

9

Sources of professional advice Providers of valuable professional advice


The main challenges listed in changing organisations included the lack of mentors to approach about advice and guidance and also not knowing about options that might be available to assist with change.

A high proportion of those who responded said they were keen to gain access to increased mentoring services or to learn how they could access those already available to them.

Skill requirementsThe graph below indicates what respondents viewed as the most important skills in the various phases of their careers. Professional networking increased exponentially as a required skill as Chartered Accountants move through their careers.

The need for communication skills, along with the ability to network remain strong motivators throughout the three phases of career (as indicated below).

No mentor to give me guidance

Not knowing career options available

Not knowing where to go for information/resources

Too many options available making choices difficult

Other

%

Challenges in changing jobsChallenges in changing organisations

Don’t know

33

24

31

15

21

1417

6

13

17

33

39

0

10

20

30

40

0 25 50 75 0 25 50 75 0 25 50 75

Task and time management

When starting out At present In the future

Technical skills

Communication skills

Critical thinking and problem solving

Teamwork and leadership

Self direction and autonomy

Professional networking

Other

67.7

58.8

% % %

47.9

32.5

29.1

20.2

5.0

0.4

44.9

42.9

60.5

45.4

49.4

21.4

22.7

0.5

20.3

27.3

56.1

37.2

58.0

20.1

60.7

1.1

Challenges to changing organisations

11

Future directionsYoung Professionals Panels are key in driving the Institute’s increasing focus on young member engagement, directing initiatives and discussions around support for the demographic. The panels provide advice in career progression, training, development issues and challenges facing regional areas.

The Institute, together with the Young Professionals Panels, regularly host events that bring together young Chartered Accountants in multiple locations across the country.

The aim of these events is to create a forum for networking and sharing knowledge among peers. Many of these events have been run in conjunction with different industry professional bodies and this has afforded members the opportunity to generate networks across various professions.

Through sharing the results of this survey, the Institute hopes to provide firms and employers of Chartered Accountants with information to enable them to expand their offerings of skill and personal development for their young Chartered Accountants.

This report is only intended as a concise snapshot of the survey. A more complete set of graphs and statistics is available via www.charteredaccountants.com.au.

The Institute has representatives dedicated to working with young professional members in each of the major centres in Australia. Please feel free to contact the representative in your centre if you have any queries about the young professionals program or if you would like to get involved with activities around young members.

New South WalesNatalie Fallon [email protected]

QueenslandChris Hurling [email protected]

Victoria/TasmaniaElaine Coughlan [email protected]

South Australia/Northern TerritoryRebekah King [email protected]

Australian Capitol TerritoryLaura Hannan [email protected]

Western AustraliaBrian Martin [email protected]


• Research method – Email invitation to a web based survey.

• Target population – Full members up to 40 years of age at time of survey.

• Sampling – A random sample of 10,000 was taken from the above target population. This sample was cleaned against the Institute sample laundry criteria of:

– Maximum one completed survey per year;

– Maximum three invitations for survey participation per year; and

– Only members with 6+ months membership.

• While the cleaning process produced a total of 8,748 records, email invitations and reminders were sent to 7,973 live emails – excluding bounces, irrelevant respondents and those away for the survey duration.

– 1,113 completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 14.0%

• Survey period – 29 August to 19 September 2011.

• Questionnaire instrument – Assessed career expectations, the process of changing organisations and roles, reasons for change and major challenges faced in this process; it also assessed resources used for career advice as well as skill requirements at different stages of career growth.

• Weighting – The distribution for age and segment was checked against the population distribution. While the age distribution was consistent, the segment distribution was significantly different. As a result, the survey sample data was weighted accordingly by this variable to reflect the population.

Appendix 1: Research Methodology

Appendix 2: Respondent segment

QuestionSegment

BaseAll respondents (n=1113)

Overseas, 28.5

Members in business, 13.4

Government, 3.7

Practice, 38.0

Big 4, 16.0

Other, 0.4

13

QuestionAnd is that in a capital/major city or a regional area?


QuestionWhere are you currently working?


Appendix 3: Respondent region

Appendix 4: Respondent location

Capital/major city, 88.6

Regional area, 11.4

0 10 20 30

WA

Outside Australia

ACT

NSW

NT

Qld

SA

TAS

Vic

2.3

24.5

%

1.0

12.4

7.2

1.5

16.6

6.8

27.8


Appendix 5: Response age

Appendix 5: Main reasons for changing organisations by gender

QuestionWhat is your age in years?


QuestionWhat are the main reasons for changing organisations?

BaseRespondents that changed organisations (n=882)

35 or older, 30.4

Under 35, 67.5

Unwilling to disclose, 2.1Total

%Male

%Female

%

Base (n) (882) (453) (425)

To embark on new challenges/opportunities

47.9 50.6** 44.7**

To increase pay 30.4 36.4*** 23.7***

To develop new skills 26.9 31.0*** 22.3***

For mobility/international opportunities

20.0 24.7*** 14.9***

Due to a lack of promotional prospects/career growth

19.7 23.4*** 15.3***

Due to low job satisfaction 19.1 16.6*** 22.1***

To improve work-life balance 18.5 14.6*** 23.2***

Due to poor management/leadership

16.1 16.4 15.4

Due to a change in personal circumstances

13.6 8.3*** 19.7***

For a better culture fit 9.9 9.4 10.5

To move to a more prestigious place to work

7.8 7.6 8.1

To pursue other interests 7.6 8.1 7.2

For more flexible work arrangements

3.4 1.5*** 5.5***

Due to unethical practices 2.2 2.6 1.7

To move to a more socially responsible organisation

0.4 0.0** 0.8**

Other 6.2 6.3 6.2

15

Appendix 5: Main reasons for changing roles by gender

QuestionWhat are the main reasons for changing roles within an organisation?

BaseRespondents that changed roles within one organisation (n=662)

Total %

Male %

Female %

Base (n) (662) (355) (305)

To embark on new challenges/opportunities

66.8 67.5 65.8

To develop new skills 53.3 57.0*** 48.3***

To increase pay 27.5 32.5*** 21.0***

For mobility/international opportunities

16.1 19.7*** 11.6***

To pursue other interests 11.1 8.6*** 14.1***

Due to low job satisfaction 5.6 5.0 6.3

Due to a lack of promotional prospects/career growth

5.2 5.0 5.5

To improve work-life balance 5.2 3.8** 7.0**

Due to a change in personal circumstances

4.3 2.1*** 7.1***

Due to poor management/leadership

3.3 3.2 3.5

For more flexible work arrangements

3.2 0.0*** 7.4***

For a better culture fit 1.6 1.7 1.6

Other 9.2 8.9 9.6

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