Starting career in accounting

[cmsteinel 0]

Hi all,

 

Does anyone have advice on how to break into the accounting field here in Munich?

 

I moved here last September and have been taking German classes ever since to boost my language skills. Back in the States, I was in sales, but want to make the switch.

 

I'm in my mid-twenties. Finished with university and have already taken graduate classes in accounting. I also having been working part-time here doing office work and getting used to a German business setting. But I am a little stuck (and overwhelmed) with where to start looking or how to approach companies. Does anyone know of training programs in banks or accounting firms? I'd be grateful for suggestions.

 

Thanks

[Lassie 18]

efinancialcareers is a good place to start looking for accounting jobs. If you do a search by location - Germany and then Bavaria there a plenty of jobs around. If there are none that take your fancy listed then look at the websites of the recruitment firms that have placed the ads.

 

What the Germans call 'Controlling' is essentially financial accountant in a normal business. They don't seem to have the equivalent qualification of what in the UK is CIMA (Chartered Management Accountant) here so not sure what training is usual in a German firm.

 

In your general accounting firms there isn't really the equivalent of the UK's ACA or US's CPA. Instead they have Steurberater (tax advisor) which is a waste of time, completely non commercial and teaches you nothing about accounting but everyone does it because it's a title and they love that over here. Once this has been achieved then you are allowed to study for the Wirtschaftsprüfer which is a qualification to say you can audit. Again this is non-commercial, very technical in the sense they can quote German commercial law at you and teaches the holder nothing about proper finance. Some departments of some firms are now allowing people to study for the ACCA (Certified Chartered Accoutant - somewhere between CIMA and ACA) which is more commercial and can be used in the real world as well as in an accounting firm.

 

To get work at a general accounting firm I would say a willingness to learn German and throw yourself in is essential, maybe more so initially than your actual german ability. I would give the larger firms' (PwC, KPMG, E&Y, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, BDO, PKF) HR departments a call and just ask what positions are available and what are the requirements- or look on their websites.

 

Hope this makes some sense and good luck :)

[cmsteinel 0]

Thanx!

[Bart 1]

I suggest a course!

 

Maybe the MBS has courses in accounting?

 

http://www.munich-business-school.de/

[Ulysses 2]

If you plan on staying in Germany, then do a German qualification. Admittedly, it will be more difficult due to the language, but it's a nightmare trying to get past German personnel staff with foreign qualifications like ACCA, etc. You'll get away with MBA or CPA, but that's about it.

 

Having said that, the Germans are with accounting, as they are with everything, complicated. Public practice and industryis for one divided. You only become a Wirstschaftsprüfer (CPA, ACA) if you plan on working in public practice otherwise you lose your licence. Same applies to Steuerberater i.e. tax consultant. The classic path is "Betriebswirtschaftswissenschaften" (BWL) in Rechnungswesen (accounting), Steuer(tax), Controlling (Performance Management or Management Accounting) and Revision (Audit). During your studies you would do a 6 month "Praktikum" preferably with one of the Big 4. Following that, you go and work for approximately 2-years with an audit firm in industry.

 

You could of course do your "Praktikum" in industry and start working there as a Trainee.

 

The other path is a "Lehre" or apprenticeship. This culminates with the qualification of Bürokaufmann, industriekaufmann, etc. Following that and another minimum 3 years work experience you can do a Bilanzbuchhalter "cost accountant" course through the German Chamber of Commerce (Industrie Handelskammer) or IHK. Some graduates do the course as well as it is considered very highly in industry due to its much more hands-on approach as opposed to the university courses.

 

Considering your level of experience and education, I would look into doing a BWL through the FernUni Hagen. Another option albeit more expensive would be a distance Masters in Finance through an American or UK institution. Unfortunately, there you won't get exposed to German Commercial Code or to German technical terms.

[The Ogre 30]

I am writing this on behalf of my wife who did the grave mistake of joining me here in Germany. She is unable get a job. She is highly qualified. She has a masters in commerce and is also trained as a cost and work accountant from the licensing and regulating body for cost accountancy in India - ICAI.  For those from UK, with 2 years of experience and without writing any additional papers, she will automatically become a member of CIMA. She is B1 level certified in German. She did not work much in India other than a short stint as a trainee at a Govt organization. Now, she has kind of given up trying. It has been 3 years since she completed her studies. Any advice to get a job even remotely related to finance would be extremely helpful. Salary is not much of a concern. Full time or part time is fine. Probably, someone knows about an English course that could help her secure a job. We have tried at many companies dealing with English speaking countries. All job sites have been tried. Also, we have knocked on the doors of several consultancies. She is not eligible for internship as she is not a student and for experienced jobs her experience is negligible.

[slycookies 1,040]

Has she considered finding a course that would allow her to learn accounting rules (and practices) in German GAAP or even IFRS?  I'm unclear if her previous studies covered any of these.

[engelchen 13,040]

23 minutes ago, The Ogre said:

She is B1 level certified in German. 

 

 

Has she considered continuing with German? 

 

With foreign qualifications and no experience she can't compete with foreign qualified candidates.  Without German she has no chance of understanding German accounting rules.

 

 

[Conquistador 11,153]

Engelchen is correct. She needs Business German lessons, and probably should get the following bilingual book: HGB Financial Statements .

 

Once her German is sufficient, she may be able to get a voucher for a relevant Fortbildung from the Arbeitsamt. Failing that, you can pay for a training course yourself (sometimes these are available via distance learning).

[Uncle Nick 6,245]

To the OP:

 

are you sure you wouldn't rather be a lion timer? 

[The Ogre 30]

@slycookies@engelchen  She can learn German GAAP(I believe it is called HGB) but to convince employers she may need some certificate, I guess. Improving German is definitely on the charts but we have put it off for now because of the uncertainity of what to do after that.
@Conquistador Thanks for the book. Also ''Fortbildung'' is new information for me. I suppose we have to find a course to suggest to Arbeitsamt. I found the institute ILS. It was suggested by my tax adviser. I have sent them two enquiries but got no response. I have to pay them a visit. Any other institutes?
Any opinions on a SAP course? The entire thing costs around 7k. Would a training center be able to advise which module(s) is(are) suitable for her profile or doing the entire thing is recommended? She has worked with Account payable. From my googling, I found FI/CO as relevant.

Thanks for all the inputs.

[slycookies 1,040]

I'm in financial analysis, (work closely with Accounting), but FI/CO is what we live and breath.  

 

However, I think probably language first.  

[LukeSkywalker 7,604]

She may want to look into S/4HANA Finance (formerly known as Simple Finance, but this was removed by SAP since it isn't that simple )

[engelchen 13,040]

12 hours ago, The Ogre said:

She can learn German GAAP(I believe it is called HGB) but to convince employers she may need some certificate, I guess.

 

How is she planning on learning German accounting rules without knowing German?  Accounting rules in Germany are taught using the actual legal texts here and they are in German. 

 

I studied in Germany and tried to take a course in accounting with only C1 German and wasn't able to follow the course because my German wasn't good enough (I had already taken accounting in Canada, the subject was not totally new to me). 

 

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Improving German is definitely on the charts but we have put it off for now because of the uncertainity of what to do after that.

 

Sorry, but that is about the stupidest excuse I've ever heard.  If you're planning on staying in Germany, what does she have to lose by learning German? How does doing nothing help her career? 

 

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I suppose we have to find a course to suggest to Arbeitsamt.

 

What is the point of taking a course in language she can't understand? 

 

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I have sent them two enquiries but got no response.

 

 

Did you write them in English or German? 

[Joanie 1,130]

its a long shot, but there are several european commission and other european offices that hire such people, where the working language is english.  (I work periodically for the EC on a contract basis) To get these jobs relies on two things:  normally you must have an EU citizenship and your location.  In addition there are NGOs and places like the UN (Unesco, Unicef - whoever has offices where you are) and its branches that also need finance people.  Then there are also universities and research institutes.  

 

Private companies in Germany would be difficult, so i would be going in that direction.  

[AppleEater 12]

Hi Joanie,

    Good info.. can you please provide some more info in this direction. 

some websites etc/

 

thanks in advance mate.

m