A day in the life of an Senior Accountant

Luarelie Gifford

My name is Laurelie Gifford. My role is Senior Accountant with the Systems Team within the Accountancy Service and I manage 2 staff. I have worked at East Devon District Council for 3 years.

When I commenced with EDDC I was required to hold a CCAB recognised qualification. This means being a qualified accountant which normally takes around 3 to 4 years. There are various routes to this qualification with entry levels ranging from being a graduate, to no qualifications at all. (See link for ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) requirements. http://www.accaglobal.com/join/acca/entry )

I hold FCCA, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants which is achieved after 5 years in the profession with appropriate experience and continuing professional development.

Training I have undertaken with EDDC to develop my skills:

  • Attending external technical accounting updates on latest legislation (usually with very yummy lunches)
  • in-house software training on financial systems and reporting tools

My typical day could include:

  • meeting with Service Managers e.g. IT or Housing Benefits, to discuss variations of their spend or income from the expected budgets for the year
  • running a training course on Financial Management for managers
  • one off costing projects e.g. Staff restructuring costs
  • predicting the costs by the end of the year for the Free Bus Pass scheme (and chasing local bus companies to return their journey data)
  • predicting annual spend by the end of the year of EDDC’s Capital Projects of £3.4million
  • Compiling various financial statistics for central government returns e.g. Costs of the Licensing Service, or Elections Service.

This job is no longer just about number crunching and bean counting with your head in a spread sheet in an isolated office, although designing and using complex spread sheets can be a valuable tool. You need to get out and met the managers of the various services, learn what their priorities are, and report meaningful financial data on their spend and income. This way you are helping managers make accurate decisions about running their service.

What I most enjoy about my job is the flexibility to combine a fulltime job (37 hours per week) with caring for 2 young children, and the team I work with.

What I least enjoy about my job is time constraints on specific tasks. In some cases, more time would give us a chance to step back and review how we work and change procedures or reports to present more meaningful information.

If I was not an accountant I would like to be a fulltime musician instead of the part time one I am now.

My proudest achievement is seeing managers on my courses realise how their day to day work fits in with, and affects the council as a whole.

The reason I chose to work in Local Government is it pays better than teaching.

Good Luck in your chosen career!!!

Page last updated on 7 November 2008