What’s your plan?

Good career planning should help you achieve both a satisfying career and work/life balance. A recent CICA survey, however, found that most CAs do not actively plan their careers. Only 7% have a written career plan, though an additional 28% say they have an unwritten plan. More than half (52%) don’t know what job position they would like to attain.

CAs in practice are doing a better job of planning their careers than those in industry: 12% in practice have a written plan compared with 4% in industry. CAs in large firms (1,000+ employees) are the most likely to have a written career plan, at 19%.

For those who do have a plan, the most common source of career advice is a colleague (77%). This is closely followed by a mentor inside the company (69%) and a supervisor/manager (68%). External mentor ranks fourth, cited by 50% of respondents with a plan. Also cited were provincial or national institutes (21%), executive recruiters (19%) and career consultants (14%).

The high demand for accountants is likely part of the reason why CAs are not actively planning their careers — they can rely on recruiters to call them. Career planning is easy to put off. Why not take advantage of a slower summer workload by starting your plan? When you do, be sure to use the resources offered by your national and provincial institutes, such as CA Source (www.casource.com).

John Tabone is CICA's manager of innovation