Careers in accountancy are often portrayed as orderly progressions. A graduate joins a firm, completes professional qualifications, gains experience and

In accountancy firms, recruitment rarely fails spectacularly. It falters subtly. A hire appears competent. Clients are serviced. Work is delivered.

Ambition is rarely the limiting factor in public practice. Most Senior Accountants, Managers and Directors we speak to are capable,

In public practice, careers rarely collapse dramatically. They drift. Progression appears steady on paper: annual appraisals, incremental pay rises, increasing

There are two versions of the recruitment market in public practice. The first is visible. It appears in job adverts,

Accountants tend to think of their careers as a sequence of rational decisions: accepting responsibility, progressing steadily, moving firms when