IT and Accounting Career

[specks05]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out what position would best fit my talents and interests. I am currently a Systems Admin but started out as an Accountant. I have a BA in both Accounting and Finance and Net+ Certified. I enjoy doing both and really love business but I am not sure what career path best combines these two disciplines. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

specks

 

[Rogue Leader]

You would do well in financial planning software such as Oracle Hyperion Planning and HFM, or SAP BPC. You would do well to try and get your certification from either one in the newest version to make yourself marketable, however you should be able to find a job as a Financial Analyst or Budget Analyst running one of these systems without that certification. I started that way and my job paid for my Oracle cert. Having both an accounting and IT background is worth its weight in gold in this field because you can troubleshoot problems, and you understand what the numbers are supposed to look like and how everything should work.

If you have any questions let me know I've been doing this very job for 9 years at 3 companies (2 of them very big household names).

 

[specks05]

I have looked into these fields in the past before going back to school for IT. Where would you suggest starting in terms of job description? There are different levels of each type of analyst position. I don't want to start at the bottom as I do have experience. Also, I am having a hard time seeing where my technical ability would be of benefit other than just knowing how the software should perform while using it. What kind of growth and what positions can this career path lead to? I am just looking for a good fit with a good salary. lol. But aren't we all.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Without specific experience in these systems you may have a tough time starting above Analyst level, but you basically want to look for like Financial Analyst or Senior Financial Analyst or Financial Systems Administrator. Or more specifically Hyperion Administrator, Oracle EPM administrator, SAP BPC Administrator. Check the job description closely and look for it saying that you will administer an Oracle EPM Hyperion Planning, or an SAP BPC system.

How your technical skills are involved, is maintaining the system, upgrading the system, programming business rules for allocations, calculations, aggregations etc. A lot of database design understanding, building formulas and things like that for reporting. You do a lot of problem solving and your technical abilities are used to solve the problems systematically. You can push yourself more towards the system side as well and work on integrating the application with other applications (like their GL system).

As for salary depends where you're located, in NY you'd start around 75k or so, and with experience you can go around 120-130k, if you're REALLY good 150k. From there you can kind of decide, you can go the financial route and become a financial director, or stay mid way and become Director of Financial systems, or if the company doesn't have that you can go the IT route and become a CTO... eventually. Running the system like this is a visible position to upper management, so it makes it easier to get ahead of someone who just programs.