Exploring the transition of newly qualified Chartered Accountants from practice to industry

This Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) thesis explores the transition of newly qualified Chartered Accountants (CAs) from practice to industry-based roles. The thesis seeks to understand how CAs develop the necessary skills and competencies to assist them in this transition and addresses the following objectives: 1. To understand how CAs' skills and competencies correspond to industry requirements. 2. To understand how skills and competencies required for industry are developed by CAs during the phases of transition. 3. To develop a framework that informs the transition from practice to industry. This exploratory study seeks to embrace theory as lenses through which to understand the research problem and employs theoretical lenses relating to fit and transition in an effort to develop a utilitarian framework that informs the transition from practice to industry. The research method employed is qualitative semi-structured interviews held with multiple stakeholders including: CAs transitioning from practice to industry; industry-based hiring managers (HMs); Chartered Accountants Ireland; recruiting firms and a continuing professional development provider. It was found that CAs roles in industry are different to practice and skills gaps exist with methods used to close this gap identified. It was identified that CAs focus on developing hard skills during transition while HMs identify soft skills as requiring development. There was evidence that person-culture fit was important and achieving such a fit was more difficult than achieving person-job fit. It was also found that the CA passes through phases of transition with evidence that supports five phases of transition as opposed to four outlined in the transition cycle theory. Finally, a theoretically based framework was developed that informs the transition from practice to industry which will be of relevance to all of the stakeholders interviewed.