How Kenyan Banks Waste CPA's Holders

With job scarcity Kenyan graduates with CPA's are finding themselves working for a Kenyan bank in various roles. Some are in customer service, others in credit and majority are in operations i.e supporting back office operations. Unless you have decided your career to be that one of a banker then my best advice is for you to reconsider what you're currently doing. I know that jobs are not easy to get in Kenya but then again you are not doing yourself any good by working in a job that doesn't suit you.

Take the case of Emily. Upon graduating with a B.A Economics and CPA K, Emily was lucky to be invited for an interview by Barclay's with the job title of a financial adviser. And what does the job entail? Your guess is as good as mine...selling credit cards! How does this relate to the three years spent learning consolidation and taxation?

Another example is that of Francis who is a cashier at Equity bank. When he completed his studies at Moi University his wish was to work for any of the big four audit firms in Kenya but after eight months of tarmacking all he got was a cashiering job despite being a CPA and CPS holder. He has been at it for the last 13 months and there is nothing agonizing as doing something day in day out in which there is no possibility of growth. As for now Francis has already begun a apart time job to learn the practical aspects of accounting.

I have nothing against people who work as cashiers or in customer service in banks. All i am saying is that you should be careful not to be matched with positions which lessen your value and more so when you are a fresh graduate.

Those who have worked with Kenyan banks will bear me witness that its very hard for you to be promoted o transferred from being in customer service with your MBA to the finance docket. Normally your employer will either advertise the job and an outsider who even if there in customer service in another bank will be elevated to this role. Kenyan banks are that selfish and to an extent you will only become valuable if you first resign, work somewhere else even if for a month and then apply for a position with your old employer.

When banks give you a role that does no suit you will be stagnate in your career. What do i mean?

I gave you the first reason with my example above in that chances of you being promoted to finance are very minimal with your employer giving first preference to outsiders.

But what should worry you is how you're able to compete with other job seekers out there. Truth be told accounting is one career where experience ranks very very high. It does not matter whether you are from Harvard University but if you can't handle a simple task like cash book reconciliation and i mean the practical aspect then the guy who has KATC and a few years of experience stands a better chance than you.

The more you stay as a cashier the lesser time you have to practice as an accountant and the more the opportunities in accounts/finance will pass you by. It's not enough to have a CPA-K if you cannot deliver on the simple accounting tasks then you have a very long way to go.

One way to bridge this gap and make life easy for you is to seek part time accounting duties. This way you will learn core accounting duties i.e performing reconciliation, account payable and receivables, statutory returns, audit, aging analysis, fixed asset registers etc.

With this experience no matter how minimal you stand a better chance to make it in the accounting profession despite your current employer being a Kenyan bank.
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