Aside from finance, many public practice firms also advise organisations on a wide range of commercial and regulatory issues. For example, helping organisations to reduce their costs, manage their risk and reputation, consider their environmental footprint and impact on society, find efficiencies in their IT, or improve the experience of their customers.
All of these advisory services require a solid understanding of finance, which makes accountancy the strongest foundation for this career. Advisory services naturally need employees with the same knowledge and skills needed for accounting and finance roles - such as auditing and credit control. Without which, they'd have no knowledge to draw upon!
While many students join the advisory sector as a business advisor, you can of course work in the finance team to help steer an accountancy or professional services firm towards greater profitability.
