A Manager appointment may solve an immediate delivery need or form part of a longer-term leadership plan. Being clear about that purpose changes who you look for, how you assess them and what happens after they join.
When hiring an accountancy Manager, firms often describe the role through its immediate responsibilities: managing a portfolio, reviewing work, supporting clients and developing the team.
Those responsibilities matter. But they may tell only part of the story.
Behind the vacancy, the firm might also be looking for someone who can eventually lead a service line, take greater commercial responsibility or strengthen the succession plan. If that expectation remains unspoken, the recruitment process can assess candidates against an incomplete picture of the opportunity.
A capable Manager and someone with the potential to become a Director may both be strong appointments. The important distinction is what the firm needs the person to achieve now and what it hopes they will grow into.
Start with the purpose of the appointment
Before preparing the recruitment brief, clarify why the role exists.
Is the priority to stabilise delivery, reduce a Partner’s operational workload or give an established team stronger supervision? Alternatively, is the firm building leadership capacity for expansion, a changing client portfolio or future succession?
These needs can overlap, but they should be discussed explicitly.
A firm may need an experienced Manager who can make an immediate contribution and remain highly effective at that level. Another may be willing to support someone through a broader development journey because the future leadership requirement is central to the appointment.
Neither approach is inherently better. Problems arise when stakeholders expect different outcomes from the same hire.
Define what Director potential means in your firm
“Future Director” can sound attractive without explaining much.
The responsibilities attached to Director level vary between firms and disciplines. The role may involve leadership of a substantial portfolio, technical oversight, service-line development, people management, business development or a combination of these.
Specify which responsibilities the person would need to grow into.
For example, the firm may need someone who can eventually:
- Lead more complex client relationships and difficult commercial conversations.
- Develop Managers and strengthen the team beneath them.
- Exercise sound judgement across a wider range of assignments.
- Improve how a service line operates and delivers work.
- Identify opportunities within existing client relationships.
- Contribute to winning work where that forms part of the role.
- Take responsibility for decisions currently concentrated at Partner level.
A defined future remit gives the firm something meaningful to assess. It also helps distinguish essential capability from qualities that can be developed.
Assess current capability and future potential separately
A candidate still needs to meet the requirements of the Manager role they are joining. Future potential cannot compensate indefinitely for gaps that prevent effective delivery today.
Assess the immediate responsibilities first: technical capability, portfolio management, review quality, client communication and team supervision.
Then explore the evidence relevant to the future remit.
Has the candidate improved a process rather than simply followed it? Have they developed colleagues who can take on more responsibility? Can they explain how they handled a difficult client issue, balanced competing priorities or recognised when specialist advice was needed?
Ask what they personally decided, what alternatives they considered and what changed as a result.
Confidence and ambition can be useful, but neither establishes leadership potential on its own. Specific examples provide a stronger basis for judgement.
Check whether the candidate wants that route
A firm’s succession ambition needs to align with the individual’s career direction.
Some experienced Managers want to progress into broader leadership. Others prefer to deepen their technical expertise, manage a defined portfolio or develop people without taking on the full scope associated with a Director role.
Those preferences should be explored without assuming that every strong candidate wants the same destination.
Ask which responsibilities they want more of, what they find rewarding and how they see their contribution developing. Clarify whether they are interested in commercial leadership, specialist authority, people development or a combination.
A mismatch may remain hidden when both sides discuss progression only through job titles.
Give progression a credible basis
If future Director progression is part of the opportunity, explain how it could happen.
That does not require a guaranteed promotion date. It does require clarity about the criteria, the decision-makers, the development available and the business conditions that would support advancement.
Candidates may reasonably want to understand:
- What would distinguish Director-level contribution from strong Manager performance?
- Which capabilities would they need to demonstrate?
- Who would support and assess their development?
- What opportunities would let them build the required experience?
- When would progress be reviewed?
- Would advancement depend on growth, an available position or another business decision?
Avoid presenting a possible route as an established commitment. An honest explanation of the conditions is more credible than a broad promise of rapid progression.
Build development into the role
If a firm hires for future leadership, the working environment needs to support that intention.
A Manager cannot develop a wider remit if every week is consumed by delivery and they have little exposure to the decisions they will eventually be expected to make.
Development might include involvement in planning discussions, responsibility for a service improvement, greater ownership of client meetings or opportunities to coach future supervisors.
Senior colleagues should also explain the reasoning behind their decisions. Reviewing what happened, which trade-offs mattered and what could be done differently helps turn experience into judgement.
The aim is to expand responsibility deliberately, with appropriate support and clear boundaries.
Align the brief, assessment and expectations
The recruitment brief should distinguish between what the person must deliver on arrival and what they may develop over time.
Interviewers should use that same distinction. Otherwise, one stakeholder may assess technical delivery while another expects immediate evidence of Director-level commercial leadership.
The offer and onboarding plan should reflect the agreed position too. Be clear about the starting remit, available authority, development priorities and review points.
This helps prevent a candidate joining what they understood to be a development opportunity, only to discover that the firm expects them to operate at the next level immediately.
Make the appointment the business actually needs
Hiring an accountancy Manager is a decision about present capability and, where relevant, future leadership capacity.
A strong career Manager can create substantial long-term value. A Manager with Director potential can also be the right appointment when the firm has a defined need, the candidate wants that route and the business can support their development.
Clarity connects those expectations. It helps the firm search more precisely, assess candidates fairly and create a stronger foundation for the appointment.
Planning a Manager appointment with future leadership responsibilities in mind?
Garry Howling Recruitment can help clarify the brief and assess candidates against both the immediate role and the longer-term opportunity. Contact us for a confidential conversation.
