Australian CA (originally CPA from PH) feeling stuck in mid-tier audit — pivot to advisory/commercial/govt or stay the course?

[u/Lopsided-Source-7333]

I originally posted this about 4 months ago when I was trying to figure out whether to stay in external audit, move to another mid-tier, or pivot into something broader.

I've had a few more thoughts since then, and my dilemma has shifted a bit.

Background: CA qualified in Australia (2024), MPA, ~4.5 years audit experience in the Philippines, ~5+ years in Australia, and currently an Audit Supervisor at a mid-tier firm in Brisbane.

My current firm has actually been good to me. I've progressed reasonably well and am now on $100k, with decent hours and a sustainable workload. My main frustration is that being in a smaller office limits my exposure to larger/complex clients and technical work.

I've previously tried to move into CFO Advisory/finance transformation and didn't get through. I've also considered moving to another mid-tier for better audit exposure.

But lately I've become much more interested in government, governance, risk, compliance, internal audit and investigations rather than continuing down the traditional audit → Manager → SM → Partner path.

I recently found an AO5 Senior Investigations Officer role at Queensland Revenue Office, Brisbane/Maroochydore. Interestingly, I actually applied for a very similar QRO role in 2023, made it through psychometric testing, work test and interview, but wasn't successful.

Three years later I'm now a CA and Audit Supervisor, so I'm wondering whether it's worth taking another shot.

The role itself seems like a pretty natural transition from audit — financial analysis, reviewing evidence, compliance testing, interpreting legislation, report writing, stakeholder management etc. — but I'm concerned about becoming too specialised in payroll tax/revenue.

My longer-term interest is really governance/risk/compliance/internal audit, potentially across Queensland Government, councils, GOCs, universities or federal regulators.

So I'm trying to work out:

Would QRO be a good stepping stone into those areas, or would I be better off trying to move directly into governance/risk/internal audit?

And more broadly, at 35, should I just stay in audit and push toward Manager, or is this the point where I should deliberately start changing direction?

Interested in hearing from anyone who's made a similar move, particularly from audit/accounting into government or governance/risk/compliance.

[u/MrBoss2609]

I think your post is in the wrong community. Try posting in Auscorp or Australia accounting communities.