There was no one factor that made Guy Cartwright leave the Army. The former major had commanded a rifle company, served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and worked in defence procurement during his 18 years of service.

“I had done what I wanted to do. I had commanded men in operation and I had had great fun, but I was 38 and I thought that if I left I would have a 20-year run at a second career. I have two young boys and we had moved around a lot. I wanted to bring stability to the family.”

Cartwright is in the third and final year of his accountancy qualifications, working as a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers in its assurance group.

His reasons for choosing accountancy have much to do with the type of role to which he aspires. “Training as an accountant within the audit world lets me walk into other people’s businesses and get a feel for what they do,” he says. “If you look at the characteristics of board directors, most are chartered accountants.” They get to the top because they understand the balance sheet, he says.

A sudden and determined change of career is not the only option for Services people. There are generally three routes they can go down after leaving the Forces, according to Nick Chaffey, the head of PA Consulting’s defence and security practice.

“First, they can use their contacts directly for sales and marketing, but some are slightly uncomfortable with that. Secondly, they can move into a completely different sector. Thirdly, there is the consulting option, where they can use significant elements of their experience.”

David Brook, a senior consultant in the defence and security practice at PA, says: “We’re looking for people who have experience in business processes, procurement and business transformation. It is important that we have people with a deep sector background, but also people who have experience elsewhere.”

Cartwright is bringing skills from the Army into the business world. “Leadership of accountants is different but the skills are transferable,” he says, adding that he is just starting to lead teams at PwC. “People want to be shown by example and know why they are doing things. Those basics are true for leading soldiers and for dealing with accountants.”

Not everyone adapts with the apparent ease of Cartwright. At VT Group, a support services company with much of its business in defence, a quarter of employees come from the Forces. Jo Robbins, the human resources director, has seen some struggle with the transition. “People coming out of the Services at a high level are well trained and extremely competent around leadership,” she says. “The skills they are short of are managing profit and loss accounts and interpersonal issues.”

To address these gaps, VT Group supports Forces leavers with coaching and mentoring. Even so, Robbins says, she can tell the Forces staff — it is something about their bearing.

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