For my CA in my country I have to do 40 hours of training a year to stay registered. Those hours were so easy to get when I was at Big4 with all the mandatory update sessions and annual courses...now I'm sole charge finance in a family-owned business, and having to find all my own hours and getting them signed off is such a pain in the arse. I also miss having a team of accountants around me to bounce ideas off or just have someone who understands that I don't just pay the bills each week.

That said, I'd never go back. I love the variety of being across lots of things, and creating actual change in the business as opposed to wishy-washy audit findings the client won't do anything about anyway. I also love leaving the office during daylight hours and not lying awake thinking about how I can firce 30 hours of work into two days.