Is pivoting to IA after 8 years in accounting a “career reset”?

Hiya, typical post-busy season dreaming now that I have the 10k out the door.

I’m thinking of transitioning to internal audit from my current accounting role. I’m a bit of a journeyman, spending time in audit, PA consulting, and now a manager at a small public company. I have my CPA, but accounting just… well, it drives me crazy. My anxiety skyrockets, the breadth of things I have to track and stay on top of makes me lose sleep. And don’t get me started on the hours.. regardless of which industry job I seem to find, it always ends up in 50+ hour weeks all year long.

I’d IA at this stage of my career worth it? Or would it be more of a career restart, meaning I’ll have to drop to the bottom of the pole and work my way up again? The idea of being a checker is something g that I find appealing - in accounting I always feel like I’m gearing up for a war with every decision I make. So separating myself from that sounds like it’ll really free up my mental state. And I do enjoy control testing from my time in audit (although that’s quite a few years ago now at this point).

Can anyone give some insight into how making this pivot would go? Would hiring managers take a punt on someone who never formally worked in IA? Is the salary going to take a substantial hit?

Really just trying to get some preliminary information from people who may have done similar jumps, so curious to hear about others experience as well.