Want to Become a 1st Time Manager

I am currently a senior accountant in the department I work in and I feel that I am more than ready to become a manager.

Someone I have worked along side of was recently promoted to an accounting manger position while it had been open for almost 2 years.  I am not upset about this person's promotion (I'm surprised it took so long), but it did make me realize that it's time to move on to another position either within my current employer or to a completely different company.

My question is this - since I have been a senior staff member for over 4 years now in my company and with 14 total years in the accounting field, am I being realistic that I can move to a different company or department and jump into a manager role?  Or should I look to make more of a lateral move to another senior accountant position and work on becoming a manager by being promoted through whatever new company or department I work for?

I don't know if I'm being overly pessimistic on becoming a manager but I feel like I'm caught in a Catch 22.  By that I mean in making a lateral move as a senior accountant and not an accounting manager that it would still be a crapshoot on getting promoted, yet in applying for accounting manager positions other employers would want to see that I have previous experience as a manager.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Thanks in advance for your advice.