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Careers in Accountancy Pathways.

I am interested in being an accountant but I dont want to take the degree route into the career, and I've read other topics here about accountancy degrees etc and I think I would be better off not doing a degree to become an accountant.

I have done my gcses this year and predicted B's in almost everything, I'll see next week what I do get and next year I am going to do:

At College:
Business Studies
Pyscology
Law (possibly)

At home: (from Uk-open-learning.com)
Maths
English Lit/Lan
and possibly Accounting, this is the course link tell me what you think of it.
http://uk-open-learning.com/CartV3/Details.asp?ProductID=255

After that what will I then need to do to become an accountant? How long will it take and will I have the same qualifications as the accountants that done an accountancy degree?<Probably a stupid question. Also could I have any other information I might need.

Reply 1

Natasha 4 eva

if u dont want to take the degree route then u can also join a firm and take the same accountancy qualificatons howeverr i believe that the degree route would be more suitable as gaining a degree will enable u to experience more oppurtuities.

p.s good luck with your results nxt week

Reply 2

Stan Hibbert

You can join an ancountancy firm after your A levels and study fot the AAT and then onto ACA etc. AAT is basically a qualification that school leavers have to do before they can get the ACA and become a fully qualified accountant. Graduates don't do the AAT, they just do the ACA. Have a look on PriceWaterHouseCoopers or KPMG website and search for school leaver opportunities, there will be a lot of information about it there.

Hope this helps,

Reply 3

Purple

p.s good luck with your results nxt week

Thanks.

If I were to do a degree I wouldnt really want to do an accountancy degree I would prefer to something different and there is no accounting degrees around here and I dont want to move away.

The only degrees that are available here that I would like to do are as follows:
Business and Management
Business Management with Finance
Business Management with Marketing
Law (If I done a law degree I would be a lawyer)
Applied Pyscology (If I done this I would probably be a physcologist)

Could anyone suggest any other careers in finance?

Also what qualifications do you need to be a chartered accountant

Reply 4

Stan Hibbert

kirstinx

Out of those degrees the business degrees would be more relevant but you do not need a specific degree to become an accountant. You should do what you think you will enjoy and/or be best at. I have heard of someone with a psychology degree that is now earning £70,000 at PwC in London.

Reply 5

EconLou

look here: http://www.pwc.com/uk/eng/car-inexp/schools/opportunities.html and go to train as a tax or accounting technician.
If u live near newcastle you could also look at the flying start degree program where u spend 3 months of each year of your degree working with PWC.

Reply 6

Purple

^Yea I live near newcastle so thanks for the site

Reply 7

Purple

Would an ALevel in accoutancy exempt me from AAT foundation level?

Reply 8

Reloaded

kirstinx

Would an ALevel in accoutancy exempt me from AAT foundation level?

yes.

Thanks

are you thinking of starting AAT after A-levels?

Yes

are you looking to go to college to study it or do you prefer to do an apprenticeship at an accountancy firm?

Reply 13

Purple

I am looking to go to college to study it whilst getting experience working somewhere

Reply 14

Reloaded

oh rite. i'm trying to decide whether to do that, or whether to do the AAT school-leaver training schemes at some of the accountancy firms. i've applied to a few places and taken a few tests but i'm still waiting for a response.

Reply 15

Purple

I looked on my local connexions site at the apprenticeships available but there was no accounting ones available. I also checked out prospects.ac.uk and visited this part of the site:
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Options_with_your_subject/Your_degree_in_accountancy_and_finance/Job_options/p!eklgFiL
and it gave me information about getting training without a degree.

Reply 16

Reloaded

ok well i would advise you to look at the websites of some accountancy firms to check for vacancies for AAT training. there is a list of companies that offer the scheme on the AAT website but i think you need to register an account first

Reply 17

Purple

What is the FCA qualification? I was looking on the letterhead of a chartered accountants and most of them had FCA after their name? and the rest had ACA after their names.

Also would the ACCA qualification be unsuitable to work in a chartered accountancy firm?