Will my caution affect a future career in accountancy?

I was cautioned for shoplifting when I was 16. It was all a massive mistake because I didn't even do it, it was my friend, but because she hid the item in my bad I got the wrap for it.

Anyway, that's besides the point. I am an employee for a big accountancy firm and they have just run enhanced CRB checks on us. My reprimand, which is more than 5 years old now, has shown up on it.

Work haven't mentioned anything to me yet so i'm assuming they are ok with it. So your caution will show up on an enhanced disclosure, whether your employer will be bothered by it or not is a different matter. You wouldn't need to disclose it on an application form because it's not a conviction, but with it being theft from an employer which does cast doubt over your integrity, maybe it would be worth mentioning before they did a CRB check so that you could explain. Pretty hard one to explain away though to be honest.

I've been in my training contract since september and they have ouly just done checks on us. and the reason behind it was that we were auditing in colleges so we needed them to be safe to work round children, tather than because the employer wanted to check us themselves.

But it depends where you work. Accountancy is exempt from the rehabilitation of offenders act so they would be allowed to do an enhanced disclosure on you. and so would any professional body, such as ICAEW, if they chose to.

I have loved with this hanging over my head for years and it's only now when I got the CRB check done that i eventually got a clear answer on what would show up, there is so much confliction onfo on the internet over what is retained, what is disclosed and what caution/reprimand i actually got because I was never given any paperwork to confirm anything.

Hope that helps in some way. I think it may be a little stumbling block for you along the line but I wouldn't let it put you off applying. I know plenty of people in the profession who aren't squeaky clean and have records, it's not impossible!

As it is an exempt profession, you do need to disclose it if they ask for your "criminal record", "cautions", "reprimands" or any "action or involvement with the police". Within exempt professions it is usually also known to be included within "convictions", however you are unlikely to questioned much if you don't disclose and it only asks for convictions.

Today I was arrested and given a police caution for 'Theft from Employer'. Although this wasnt for my benefit, it was to speed up my job (its hard to explain what i mean). I have only 'stolen' £20 over 12 months but they still reported to the police who said that if they had their way they would let me go with nothing cus I have no previous records and the money taken was such a low value, however my employer insisted that they take action.

So yeh, will this caution affect any future career in accountancy? I am goin to uni in september for the next 4 years.

Thanks