Is accounting difficult at university if you've never studied it before?

Not very, I can't imagine A-level Accounts would give you much of an advantage (if any). Maths beats accounts ten times over.

No don't agree, A level accounts gives a strong base for degree level study - it will make 1st year accounting very easy indeed.

Maths does not beat accounting 10x over. Maths will do you zero good if you want to be an equity analyst, fund manager, buisness manager, accountant or corporate financier.

No don't agree, A level accounts gives a strong base for degree level study - it will make 1st year accounting very easy indeed.

Maths does not beat accounting 10x over. Maths will do you zero good if you want to be an equity analyst, fund manager, buisness manager, accountant or corporate financier.

So do you think it will be really difficult if I've never done accounting?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Well I won't agree with this. The maths is proof that you have potential for good analysis and problem solving, plus will give you a head start when it comes to the modules of the degree with lots of mathematics. Nobody wants to be sitting learning or recapping mathematics when they should be studying something else.

The points you mentioned are careers, not degree modules, which is not what the OP is asking about. Besides, A-level maths will not do much good for those careers (though I'd still say it looks better than A-level Accounting on a CV) but she will have an Accountancy degree and this point, so who would give a **** about A-level accounts at that stage? It is the same as saying that a journalist is at a disadvantage because they never did media studies or even English at A-level.

You say that the first year will be much easier with the A-level, maybe true, however the maths A-level can be used across the full course, not just one year. Also a key point is that due to the nature of mathematics learning/revision which requires you to first learn and fully understand the intuition of a topic and then clock up countless hours spread over weeks of practising these topics makes the subject very hard to learn at university because they do not teach at uni. In a nutshell what I am rambling about here is that at university, it will be easier to learn the accounting content than the mathematical content, even if there is much more of the accounting, the maths A-level would be more beneficial.

Having the maths A-level allows her to concentrate more on the accounts side of things.

Another point to consider is that some universities, particularly the higher end ones, will consider A-level accounts as a 'soft' subject. So in terms of applying to universities, Maths certainly is ten times more useful to have. You also need to question why the university would prefer maths A-level to that of accounts...




Absolutely not. Arguments of maths vs. accounts aside, you should remember that many accountants choose to skip university altogether (particularly now with the high fees) and go straight into the ACCA training after leaving 6th form. I know a charted accountant with no degree. I know several more with degrees in subjects such as economic history, or whatever. So if you can get into accountancy fairly easily without a degree in it, why would you think you would struggle at degree level because you have no A-level accounts?

One accountant told me that it is actually better to study something such as finance, economic etc. at university, simply because they can transfer easily into accountancy training and also when you graduate with an accountancy degree you end up going over the same stuff you did at university (though take the latter point that with a pinch of salt as he didn't do an accountancy degree so couldn't speak from experience).

A degree in something like finance or financial economics will allow you into most accountancy grad schemes if not all of them, not only that but they also allow you into grad schemes that an accountancy may not. In other words picking a more broad degree will open up more doors for you while keeping the accountancy ones open. Just something you may want to consider when applying.

Also, what is your thrid subject? You only listed maths and economics...

Thank you, really helpful response! My third subject is English literature which I didn't think was relevant but correct me if I'm wrong. Also, what is ACCA exactly? I've heard about it but I don't know if its as good a route as getting a degree at university; is it a better choice?


Posted from TSR Mobile

So do you think it will be really difficult if I've never done accounting?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Well I won't agree with this. The maths is proof that you have potential for good analysis and problem solving, plus will give you a head start when it comes to the modules of the degree with lots of mathematics. Nobody wants to be sitting learning or recapping mathematics when they should be studying something else.

The points you mentioned are careers, not degree modules, which is not what the OP is asking about. Besides, A-level maths will not do much good for those careers (though I'd still say it looks better than A-level Accounting on a CV) but she will have an Accountancy degree and this point, so who would give a **** about A-level accounts at that stage? It is the same as saying that a journalist is at a disadvantage because they never did media studies or even English at A-level.

You say that the first year will be much easier with the A-level, maybe true, however the maths A-level can be used across the full course, not just one year. Also a key point is that due to the nature of mathematics learning/revision which requires you to first learn and fully understand the intuition of a topic and then clock up countless hours spread over weeks of practising these topics makes the subject very hard to learn at university because they do not teach at uni. In a nutshell what I am rambling about here is that at university, it will be easier to learn the accounting content than the mathematical content, even if there is much more of the accounting, the maths A-level would be more beneficial.

Having the maths A-level allows her to concentrate more on the accounts side of things.

Another point to consider is that some universities, particularly the higher end ones, will consider A-level accounts as a 'soft' subject. So in terms of applying to universities, Maths certainly is ten times more useful to have. You also need to question why the university would prefer maths A-level to that of accounts...




Absolutely not. Arguments of maths vs. accounts aside, you should remember that many accountants choose to skip university altogether (particularly now with the high fees) and go straight into the ACCA training after leaving 6th form. I know a charted accountant with no degree. I know several more with degrees in subjects such as economic history, or whatever. So if you can get into accountancy fairly easily without a degree in it, why would you think you would struggle at degree level because you have no A-level accounts?

One accountant told me that it is actually better to study something such as finance, economic etc. at university, simply because they can transfer easily into accountancy training and also when you graduate with an accountancy degree you end up going over the same stuff you did at university (though take the latter point that with a pinch of salt as he didn't do an accountancy degree so couldn't speak from experience).

A degree in something like finance or financial economics will allow you into most accountancy grad schemes if not all of them, not only that but they also allow you into grad schemes that an accountancy may not. In other words picking a more broad degree will open up more doors for you while keeping the accountancy ones open. Just something you may want to consider when applying.

Also, what is your thrid subject? You only listed maths and economics...

You've obviously done very little accounting before.There is very little maths in accountancy.

And yes of course I am talking about careers as that is ultimately where university study leads to.

I am not saying maths is not good but for careers I mentioned in particular, accountancy is much more directly useful.

Also if you have accounting background, you get a lot of exemptions from ACCA - it is much easier to take it when you are already have 3 years accounting related study under your belt.