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Big 4 apprenticeship or uni?

help..
ive gotten an offer for the audit apprenticeship at one of the big4 accounting firms, But ive also applied for earth sciences at uni, ive gotten an offer from Manchester &Durham so far. The fact that you dont get a bachelors degree in the audit apprenticeship is scaring me,,, will i be at a disadvantage with just the aca and no degree in the future?. My career goals are something with finance& sustainability, maybe a commodities analyst or something within sustainability.
will i be able to achieve these with just the aca? or is going to uni better

Reply 1

CS_Insights

Hey there!

Many roles across the job market requires a 'Degree or Equivalent' and, from my own experience I have been able to argue successfully that having the ACA counts as that.

Under the national qualifications framework, the ACA qualification is the equivalent of a Masters Qualification (QCF level 7).

Many employers have a fetish for those with Big4 accounting/audit experience, the ACA is also absolutely brilliant for your career regardless of whether you have a degree. After a few years of a post-qualifying experience, many stop looking at whether you have a degree and look to your actual industry experience and achievements.

An Audit role will enable you to work with different organisations across different industries, enabling you to get exposure to companies in the sustainability space and potentially bypass the degree requirement.

On a purely financial basis, getting ACA without a degree will generate more of a economic return than a earth science degree without ACA. Student loans, lost earnings due to study - all count against the uni offer in this scenario.

That said; going the ACA-no degree route carries risk. The Big4 accounting firms require a high degree of academic proficiency, that means you MUST pass all your ACA exams first time round or risk losing your employment contract. Different firms have different policies which others will be able to advise on further.

Additionally, having a finance (ACA) qualification means that's the career you go into. If you decide after completing or midway through the ACA that you'd no longer want to work in finance, then without a bachelors degree you're options could be constrained without taking a step back. Are you content to continue doing audit and related finance roles for the next 5 years?

I'm not entirely sure whether either of these options would be better suited to becoming a commodities trader for example. So will leave that to others with perhaps more experience in that industry.

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I work in the Civil Service having completed the ACA despite not having a degree. I certainly have not regretted not having a degree and have not found this to be a barrier to my success. I am therefore quite dubious about the value of university, but do non the less enjoy working in finance.