Help me get a clue as to what I could do =P...

It's not that I'm not good with Economics (got 273 out of 300 in Economics in my AS, and 89 out of 100 in my O's. Not too shabby, methinks.). It's just that I don't want to study it. It's BORING! Plus I'm better in Accounting.

But why is it that you guys are recommending going to the uni first? Wouldn't the ACCA be a good substitute?

You're not 100% sure what you want to do. University gives you the greatest opportunities at the end of it compared to ACCA. You can find a few big companies offering after-college training but the pay won't be great.

And another question to add: is it possible to get directly into an Accountancy firm after my A'levels?

Zero accounting experience. Is the experience a necessity in order to get a job, even if it's at the very bottom?

my friends are scrambling for jobs while revising and doing coursework.

Hi.

...

*ponders about how to get on with this...! =/*

BEWARE: Long post ahead. Stock up on coffee first before starting to read! =P

Okay, so basically, I'll be completing my A levels by the upcoming May/June. I gave my O'levels in May '07 ("A" in Accounting, Economics, Bengali, English Language, and Maths B; "B" in Physics and Pure Maths) and my AS levels in May '08 ("A" in Mathematics, Economics, Accounting; "B' in Physics. In my A2, however, I also have Further Pure Mathematics; gonna get an "A" on it anyway!). I've applied to 5 universities in UK through UCAS for studying Accounting & Finance; and I'm still awaiting their replies.

But, to be honest, I really don't have a clue as to what I want to do in future. Well, I actually do (FWIW, I wish to be a session guitar player!), but my parents WON'T allow me to study that, even if it's the end of the world. So I figured I might as well study Accounting, since I find it quite easy (unlike Economics or Physics), and I have good grades in all the subjects of my A & O'levels that are required to study Accounting at uni.

Recently, though, my father brought up the topic of doing an "ACCA" course or something that is equivalent to doing my undergraduate study in uni, except that with this course done I can directly get into a firm with a job, as opposed to having to finish my postgraduate study at uni before getting a job. Neither of us were sure of any of this info, though; and skimming through the net left me even more confused (as you may have guessed, I'm far from being the "studious" or "nerdy" type, so I don't have ANY knowledge about all these courses, at all!).

Now I'm confused as to what path I should take. Basically, all I want to do is to get hold of some kind of degree in Accounting in as short time as possible, so I can get a job and earn some cash (even if it turns out that the money I'll be earning will be amongst the lowest range possible in the Accountancy line. As long as it's better than working, say, in a restaurant earning minimum hourly wage, I'm in! =P). I wish to do this so I can sorta "complete" my studies upto to certain degree, so that I can earn a somewhat "decent"/"livable" income while trying to establish myself in the music scene; and, if it turns out that I fail to establish myself in the career of my choice (which is highly probable, given my incompetence with my instrument...but let's save that one for another thread! ), I can turn around and resume studying accountancy and (maybe) get some high-paid job in this field.

SOOOO, what sayst thou? What should I go for? Do I have any more options? Care to elaborate on the ACCA thing?

6 years?! That's the same as doing a degree but involves working! I know which one I'd pick. AAT with ACCA and a full time job or three years of fun and ACCA.

HOLY! Never pictured it to be THAT bad. Hmmm...well in that case I might consider just doing the ACCA, then trying to get a job?

Go to University and do Economics if you can. Depending on the uni you should still have a choice of options and should be able to pick a few accounting ones. If not, go with an Accounting & Finance degree.

During your degree get as much work experience with accounting firms/IBs as possible. They have loads of career fairs, office tours, week work experience, internships, etc to look at. From that you should get a good idea of what you want to do. Try and get some extra circular activities too, especially in sports clubs.

There's loads of training opportunities after University.

1. CIMA (management accountant) in industry. This is usually with a FTSE 250 company. The bigger the better.
2. ACCA/ACA/CA (chartered/certified accountant). This is mainly in audit with companies such as KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, E&Y, Baker Tilly, etc. A lot of these companies have other service lines too like Tax where you can get both a CA and CTA (Tax advisor).
3. Banking. This again, can be a range of things like investment banking (look at the work life as well as the salary), investment consulting, etc. They have their own forum. Beware, it's ugly. You'll get a fair amount of bias and rose tinted glasses there.