The Student Room Group

Tax Accountant/Adviser apprenticeship (att-cta)

Im in year 13 currently studying a levels and and im not sure whether to take an apprenticeship in tax accountancy/adviser or go university and study accounting and finance.

Another question is how hard is it finding a good apprenticeship with a firm that is in the list of the top 20 accountancy firms to earn the ATT qualification and then do the CTA qualification?

I have no work experience and my cv isnt that great and i have applied to atleast 4-5 apprenticeships but havent gotten any response from them which doesnt give me the chance to show them what im capable irl. Help!
Reply 1
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Reply 2
Original post by Outriderr
Im in year 13 currently studying a levels and and im not sure whether to take an apprenticeship in tax accountancy/adviser or go university and study accounting and finance.

Another question is how hard is it finding a good apprenticeship with a firm that is in the list of the top 20 accountancy firms to earn the ATT qualification and then do the CTA qualification?

I have no work experience and my cv isnt that great and i have applied to atleast 4-5 apprenticeships but havent gotten any response from them which doesnt give me the chance to show them what im capable irl. Help!

I doubt anyone expects work experience or much on a CV from a school leaver. What do you have on your CV? Any sports, clubs, hobbies? What grades are you looking at?

Why go straight to ATT by the way? It seems very specific?
Reply 3
Original post by ajj2000
I doubt anyone expects work experience or much on a CV from a school leaver. What do you have on your CV? Any sports, clubs, hobbies? What grades are you looking at?

Why go straight to ATT by the way? It seems very specific?T

The experience I have on my cv is participating in sport / leadership programmes. For A-Levels I am predicted ABB

The main reason I want to do ATT is because I want to specialise in tax and ATT-CTA is the only route to do so in the UK if i'm right.
Reply 4
Original post by Outriderr
The experience I have on my cv is participating in sport / leadership programmes. For A-Levels I am predicted ABB

The main reason I want to do ATT is because I want to specialise in tax and ATT-CTA is the only route to do so in the UK if i'm right.

Your CV should be really good! There are lots of routes to specialise in tax. I'm not sure how the apprenticeship schemes work (but will have a look). Many people do ACA/ ACCA, possibly following ATT and then CTA, others combine AAT/ ATT.
Reply 5
Original post by ajj2000
Your CV should be really good! There are lots of routes to specialise in tax. I'm not sure how the apprenticeship schemes work (but will have a look). Many people do ACA/ ACCA, possibly following ATT and then CTA, others combine AAT/ ATT.

Yeah I was thinking about combining AAT/ATT because there weren’t much ATT apprenticeships around and the ones available were highly competitive. Whereas for AAT there is a lot of vacancies and quite easy to get from what I’ve seen. If I were to do AAT as first what level is most appropriate. There are levels 3 and 4 but the requirements are pretty much the same but pay different wages.
Reply 6
Original post by Outriderr
Yeah I was thinking about combining AAT/ATT because there weren’t much ATT apprenticeships around and the ones available were highly competitive. Whereas for AAT there is a lot of vacancies and quite easy to get from what I’ve seen. If I were to do AAT as first what level is most appropriate. There are levels 3 and 4 but the requirements are pretty much the same but pay different wages.

If you want to specialise in tax you are pretty much looking at the profession. Which area of the country are you in? Why not check the top (say) 40 firms websites and see what apprenticeships they have?

What sort of AAT vacancies are you seeing? If large firms it would be well worth pursuing then look to move into tax if you want to in a year or so. I dont think its generally a particularly hard move to make.

Regarding AAT I think in general the employer will say which course you would be taking. Often people start at level 2. Some accounting firms get their trainees to start at level 3 with training courses designed to bridge the gap. My guess would be that someone asking for an apprentice sitting level 4 is expecting 1-2 years experience - which would explain why the pay is higher.
Reply 7
Original post by ajj2000
If you want to specialise in tax you are pretty much looking at the profession. Which area of the country are you in? Why not check the top (say) 40 firms websites and see what apprenticeships they have?

What sort of AAT vacancies are you seeing? If large firms it would be well worth pursuing then look to move into tax if you want to in a year or so. I dont think its generally a particularly hard move to make.

Regarding AAT I think in general the employer will say which course you would be taking. Often people start at level 2. Some accounting firms get their trainees to start at level 3 with training courses designed to bridge the gap. My guess would be that someone asking for an apprentice sitting level 4 is expecting 1-2 years experience - which would explain why the pay is higher.

I live in london and the AAT vacancies are from mostly the top 20 firms. I will start applying for level 3 AAT apprenticeships and then move into tax level 4 ATT/CTA
Reply 8
Original post by Outriderr
I live in london and the AAT vacancies are from mostly the top 20 firms. I will start applying for level 3 AAT apprenticeships and then move into tax level 4 ATT/CTA

There are no shortage of places to apply to - in firms of all sizes. Try GAAPWEB and reed as well as top 50 or so firms. From a quick scan most of the top 20 seem to do tax entry level jobs and that dont like you rotate between departments )which is a good thing to do).
I still think university has the edge over apprenticeships in the long run. Some firms still regard degree minimum. Whilst you would progress fast with apprenticeship, its how employers now view graduates with the edge.
Original post by mattymoo432
I still think university has the edge over apprenticeships in the long run. Some firms still regard degree minimum. Whilst you would progress fast with apprenticeship, its how employers now view graduates with the edge.

No one knows. Lots of firms take on apprentices - with A level grades which could get them onto competitive degree courses. Apprenticeships were pretty rate 10 years ago so the norm is to see managerial level staff with degrees. Despite this I know people with good careers who dont have degrees but do have professional qualifications.

My guess is that as more people do apprentice schemes it will be less unusual to see senior management grade staff without degrees. Plus advertising for degrees may run the risk of discrimination claims. Also, the may be more options to convert a professional qualification into a degree in case a tick box is required.
Original post by ajj2000
No one knows. Lots of firms take on apprentices - with A level grades which could get them onto competitive degree courses. Apprenticeships were pretty rate 10 years ago so the norm is to see managerial level staff with degrees. Despite this I know people with good careers who dont have degrees but do have professional qualifications.

My guess is that as more people do apprentice schemes it will be less unusual to see senior management grade staff without degrees. Plus advertising for degrees may run the risk of discrimination claims. Also, the may be more options to convert a professional qualification into a degree in case a tick box is required.

Agree with your points but govt is continuing to favour higher education over apprenticeships.
Original post by mattymoo432
Agree with your points but govt is continuing to favour higher education over apprenticeships.

Have you seen the changes to apprenticeship funding which came in a year or so ago? Companies have loads of money to chuck at apprenticeships now. Training providers and universities are getting far more involved in chasing their slice of the pie.
Original post by ajj2000
Have you seen the changes to apprenticeship funding which came in a year or so ago? Companies have loads of money to chuck at apprenticeships now. Training providers and universities are getting far more involved in chasing their slice of the pie.

More funding definitely going into Apprenticeships. But I think higher education still nudges it. Hear Govt ministers all the time celebrating record numbers going to uni, and not a single one saying "surely it wouldn't matter if fewer started going to uni and instead choosing the apprenticeship route". Unfortunately, I believe for the long run, getting a degree, even a masters is better for future career.
Reply 14
Original post by ajj2000
There are no shortage of places to apply to - in firms of all sizes. Try GAAPWEB and reed as well as top 50 or so firms. From a quick scan most of the top 20 seem to do tax entry level jobs and that dont like you rotate between departments )which is a good thing to do).

I did what you said I applied to atleast 10+ ATT apprenticeships it’s been a week and still no response from none of them...
Original post by Outriderr
I did what you said I applied to atleast 10+ ATT apprenticeships it’s been a week and still no response from none of them...


That seems a bit strange - not even an acknowledgement? The big firms will have recruitment processes which take a few months so that might be a factor. If they are advertising the want people!

How many of the top 20 firms have you applied to? How many are recruiting at this time of year?
Reply 16
Original post by ajj2000
That seems a bit strange - not even an acknowledgement? The big firms will have recruitment processes which take a few months so that might be a factor. If they are advertising the want people!

How many of the top 20 firms have you applied to? How many are recruiting at this time of year?

I applied to 4 in the top 20 and the rest between 20-40

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