A level economics or English lit? HELP

Is there any point in taking a level economics if I want to do the ACA qualification? If I don't do economics I'll end up taking English lit instead but I'm debating which one I should take , because I have a feeling that a level economics will help me get into the big 4. Any help?

I'm doing Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry, Biology and AS Psychology as a mature student. I will be applying for Law courses that all want A*AA or greater.

I am also sitting the Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (CFAB), it requires no formal entry requirements. Just register for £165 and £72 for the exam entry per paper. There are 6 paper to complete: Accounting, Management Information, Principles of Taxation, Law, Assurance and Business Technology and Finance. The pass mark is just 55 marks out of 100 marks. All exams are computer based and results are available the next day. There are study manuals and questionbanks available from the ICAEW website.

I am doing the CFAB so I can impress the law firms and accounting firms and I want to achieve the exams by the time I finish my Law degrees.

A-Level Economics is useful but not essential for ACA. If you look at the syllabus, Maths and Further Maths AS/A-Levels would be more useful than AS/A-Level Economics.

There is severe competition for training contracts for the ACA. The minimum is BBC, but realistically if you have AAB or higher then you're more likely to get in.

Remember some specialities don't get enough applications like IT and Taxation but Audit is heavily oversubscribed.

I know the Big 4 do CFAB-ACA-CTA for their Tax trainees. So it might be worth exploring the taxation career path with the ACA and CTA.

You only need to sit one exam for the CTA qualification if you study the ACA.

Also the average salary of an ICAEW ACA Chartered Accountant is £150,000 a year. ACCA is half that, probably because ACA is more prestigious and requires A-Levels and degrees to progress.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thank you for your reply. I didn't know you needed a degree to complete an ACA qualification as I know the big 4 do apprenticeships which allow you to do these courses without a degree. Also, I don't really understand the difference between tax and audit in the big 4 as they both end up with you recieving the ACA qualification. Do you know anything about it? Also what is the CFAB qualification and what can you do with it? I want to be a chartered accountant but I didn't like GCSE maths ; I've heard that you don't need that type of maths to get in. Is this true ?

In 2007, the ICAEW introduced CFAB a stand alone qualification. You don't need any qualifications except the ability to cope with exams and studying.

The six papers lead to a certificate from the ICAEW with Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business. Accounting is the hardest paper in my opinion, Management Information is also complicated in some topics and so is Principles of Taxation. But Business Technology and Finance is easy, so is Law and Assurance is the easiest but most dull module. Once you register with the ICAEW and get a candidate number you have access to all the past papers, mark schemes and examiners reports.

I am self-motivated and can't wait to do the ACA once I've graduated. I want to do Taxation. So I can sit the CFAB six papers and then progress to the 6 professional papers in 6 months to 1 year and Advanced papers in 6 months too.

The ICAEW also has higher pass rates than ACCA. Only about 3,000 candidates sit the ACA with 30,000 students worldwide. Whilst, ACCA had 176,000 candidates in December 2019 and 530,000 students worldwide. However, I prefer the prestige and content and also the structure of the ACA. ICAEW also has a partnership which is unique and only requiring the "Small Owner Business Managed" CTA Tax paper. Then you can gain the CTA letters as well as ACA by replacing the ACA Business Planning: Taxation paper. It works out better for you and you qualify quicker too.

Yes you're right, the Big 4 offer Apprenticeships where the grades of entry are BBC to BCC in any 3 A-Levels. I would'nt apply for Audit as it is dull, boring and won't make you happy as it's repetitive. Audit of accounts is required by large businesses and there is a lot of report writing and analysis. Also if you do Audit you will be away from the office at the client's offices. Where as if you do Taxation, you could be working on a FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 or even FTSE 300 companie's corporation tax. Or if you do personal tax, you might do a celebrities taxes. Tax is also more broader with so many specialities.

PWC audits 60% of the FTSE 100 companies and has a large Tax practice too. But I also want to do Law and could move departments to Law. PWC is the only firm with its own Legal division. It is also the number 1 graduate employer for 10 years now. Deloitte are very elitist, KPMG and EY are easy to get into as well. But you have to worry about assessment centres. The tests are not testing algebra, trigonometry, statistics or geometry. They are easy as long as you have got a C and above in GCSE Maths and GCSE English Language.

Unfortunately you will have to wait until 2022 Summer or even Autumn 2022 due to the Covid-19 crisis the accounting firms and even law firms aren't hiring trainees.

Lastly, don't be afraid of applying for ICAEW CFAB ACA CTA Taxation path, because hardly anyone applies to Tax. So it is much easier to get into Taxation. Before the Covid-19 crisis, I used to search jobs on the PWC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte websites, and they had so many IT and Tax roles. More importantly, it is said some of the regional offices are much less competitive in applications than London.

Good luck with CFAB-ACA-CTA.

PS: The average salary of ACA is £150,000 but CTA it is £250,000 due to a hardly any CTAs. There are just 15,000 CTAs worldwide and 180,000 ACA ICAEW members but nearly 2 million ACCA members. Another thing to remember is that ACCA has a higher failure rate and lower pass rates. Take a look at the exam pass rates on ICAEW and ACCA websites. You'll find ACCA is just 30% to 40% and ACA ICAEW is 90%. Although ACCA had 176,000 candidates in December 2019 and ACA ICAEW 3,000.

Firstly let's look at Audit:

An audit involves the balance sheet, an income statement, a statement of changes in equity, a cash flow statement as well as other detailed notes about the accounting policies.

Remember the actual purpose of an audit? It is when the information is used to create a financial report and whether it is a reflection of the company. An example is if the business has correctly listed it’s owed finances in the balance sheet. Sometimes it could be whether the profit and losses have been correctly studied.

Auditors follow official government rules in their work. An audit report is prepared and explanations of their work is included and their opinions too. All FTSE companies and limited liability companies are due an audit each year. Where as some companies can request an audit or depending on their company structure.

• Auditors don’t analyse the directors report.
• Auditors don’t analyse every number in the report – audits are on ‘selected’ information.
• Auditors don’t offer judgements about the business or directors report.
• Auditor’s don’t analyse every transaction.
• Auditor’s don’t offer advice to shareholders. Neither comment on directors or management.

Auditor’s can’t predict the future. The audit is a past accounting affair. It can’t predict the future at all. So there is no reason why the business may fail.
Auditor’s can’t be at the offices of the business they audit at all times. So not all frauds can be recognised by an auditor during and audit.

Thank you so much. You have been very helpful so far. Do you mind answering my other questions? Thanks!

I will probably be visiting schools and helping on open days at a Big 4 firm with my research into ACA/ACCA/CIMA/ICAS/CIPFA/CPA/AAT/ATT/CFAB. lol

I am reading my notes from my research and want to make sure it is accurate and will answer some questions this morning and all your questions by tomorrow evening.