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How to get into accounting & finance as a science postgrad?

I have a bachelors degree in biomedical sciences and have had a change of heart and decided that accountancy is the career I want to pursue. What's the best way to go about this? I have tried to research this myself but found it all a bit confusing... I understand that I need to get ACA and other professional qualifications, but what's the best way to get these? Should I apply for an Accounting & Finance MSc conversion course? Do I need to get a training contract with a company? Are the online courses worth it?

Reply 1

ajj2000

Original post by nevster

What are you grades (A level, degree and GCSE maths and English)?

I'd avoid Mscs and other courses at this stage and focus on applying for jobs which pay for your professional training and see how you can become a strong candidate for them.

Reply 2

nevster

Original post by ajj2000

I have good GCSEs and A levels and a 1st in my degree. Can you recommend where to start looking for jobs that would pay for my training?

Reply 3

ajj2000

Original post by nevster

I have good GCSEs and A levels and a 1st in my degree. Can you recommend where to start looking for jobs that would pay for my training?

The first thing to do is to look through the websites of, say, the largest 10 accounting firms, and a few smaller ones and see if that interests you. I think the ICAEW also have a webpage with some details.

https://www.accountancyage.com/rankings/top-5050-accountancy-firms-2017-10/
https://careers.icaew.com/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant#:~:text=To%20qualify%20as%20an%20ICAEW,passing%20a%20series%20of%20exams.

Then look for some graduate employers where you work for a company and see if that is also of interest. Most large companies have schemes.

You could also try the GAAPweb and reed websites for your area and see if anyone is advertising.

A very valuable thing to do, on top of background research, is to arrange to speak with a number of people who work as accountants (ideally qualified ones) who can give you some insight into the profession.

Reply 4

nevster

Original post by ajj2000

Thank you so much! This is all super helpful

Reply 5

ICAEW Careers

Original post by nevster

Hi @nevster,

It's great that you are considering a career in accountancy.

At ICAEW we offer the ACA qualification - click here for more information on this.

You do not need to study accountancy or business and finance to do our qualification - we have trainee's from a wide range of degree backgrounds.

Check out our ICAEW Training Vacancies platform to see what roles are out there and what the specs are.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us using [email protected].

Best wishes,
ICAEW

Reply 6

DarkKnight06

Original post by nevster

Hey any updates since this post?
In a same situation

Reply 7

AW_1983

Original post by nevster

Original post by DarkKnight06

Hey any updates since this post?
In a same situation

So, there's one really crap thing about qualifying as an accountant in the UK and that is the number of accounting bodies you have to choose from. Unlike, say, Canada where accountants are now all being brought under one roof at CPA Canada, the USA where there is one stand out institute compared to the others or New Zealand where there has always been one body, in the UK you have to choose between five accountancy bodies and two of those will go some way towards pigeon holing you before you've really got a taste for the profession.

You'll also find lots of adverts from professional bodies and the more you look up accountancy courses the more your cookies will display these adverts to you. These institutes will all claim their graduates earn the most and it's all b*****ks.

What really matters is getting any one of these qualifications and - much more importantly - getting top quality work experience. A myth continues to abound that the ICAEW is the best accountancy qualification to get but in truth it's only got its reputation because it has traditionally been the qualification supported by the Big 4 accountancy firms (KPMG, EY, Deloitte and PwC) and the experience you'll get from these firms and the gold dust it sprinkles on your CV is exemplary. A recruiter who sees one of these firms on your CV won't care whether you have ICAEW, ICAS or ACCA. Depending on the role they won't even care if it's CIMA or CIPFA on your CV.

Essentially your institutes are as follows:

ICAEW - Normally the qualification of choice for Big 4 audit firms and also most of the top 20 accounting firms in England and Wales (although EY is known to offer ICAS outside of Scotland too). It's a pretty solid qualification and it covers all the most important technical aspects of accountancy such as Audit and Tax. Personally though, I find it a bit weaker on management accounting compared to ACCA. You have to work for a firm that can offer ACA training contracts too, so your scope is quite limited on who you can work for (but if at all possible you want to work for the Big 4 anyway). A small number of banks can also offer training contracts (e.g. Morgan Stanley) but most don't.

ICAS - Similar to the above but less exams that tend to be taken in larger blocks and offered predominantly in Scotland. Also, you can work outside of an accountancy practice for your training contract, provided a qualified accountant mentors you and you carefully document your work experience over three years.

ACCA - Very similar in content to the ICAEW but you have optional units at the end of the course. Provided you do Advanced Audit and Assurance and Advanced Taxation, there really is nothing between you and an ACA except maybe you'll know a bit more about management accounting. The Management Accounting thing is quite relevant though, as I think ACCA is the most flexible qualification and the least likely to pigeon hole you early. You could for example choose corporate financial management or performance management as your final options instead. Also, you can train with anyone provided you can document your experience with support from a mentor.

CIMA - This one is for management accountants and you do a lot less Audit and Tax in this course and more business strategy. CIMA left CCAB (the collective representative body for all the professional accounting institutes in the UK) so that it could tailor its syllabus more to business and more technical aspects of accounting feature less prominently now. It's a very popular course in industry and has the most flexible work experience requirements. It's also the course of choice for KPMG in their management consultancy stream. Don't expect to become an auditor or a tax specialist with this qualification though.

CIPFA - Similar to ICAEW and ACCA but tailored for the public sector. Much of the course is nearly identical but you do modules in Public Sector Financial Reporting and a number of the exams use public sector examples. This one will make it harder (but not impossible) to switch to the private sector, as you'll almost certainly start your training in the public sector. Some of the accountancy firms offer it too (Grant Thornton and BDO both do a decent chunk of public sector work as well as the Big 4).

So, basically my advice to you is:

1) No more academic study. It costs a lot and you only need a degree to get in. You'll certainly not be the first person with a science degree in an accountancy firm. Accountancy firms don't tend to be that bothered by what your degree is in. I remember one of my partners had done some weird degree in forestry.

2) Try as hard as you can to get into the Big 4 and failing that Grant Thornton or BDO. Do whatever qualification they want you to do (probably ICAEW). It'll probably be quite boring, tedious hard work for three years but the pay off is awesome.

3) Unless you are clearly head and shoulders above your cohort, leave as soon as you as you qualify and go into industry. Unless you are going to make partner, it is not worth staying in the Big 4 any longer because they don't pay you as much as a bank or other FTSE 100 company will.