Best path to a career in accounting

Hi guys!

I'm currently looking to start a career in accounting and I'd be very grateful for any answers on a couple of questions I have.

I've spent the past three weeks reading posts on this forum but haven't managed to find the information relevant to my situation.

I moved to the Czech Republic when I was 10 and am now returning to the UK to start a career in accounting. I have the Czech equivalent to A levels and a degree from a Czech Uni. I graduated with the equivalent to a 2:1 in International Business from a low ranked university (at the time of applying I aimed far lower then I should have - unfortunately I can't change that now).

Because of my education I realize it most likely won't be realistic for me to get a graduate scheme.

I will be starting a two month work placement course soon (156 hours in total) covering the following:

From what I've been reading on this forum the ACCA qualification would be one of the possible ways forward so I am now registered. During this course I would like to complete the F2 and F3 exams (I've been exempted F1).

To summarize, In two months time after finishing the course and having F1,F2,F3 completed will I be able to find an assistant accountant job easily in London?

Would a course like this be a waste of money/time?

Is getting an assistant accountant job and working my way up the best path in my situation?

Would it be at all realistic to then get a job at one of the big four after becoming a fully qualified charted accountant?

I would be very grateful for any feedback/advice,

cheers!

Have you paid for this course? If so how expensive is it? My guess is that to be considering this you must be pretty well off and able to cope with time out of work - this makes a difference to any advice.

Why have you ruled out applying for grad schemes? I can;t see why you wouldn't apply for some. Do you know what your high school grades would equate to in 'A' levels?

Oh, and you might do better posting under the careers board as I think this section is more for people looking at university courses.

Hi ajj2000,

that was one part I left out, I did very poorly on my A levels (equivalent) due to external circumstances I won't get into and in no way reflect my capabilities. This is why I don't see getting a graduate scheme realistic as I've been reading about the importance of A levels on this forum when applying.

Will bad A levels haunt me for the rest of my life? Will my A level results matter once I become ACCA qualified?

I haven't payed for the course yet. It's 600 pounds. I'm lucky enough that my parents will partially finance the course. It's three days a week and I would be doing a catering job three to four of the remaining days to finance my other expenses. I would manage financially, I was asking more from the point: is it worth spending two months in a classroom? Would I be able to learn all of this just by getting an accountant assistant job in a shorter time, but then again, I haven't had any luck applying for these kind of positions so I probably will take the course. I just hope it will be beneficial.

Thanks for the advice about posting under the careers board, much appreciated!

Could you post a link to the course? Does it lead to recognised qualifications? Not something like this is it:

https://www.gumtree.com/jobs/job/1395990780/02-months-accounting-and-tax-training-for-600-only_-guaranteed-1-month-work-placement/

or this: https://www.kbmtr.com/professional.php

What work experience do you have (I mean anything - waiting tables, office admin, fat kids camp?). Is there any reason you might need additional assistance finding work (health, interview nerves etc)?

I'll try to write something more in the next couple of days. For now I'd hold on the course to make sure its what you need. I'd crack on with the ACCA papers if that interests you - I presume you have looked into the alternatives? I'd start by looking into opentuition.com as its free and gets good reviews. Maybe visit oxfam or ebay for second hand textbooks.

As you seem to have the time before taking external courses I'd make sure you have a proper standard of Excel. 3 days of hard work might do you a lot of good - just go to a library and borrow 3 books and see which one suits you.

By the way you say you are returning to the UK - does that mean you are still in Czechia? I've read advice to graduates (from the UK) to get some work there for experience. Apparently lots of international shared service centers recruit there.

Hi ajj2000,

that was one part I left out, I did very poorly on my A levels (equivalent) due to external circumstances I won't get into and in no way reflect my capabilities. This is why I don't see getting a graduate scheme realistic as I've been reading about the importance of A levels on this forum when applying.

Will bad A levels haunt me for the rest of my life? Will my A level results matter once I become ACCA qualified?

I haven't payed for the course yet. It's 600 pounds. I'm lucky enough that my parents will partially finance the course. It's three days a week and I would be doing a catering job three to four of the remaining days to finance my other expenses. I would manage financially, I was asking more from the point: is it worth spending two months in a classroom? Would I be able to learn all of this just by getting an accountant assistant job in a shorter time, but then again, I haven't had any luck applying for these kind of positions so I probably will take the course. I just hope it will be beneficial.

Thanks for the advice about posting under the careers board, much appreciated!

The most relevant experience I have was a two month internship at a family business called ISMAD, doing a wide variety of duties: working with an inventory program, maintaining spreadsheets, assisting the external accountant, customer service, industry sector research and so on. I spent half a year working in a bar in London after I graduated. Before that I had a two month summer job in a hotel also in London.

Yeah I would say interview nerves are a bit of an issue and could get in the way of making a good first impression.

There are many companies that do not take A-levels into consideration, in particular for accountancy these are the ones I have encountered (for some I made it to final interview stage despite having very poor A-levels): Lloyds TSB, Grant Thornton, Zurich, HSBC, RBS, RSM, BDO (they require minimum CCC though), Barclays (internal audit position) and there are many more medium firms that do not care. Other big corporations such as the big 4 accept extenuating circumstances, and other firms don't care so long as you show your strengths and sell yourself.


Honestly, it does not hurt to try applying even if you feel you don't meet the entry requirement. As long as you do thorough research, have commercial awareness (through lots of research), and tailor your application for each companies then you'd do fine. I was very surprised when I made it to one-to-one interviews for some companies, despite competing with candidates who all had straight As and attend top universities.

You have enough experiencer



This is enough experience to talk about in interviews and cover letter. It's a matter of selling yourself at this point, and practicing your interview skills (e.g. I research the type of interviews each company conduct, then prepare for some interview questions and review my CV and cover letter, and then practice in the mirror occasionally to make myself feel confident. It helps a lot).