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Accounting Prospects and Salary

I have been interested in doing an Accounting BSc (at a Russell Group school) and then getting a Graduate job while doing the ACCA exams I don’t have an exemption for. After 3 years of this hopefully I would become an ACCA qualified accountant.
I would consider doing an MBA, if I get in, at a very good school such as Oxford or Cambridge, in the hope that I could be promoted to a higher ranked and higher paid job (the ultimate job being CFO).

My first question is, what are the career prospects? Is it likely I would remain an audit for my entire career, or do I have a good chance of getting a better job?

The other question is: what is the salary, even a rough estimate, of an ACCA qualified accountant who has had about 10-20 years of experience? (So when I will be about 30-40)

TL;DR: What are the possible career advancements for accountants with ACCA qualification and good MBA?
What is the average salary for an ACCA qualified accountant with 10-20 years of experience?

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Reply 1

ajj2000

Original post by Patricos

I'm not sure I understand your query? Would you be working in the UK? ACCA isn''t the normal qualification for people working as auditors so I doubt you would do much if any auditing were you to pursue that route.

The MBA is a bit hard to judge - you need decent experience before taking one for it to really help. Decent doesnt particularly mean lots of years, it means working in big companies (the sort that will pay for MBA grads) and showing some real career progression at an early stage. Plus top MBA are very expensive - you want to be on a good career path before starting one.

So possible career advancements with ACCA and an MBA for Judge/ INSEAD/ etc ? I'd guess pretty high, in part because only people with high salaries in their mid / late 20's would go that route. £80-£150k perhaps? More in consulting I guess. More again as a big time director in a blue chip.

Reply 2

pereira325

Just to point out that the ambiguity from your first line:
"I have been interested in doing an Accounting BSc (at a Russell Group school)" suggests that you may not be as bright as you think or you would be naming an impressive university.
It might be "easy" to complete the degree but by no means is it any walk in the park to complete professional exams or an MBA...
So basically I didn't like the tone of your post as it suggests arrogance (by thinking this is an easy path) even though you have no reason to back up this arrogance.

If you are a chartered accountant with years of experience you would expect to be earning 60k+ easily.
Just lower your expectations of completing university , a mba and professional exams... it is not that easy.

Reply 3

Patricos

Ok, thank you so much for replying, it clears a lot of things up. I was going to do ACCA as I thought ACA was just for people who were going to work in England and Wales (I am from Northern Ireland, and intend to stay there). I haven’t decided on auditing specifically yet, I thought it was the accounting area Charter Accountants went to which I why I kind of said it.

Does anyone know if ACA Qualifications work in Northern Ireland?

Reply 4

Patricos

Original post by pereira325

Just to point out that the ambiguity from your first line:
"I have been interested in doing an Accounting BSc (at a Russell Group school)" suggests that you may not be as bright as you think or you would be naming an impressive university.
It might be "easy" to complete the degree but by no means is it any walk in the park to complete professional exams or an MBA...
So basically I didn't like the tone of your post as it suggests arrogance (by thinking this is an easy path) even though you have no reason to back up this arrogance.

If you are a chartered accountant with years of experience you would expect to be earning 60k easily.
Just lower your expectations of completing university , a mba and professional exams... it is not that easy.

In regards to this, thank you for replying. I only mentioned the MBA as a possible option, not something I expected I would likely get into. I’m quite hopeful, and I understand now that assuming I would complete the ACCA examinations with the bachelor and getting a graduate scheme is an arrogant statement; so thank you for putting me back down to Earth.

EDIT: Reading over it again, it does sound even more arrogant 😂

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 5

ajj2000

Original post by Patricos

You can find work with ACA in NI - or take ICAI. ACCA is not the same as Chartered (ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS) which tend to be the chosen route of audit firms. That might differ in NI if lots of smaller firms put their students through ACCA. So, mostly, Charted Accountants have trained in audit. Some ACCA qualified accountants will have trained in audit but most will have done little or no auditing in their careers. Please note that this is the general situation in the UK and Ireland. Lots of auditors in other countries study ACCA.

You might want to look at NI and Ireland salary levels and career routes more that looking for advice relevant the Britain. Northern Ireland has notoriously low pay rates - although that could change by the time it matters to you. The Republic has far more multinationals and well paid jobs.

Reply 6

Patricos

Original post by ajj2000

Ok thank you for the advice, I think I probably will go through ACA or ICAI in that case.

I have just searched up a bit on the salary - and you are right, it does seem rather low. I would consider finding work in the Republic because of the salaries, but of course it all depends on where life will take me.

I really appreciate all the replies, I feel like I’ve learnt more in the last hour then several weeks of research.

EDIT: Just one question actually, by Northern Ireland salary being low, did you mean Accounting in Northern Ireland, or general salaries in Northern Ireland?