Accounting and finance degree

Hi there,
Those who do this degree I have a few questions below if you could answer. I will be starting my 1st year in September to do the course of accounting and finance and it will be great if student who are already studying the course could advise me.

1.How do you organise your degree e.g a folder per module
2.what are the best revision techniques e.g flashcard, mindmaps
3. What is one advice you wish you knew before you started
4. Are there any good online resources for this degree
5.Does wider reading help? If so what books would you recommend
6.How do you get work experience?

Hi there
University of Manchester Accounting graduate 2020

1. So long as each module's content is separate and in order, you will be fine

2. Do what you've been doing already up until now! You MUST MUST MUST do past paper questions

3. Many things actually - still takes another 2-3 yrs to qualify post degree, accounting provides stable job prospects but is insanely boring 90 percent of the time, placement year often doesn't count towards practical days required to qualify but does wonders for employability

4. Yes - your uni will provide you with tons of it

5. Yes. Again your uni kehtruers will tell you based on their course content and will likely separate out essential and wider reading for you

6. All large and medium firms (some smaller ones too) will provide ample opportunities for experience / summer placements / placement years for second year students. In your case you would start applying for these in October 2022 for summer 2023 start

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much.
My course unfortunately doesn’t have the option for a placement year, do you think this would put me at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job?

Hi there,
Those who do this degree I have a few questions below if you could answer. I will be starting my 1st year in September to do the course of accounting and finance and it will be great if student who are already studying the course could advise me.

1.How do you organise your degree e.g a folder per module
2.what are the best revision techniques e.g flashcard, mindmaps
3. What is one advice you wish you knew before you started
4. Are there any good online resources for this degree
5.Does wider reading help? If so what books would you recommend
6.How do you get work experience?

I'm going to give you some better advice before it is too late. I'm a chartered secretary who got a History degree before top up fees were a thing. I have two brothers who are both chartered accountants who never went to university. So together we know a thing or two about getting qualified and getting ahead.

You do not need an Accounting and Finance degree to become an accountant and if you do study this degree it will add absolutely no value whatsoever to your knowledge or your career. The only thing accountants are interested in once you qualify is which professional qualification (e.g. ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA) you've got.

Plenty of accountancy firms (including all of the Big 4) will recruit you straight from A-Level (if they are good enough) and that means you are earning and qualifying from the age of 18; you'll be a fully fledged accountant at 21.

Now, the important bit. The finances. If you do a degree and get a student loan for your tuition and living expenses, your student debt in three years time will be £53k and you're aiming for one of the worst professions from a payment perspective because if you have a fairly normal salary trajectory for an accountant you WILL pay off your entire debt but it will take you most of the 30 year period. That means not only will you pay off the full £53k but also an awful lot of interest. My calculation is that an accountant will typically pay around £90k for a degree with a student loan. Imagine having that aspiration tax of 9% around your neck for the next 30 years, especially knowing you didn't even need the degree.

On top of that, you are taking a massive gamble on becoming an accountant. If you get good A-Levels, there are school leaver schemes open with the Big 4. Huge opportunity. But if you go off to university to accumulate debt and barely learn to bookkeep, you run the risk of getting a 2:2. Get a 2:2 and most opportunities in the top 10 firms - let alone the Big 4 - will slam shut.

I cannot stress enough that if you want to be an accountant, you should be heading for the workplace, not university. Do a degree with the OU later in a more useful subject like languages or Law if you really want one.

get an internship / placement over the summer instead
that should be enough hopefully

Thanks!!
Also I was wondering as you previously mentioned you did the same degree aswell, whether finding a job was hard? Or if you have any regrets?

Thank you so much for the reply, I really do appreciate it.
I was also told this advice last and applied to a kpmg apprenticeship to which I got through. However I feel as though getting a degree and master would be much better as then I could show that I have qualifications. I was planning on getting a part time job in the accounting/finance sector whilst I do my degree and on top with my degree I get 9 exam exemption from the acca qualification. Hence I plan to choose the university route instead of the kpmg apprenticeship.

If you do the KPMG apprenticeship and do ACCA you can get an Applied Accounting degree from Oxford Brookes for less than £1k.

Ultimately it's your decision but just understand how much this is going to cost you. As someone in the investment banking sector I will just say no one cares whether an accountant has a degree because their accountancy qualification is an equivalent of a degree.

I was offered a job at EY [third largest firm globally], which is where I did my placement year; did my degree at the University of Manchester
In the end I decided to change career path entirely and rejected their grad offer
even from slightly smaller unis getting a job isnt too difficult so long as you attend careers training / events and get some experience under your belt

Nothing wrong with accounting, I just decided I wanted a role that allowed me to work with people on a more personal level

Thats amazing to hear!!
On a scale of 1-10 how hard was it to do the degree?im a little worried as all the alevels i did are all humanities based.Also how many hours of revision did you do per week?