International Management / Management degree or Accounting and Finance degree? Help!

Hi! I'm very new to this so sorry if I mess something up .


I am currently a year 12 student and I've been wanting to do Accounting and Finance at university for a while now. However I am now reconsidering it, as I am not 100% sure on being an Accountant due to wanting more freedom and variety (but I could be convinced otherwise). I'm not really about climbing up the corporate ladder, but I would like a relatively high paying job.

Some background: I am currently studying Maths, Geography, Biology and Chemistry and am predicted A*s/As in all of them. I enjoy Maths and the more human side to Geography, but I don't take further maths, so most maths based degrees are not options. I am interested in Computing and love programming, but hate the theory side to it, so I don't want to study it, but I would enjoy a career possibly involving that. I am aiming for top Unis (King's, LSE, Warwick etc).

So as I was looking around other degrees I saw International Management, and I liked the variety it offered plus the study abroad options. However I don't really know whether it is a "good" degree, and whether Accounting and Finance would look better. So what I am trying to ask is:

- What is the reputation around International Management / Management degrees in general?

- What kind of jobs are available for International Management / Management degrees, and would they prefer an Accounting and Finance degree more?

- Are there any other degrees that could be useful?


Thank you in advance! Sorry if I sound really annoying in this I am just a bit clueless and any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I am now reconsidering it, as I am not 100% sure on being an Accountant due to wanting more freedom and variety (but I could be convinced otherwise)
I don't know what you mean by "freedom". Do you mean freedom of location of where you work (so something that allows for remote working)? Do you mean freedom to move into various fields (so something that can be applied to various industries or roles)?

If you qualify as a private practice accountant (e.g. ACCA, ACA), you can move into accounting for government, set up your own practice, or go into management accounting. Pretty much every organisation will need an accountant. That's pretty free-ing. It's not particularly free-ing if you get qualifications specifically only in management accounting or public finance. If you find that a bit restrictive, then you need to be a bit more clear about what you want.

I'm not really about climbing up the corporate ladder, but I would like a relatively high paying job.
High paying job is relatively difficult to define, since it's more about skills and what you can bring in, not what you have studied usually. The only time that I could think of where what you study directly correlates with high pay is usually in very specialised fields with complicated material e.g. high end consultant doctor in very specific medical fields.
You can go into fields where you need next to no qualifications and still get something relatively high paying if you're really good e.g. copywriting, IT, property, sales of high value assets, designer in in-demand sectors. It's kind of really up to you where you want to go.

I am currently studying Maths, Geography, Biology and Chemistry and am predicted A*s/As in all of them. I enjoy Maths and the more human side to Geography, but I don't take further maths, so most maths based degrees are not options. I am interested in Computing and love programming, but hate the theory side to it, so I don't want to study it, but I would enjoy a career possibly involving that.
Congrats on the grades. I hope you achieve them.
You can still do math degrees, but they won't be in top end universities. I wouldn't say maths based degrees are off limits either because you can look into:

You can do degrees in human geography should you wish, but if you want something else in social sciences or humanities, then you might be have to look carefully. The only sort of degrees you won't be able to do in social sciences or humanities would be history.
As you know, you can also go into pretty much anything in life sciences, including medicine, vetinary science, and dentistry.
Bioinformatics (quantiative) can also be an option, but for quantiative bioinformatics degrees you will need to do it as a master's. Having said that, you only need a quantiative bachelor's degree (e.g. maths, physics, engineering) to get into it via the NHS.

I am with you, I don't particularly like the theory side of computing and you don't really use any of it in practice. In fact, you can get into the tech industry without needing a degree in computer science (or any qualification). If you want to pick this up, you can look into IT certificates after graduation.

If you like programming and maths but don't like computer theory, I would consider looking into the engineering degrees as opposed to just computer science since they would involve a lot of maths and programming (not that you will likely to use it in practice). In practice, the main engineering disciplines where you are likely to get jobs with an engineering degree (according to a number of American YouTubers) are in mechanical engineering, electrical/electronic engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, and civil engineering. Mechanical engineering is the most diverse (but you would have needed to studied physics) and you can go into a number of sub-disciplines including biomedical engineering; this is quickly followed by electrical/electronic engineering.

I am aiming for top Unis (King's, LSE, Warwick etc).
Getting in a top end uni with stellar grades can prove you have some level of intelligence. Going to top end unis can also really help with networking, something key to getting jobs in general and in particular very competitive jobs.

So as I was looking around other degrees I saw International Management, and I liked the variety it offered plus the study abroad options. However I don't really know whether it is a "good" degree, and whether Accounting and Finance would look better.
I am biased against accounting, finance, and management degrees if you don't intend to go into academia, since you can pretty much do the necessary professional qualifications without degrees, and that degrees in these fields don't usually help you getting the corporate jobs (they judge you on your personality and skills more than the type of degree you have got).
Even if you did a degree in a completely random subject, graduate employers will still judge you with the same respect as if you did with a degree from management school.

A "good degree" that isn't in a specialist subject required by law to get into specific fields (e.g. most of the degrees related to healthcare) is probably a quantiative degree i.e. something with a lot of maths. It would be extremely helpful if the degree also contain a lot of programming, but it's a skill that can be picked up (like you kind of already have). A quantiative degree would allow you to go into nonquantitative jobs as well as quantiative jobs. The only possible issue about it is that some nasty employers have a bad habit of putting employees to where they want you to be and not where you want to go, so if you happen to have an engineering background applying for accounting roles and the firm is really short on engineers life can get uncomfortable.
The quantiative degree might not need to be in a specific subject if it's not required by law to be in that subject e.g. you can go into quants with a maths, engineering, or physics degree, but you might have a very hard time going into chemical engineering with an economics degree. This is the same with master's degrees, should you ever thought about getting into academia or changing fields with specific requirements.

- What is the reputation around International Management / Management degrees in general?
I am biased against these degrees, so my opinion might not be really fair. My general opinion:

- What kind of jobs are available for International Management / Management degrees, and would they prefer an Accounting and Finance degree more?
Usually any job that would accept any degree. Management degrees don't usually offer any advantage in the business world. The only possible advantage that you might get is that you might be able to skip a few levels in the CIPD qualification i.e. go straight for Level 7 as opposed to doing Levels 3 and 6.
Would they prefer an accounting and finance degree more? I would say they are about the same. Although you will get more exemptions with accounting and finance degrees for professional accounting qualifications, employers usually care more about relevant skills and experience i.e. you get no advantage doing an accounting and finance degree over a degree in any other subject. Some employers would put people with history degrees from a top uni over a candidate with an accounting and finance degree from a low end uni.
The entry requirements for professional accounting qualifications is passes at A Level in any subjects. So if you manage to get EEE or higher (please be higher) then you can do any professional accounting qualification recognised in the UK.

- Are there any other degrees that could be useful?
Having scoured the net and going through numerous job profiles on sites like National Career Service and Career Pilot, I would say the most flexible degrees would be those in:

There are specific subjects where you need specific degrees in order to get into postgrad for their respective subjects e.g. English, History, Art, Architecture. However, these are usually useful if you want to go into academia. The only exception is Architecture where you would need an approved master's in architecture in order to become a qualified architect under UK law (I don't know why either).

Other than that, degrees that can be deemed "useful" are degrees that would help you get where you want to go. As I don't know where that is or what you want to do (or need from a job), it's difficult to advise. If on the other hand you want to ask which degrees you should pick if you want to keep your options in certain fields that are completely different, then I could help you with that.

My default answer is unless you want to work in a specific role in healthcare, life sciences, environmental sciences, or something involving biology, then my go to would be a quantiative degree in physics, engineering, and maths.

I am aiming for top Unis (King's, LSE, Warwick etc).

Hi

I will ponder a longer response, but given I agree with all of @MindMax2000 post if not so much his conclusions will try to avoid being repetitious.

For now - I wonder if you are finding yourself a little limited by wanting to aim for a select number of universities with particular requirements for particular courses? Is some of the attraction to A+F or management that given your A level subjects they might be easier to get into that some of the other degrees you might consider such as computing or maths related courses?

Equally - why not a geography degree as you seem to enjoy it?

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! This is so so helpful and is clearing a lot of things up for me. To answer some questions:

By "freedom" I think I mean both freedom of location (as in possibly travelling for work) and freedom to move into various roles. But as you said, as a qualified accountant I could pick many companies to work in, something I hadn't considered before. I think that this makes the idea of accounting a bit less daunting, as I think my nightmare would be stuck working weekends at a big four. However now I know that there are many more options than that. Thank you!

Thank you for recommending so many degrees! I think that I will look more into computing-based degrees, maybe involving finance in some kind of way? I've also looked into geology-type degrees but I'm not too much of an outdoorsy person so I don't think it is for me. Also with science based degrees, I just don't think I would enjoy the lab work involved in courses. Although I will still look into them more as it is something I enjoy learning about. I would be interested in an engineering degree, but I don't do physics and don't enjoy it, so I think my options are quite limited.

And it makes sense about the finance degrees not being necessary for finance jobs, and that I can do any degree. Thanks for letting me know.

Thank you for the info about management degrees, it's nice to hear an outsiders perspective on things like that. As I think I'm quite an analytical person, I'm not sure if it's right for me . And thank you for the info about the jobs available, its really helpful!

Thank you overall for everything above. You have put a lot of research and time into responding to me and it has helped so much. I have a lot to think about before applying to uni this year, but I will look back on this post a lot for help. Thank you!

Which part of 'abroad'? Any fixed ideas or preferences? I think that can make a difference. Do you have the right to work in other countries?

By "freedom" I think I mean both freedom of location (as in possibly travelling for work) and freedom to move into various roles.
This is going to open a can of worms. Where you say freedom of location, do you mean remote working? If so, a) prepare for an uphill batttle b) you can find a number of roles that don't require you to attend a specific location; this can include roles in:
The list can be neverending, but a common these is that a number of the above won't require you to have a specific degree (except for psychology, maybe). You can google for lists such as the following: https://careersidekick.com/jobs-done-remotely/
If you want a role that involves travelling, then be prepared to be on the road all the time, leave very little time for yourself, and that you would be very very tired. You're usually looking at roles in property (where you need to be in specific locations), consulting (where you need to attend specific sites where clients are), tour operator, something environmental, something related to geography. If you're looking for accounting roles that involves travelling, then you're more or less looking at consulting roles and working for the Big4 where they have international offices.
If you want something that allows you to move into various roles, then you're looking for subjects that have broad areas and lots of specialisation e.g. healthcare, education, marketing, accounting (possibly), IT, writing, sales, property, data. The list is somewhat neverending. It's easier if you just look into what you want are more interested in.


I think that I will look more into computing-based degrees, maybe involving finance in some kind of way?
So you're looking into quants? If so, you would want to do a quantiative undergrad e.g. maths, engineering, and physics (not sure economics or computer science would be mathematical enough) then do a CQF. Whilst you can do a degree in computational finance (or something similar), it's very niched. You can alternatively try to learn all this yourself and build up some sort of portfolio, but this is very very difficult (the sort of maths involves stats, stochastic calculus, and probability).
Alternatively, are you looking for a tech role in a finance environment? If so, you can do a degree in computer science then apply for tech roles in banks, but you can also just develop the tech skills and go straight into the role.

Also with science based degrees, I just don't think I would enjoy the lab work involved in courses. Although I will still look into them more as it is something I enjoy learning about.
There are theoretical degrees and specialisation as well experimental degrees. Arguably, most life science degrees would involve some sort of lab work, but for stuff like engineering, computer science, and theoretical physics, you can get more into the theoretical aspects.
Previous subjects that I have mentioned that has a lot of theoretical aspects include: biological mathematics/bioinformatics, geophysics, bioengineering (possibly), biomedical engineering (possibly), chemical engineering

I would be interested in an engineering degree, but I don't do physics and don't enjoy it, so I think my options are quite limited.
Again, the subjects that I have mentioned that involve engineering that you should be eligible for include: bioengineering, biomedical engineering (possibly), chemical engineering. You are not likely to be eligible for the mainstream engineering subjects, but these niched ones you should be fine with because you have chemistry and biology. In the odd university, you might be able to get away with civil engineering as I remember there being a degree from a specific university that accept candidates with maths only; I just can't remember which university it is.