Bsc Economics and Accounting for Chartered Accountancy?

(Second and similar question of the day, sorry!) I am interested in pursuing a career in chartered accountancy however, I also have a passion for economics. University of Bristol offers an Economics and Accounting course which combines the two. Although, I am sceptical about applying to this course as I don't believe it is a very popular combination. I also understand that pure Economics there has pretty high prestige. Would it be better for me to take pure Economics for this reason, or perhaps Accounting and Finance for this career path (which also remains a well known degree), or possibly Economics and Accounting (combining the two even though it isn't a well known degree)?

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Either course is fine. It literally is not important what subject you do. Graduate schemes, including accountancy grad schemes, including at the big 4, are normally recruiting you based on your ability to learn to do the job, not for what you already know. All doing economics and accounting does is potentially give you some exemptions from the professional exams - which certainly will save you time and money, but is not going to make or break your prospective career as an accountant.

You could equally do a degree at Bristol in palaeontology (or whatever else) and go on to become an accountant in the same way, incidentally.

Reply 2

bens23

OP

5

Original post by artful_lounger

Either course is fine. It literally is not important what subject you do. Graduate schemes, including accountancy grad schemes, including at the big 4, are normally recruiting you based on your ability to learn to do the job, not for what you already know. All doing economics and accounting does is potentially give you some exemptions from the professional exams - which certainly will save you time and money, but is not going to make or break your prospective career as an accountant.

You could equally do a degree at Bristol in palaeontology (or whatever else) and go on to become an accountant in the same way, incidentally.

Does university matter that much? I believe I could get into economics at UCL, will that give me any noticeable advantage of a student that gets the same grades and went to Bristol?

Reply 3

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by bens23

Does university matter that much? I believe I could get into economics at UCL, will that give me any noticeable advantage of a student that gets the same grades and went to Bristol?

Doesn't make a difference for accountancy as far as I'm aware (I know people who have gone into big 4 accountancy grad schemes from Southampton and Cardiff which are great universities but certainly not investment bank target universities). Where you went to uni only really matters for investment banking/management consulting. If that is your goal then you should aim for a target uni (conventionally Oxbridge/Warwick/UCL/Imperial/LSE - sometimes a few others may or may not make that list).

For accountancy though as far as I'm aware, just get a good 2:1 in whatever subject at the university you happen to go to, and make sure you get a good amount of relevant work experience and internships while you're in the degree (and ideally develop some transferable skills by taking on leadership roles in societies/sports teams etc).

(edited 7 months ago)

Reply 4

ajj2000

20

The benefit of doing economics somewhere like Bristol or UCL is that it is a much more mathematical course than A+F. This tends to give some additional skills and leaves doors open. Thus it does have some clout on your CV (as would a physics or engineering degree for example).

Accountancy firms don't really care about university names. The same may not apply when you apply for other jobs in the future.

Bsc Economics and Accounting for Chartered Accountancy?

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