about accounting degree

Hi, I hope whoever is reading this is well and would help me as much as they can.
I wanted to ask the following questions, please answer as many questions as possible:
1. To study accounting degree, what are the entry requirements? which A level/btec are compulsory to study to do this degree?
2. By taking maths A level, is it possible to study accounting degree?
3. what do you study in accounting degree? - whoever have studied this degree, can you please let me know if you enjoyed it and what is it like?
4. what is it like to study accounting degree? - is it similar to maths?
5. will a person who have never studied accountancy but like maths, would like to do this degree?
6. if you study this degree, which careers can you go to?
7. if you study this degree, can you easily find jobs?
8. by studying this degree, what is the salary like to be for the job options this degree provides.
I hope anyone will answer my questions, if you only know few questions please still answer it, it would be really helpful.
9. if you know more information about this degree please let me know.
thanks

Hi, I hope whoever is reading this is well and would help me as much as they can.
I wanted to ask the following questions, please answer as many questions as possible:
1. To study accounting degree, what are the entry requirements? which A level/btec are compulsory to study to do this degree?
2. By taking maths A level, is it possible to study accounting degree?
3. what do you study in accounting degree? - whoever have studied this degree, can you please let me know if you enjoyed it and what is it like?
4. what is it like to study accounting degree? - is it similar to maths?
5. will a person who have never studied accountancy but like maths, would like to do this degree?
6. if you study this degree, which careers can you go to?
7. if you study this degree, can you easily find jobs?
8. by studying this degree, what is the salary like to be for the job options this degree provides.
I hope anyone will answer my questions, if you only know few questions please still answer it, it would be really helpful.
9. if you know more information about this degree please let me know.
thanks

hi - I see you are asking about a few degrees. Good to see someone doing real research! Perhaps you could give people a bit more information, such as what grades you are expecting and which subjects you prefer at school.
In particular - how good are you at maths (so grades matter here) and how much do you like it?
For initial answers:
1. To study accounting degree, what are the entry requirements? which A level/btec are compulsory to study to do this degree?
In reality the entry requirements are very broad. There are not really any required subjects unless you are very focussed on individual universities. Some might require a grade 5 at GCSE maths plus similar in English language. Others would require grade 6 maths. Some universities (but not a huge number) require A level maths. You would need a required number of passes in BTECs/ A levels or equivalent.
If all choices were open I would do A levels rather than BTECs as I think they are better preparation for accountancy so long as they are in exam based academic type subjects - such as history, psychology, maths, sciences etc.
2. By taking maths A level, is it possible to study accounting degree?
Yes - normally you would need another couple of A levels as well.
3. what do you study in accounting degree? - whoever have studied this degree, can you please let me know if you enjoyed it and what is it like?
I didn't do one. I did lecture for a while at one university but a long time ago so don't feel equipped to answer. @MindMax2000 might be able to advise?
4. what is it like to study accounting degree? - is it similar to maths?
Basically it isn't similar to maths. Perhaps its similar in some way to the maths in GCSE maths, or something like the maths in A level biology? So more numbers based than abstract.
One thing to note is that being able to write reasonably well does matter. Some very talented maths people fall short on this.
5. will a person who have never studied accountancy but like maths, would like to do this degree?
How much do you like maths? My perception (I hope others can give broader feedback) is that very maths oriented people would prefer studying maths / STEM type degrees. On the other hand people who decide away from those paths and look for something different tend to find accountancy suits them pretty well.
6. if you study this degree, which careers can you go to?
Accountancy is the obvious area but other graduate jobs would be accessible.
7. if you study this degree, can you easily find jobs?
Graduates seem to do decently well finding jobs, but like most degrees there are more people looking for work than jobs available.
8. by studying this degree, what is the salary like to be for the job options this degree provides.
If you enter accountancy as a career the salaries are much more dependant on passing professional exams than having a degree. Qualified accountants salaries vary quite a lot by region - the bulk earning in the £55 - £130k range but some earning far, far more than that.

Thanks for the tag @ajj2000
I have been answering a number of Harman's questions, and it's going to be very similar with more of the same. Unlike ajj2000, I am more unapologetically blunt with my answers. Having said that, you would find that a lot of my answers would be similar to ajj2000's.
1.To study accounting degree, what are the entry requirements? which A level/btec are compulsory to study to do this degree?
If it's pure accounting, it's 3 A Levels or equivalent with reasonably high grades. For some more quantitative joint degrees that might involve finance or economics, you will be asked to have A Level Maths but this is rare.
BTECs can be accepted depending on the individual uni and degree course.
2. By taking maths A level, is it possible to study accounting degree?
Yes, but in most cases you won't specifically require Maths. The only degrees that require maths are the more quantitative degrees. See my answer above.
3. what do you study in accounting degree? - whoever have studied this degree, can you please let me know if you enjoyed it and what is it like?
Essential modules are in financial accounting and management accounting. Optional modules can include business economics, business law, tax, business statistics, auditing, business finance. It can depend on the individual degree and what the specific modules they offer though.
I enjoyed more of the quantitative modules because I was more of a number's guy. I frowned on the descriptive modules in law, financial accounting, and auditing (they say auditing is analytical, but I would still say it's more of an art form than anything else).
4. what is it like to study accounting degree? - is it similar to maths?
As I did A Level Maths, a lot of the maths that I did come across was hardly challenging. I think the most I get to do is a few finance problems using logarithms and sequences. In terms of business statistics, it was hardly more difficult than the statistics in AS Level Maths. If you want a quantitative degree, accounting is not it.
Accounting is really more about categorising and presenting the numbers in the most appropriate way. You would hardly get much mathematical problem solving. The accounting problems involves 101 different bits and bobs that you would need to piece together in your answer - something akin to what you see in Business Studies questions.
5. will a person who have never studied accountancy but like maths, would like to do this degree?
If you like maths, I think you would find accounting to be a snooze fest - not that maths graduate would find accounting easy (I have come across STEM graduates from top end unis struggled to pass the first set of the professional accounting papers). Like ajj2000 has stated, it's more like GCSE level maths more than A Level Maths. If you are looking for a quantitative degree, accounting is not it; you're better off with subjects like finance, economics, physics, engineering, maths, biological maths, computer science.
6. if you study this degree, which careers can you go to?
Typically if you do an accounting degree, you are more or less telling the world that you want to go into accounting. Do note: you don't need a degree to go into accounting, let alone one in accounting - A Levels and GCSEs are usually more than enough.
Outside of accounting, you can pick one of the 600+ different careers that you don't need a degree for, or will accept you if you have a degree in any subject. You can then also go into academia doing research in accounting as well as teach accounting outside of academia.
7. if you study this degree, can you easily find jobs?
This is another one of your redundant question that I have previously responded to. See Question 7 in one of your previous threads: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7510666
8. by studying this degree, what is the salary like to be for the job options this degree provides.
Like Question 7 above, this is another one of your redundant questions. See Question 8 in one of your previous threads for my response: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7510666
9. if you know more information about this degree please let me know.
Nothing in particular that you should worth noting.
I would however like to point out that should you wish go into accounting, your A Level grades will matter a lot. Your degree should be graded at least 2:1 in order to stand a chance in the accounting graduate job market.
You can also claim exemptions for professional accounting qualifications, but a number of these would depend on what modules you pick at the uni that you study. The most number of exemptions that you can claim in any one professional accounting qualification is 9, so don't expect to get a full accounting qualification from the degree.
Professional accounting qualification that you should choose should be based on what your employer would want you to do (or more appropriately what type of accounting role you intend to go into). The main 6 in the UK are: ACA, ACCA, CAI, ICAS, CIMA, and AIA. The most popular amongst them are ACA, ACCA, and CIMA. ACA is preferred in the UK, and its equivalent are ICAS (Scotland) and CAI (Ireland). There are further equivalents outside of the UK, but that's another discussion.
I generally recommend people not to do an accounting degree, because you can qualify quicker and cheaper without doing an accounting degree. As to become a fully qualified accountant requires you to have relevant work experience, you should work alongside your studies and if you don't see yourself doing accounting long term you can cut your journey short and do something else as opposed to investing years of study in which you don't really use. Whilst you can always use your degree for a completely different job, I would argue you get more bang for your buck by choosing a different subject; you can always go into accounting after your bachelor's in any subject.

thanks for your help.
"I generally recommend people not to do an accounting degree, because you can qualify quicker and cheaper without doing an accounting degree. As to become a fully qualified accountant requires you to have relevant work experience, you should work alongside your studies"
are you saying apprenticeship degree? during apprenticeship you work along with ur study. if this is not what you are saying, can you please let me know how to become qualified accountant without degree?

Degree apprenticeships is one way of becoming an accountant, but that wasn't quite what I was getting at.
The legal requirement for anyone to be considered an accountant (there are a few types) is to pass all the accounting papers and get qualified work experience under the professional accounting body that you're under. An accounting degree alone would not qualify you as an accountant in the UK (you possibly can in Dubai I think, but don't quote me on this). Whilst an accounting degree would provide you exemptions for some of the papers for each professional accounting qualifications, 3 years with zero work experience and £27k debt just to get a degree in the subject is somewhat going leave a bit of a bitter aftertaste especially when you can work your way up in the same time qualifying with no debt.
The entry requirements for most UK accounting bodies are passes in A Level (or equivalent) in any subjects with decent GCSEs (including English Language and Maths) (or equivalent). The only exception (as far as I know) is CIMA which you can do without any prior qualifications.
Where you work as a junior accounts or accountant, they normally offer you funding to study and expect you to pass all papers, working your way up to become a fully qualified accountant. This goes for pretty much any job in accounting in general. Whilst you can always pay for your studies yourself, it's commonplace for the company to pay for your studies.
See the following job ad for example:
https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/junior-accountant/53197020
https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/junior-accountant/53118149
https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/junior-accountant/53054303
Whilst a lot of accounting jobs are not strictly an apprenticeship of sort, you kind of go through an apprentice like learning path. This applies even if you go into an accounting graduate scheme, and they generally don't care what subject your degree is in because the entry requirements for the professional accounting qualifications are A Levels and GCSE.

thank you so much for your help. this was useful information. but if I have degree in business, maths or economics, I can still do accounting but I will have more career options if I may not want to do accounting anymore. it is definitely worth doing that you said if someone is sure that they want to become accountant. I am not really sure what I want to do.

Yeah, you can become an accountant with a degree in any subject or without a degree at all.
I am not entirely sure what sort of careers you are looking at with degrees in business, maths, or economics though.
Maths is sometimes requested if you work in bioinformatics (not genomics, but something involving a lot of statistics) and would be useful in economics roles. A degree in economics by default is requested (but not always mandatory) for roles in economics. I have yet to come across a job that specifically requires a business degree outside of academia (if it's in investment banking, then you're looking for an MBA from a top business school as opposed to an undergrad business degree). Otherwise, you can use the same degrees to apply for jobs in roles that either ask for degrees in any subject or do not require a degree in the first place such as accounting (see my posts in your other threads).

Hi,
look at these links, it tells which jobs you can do by doing business, maths and economics degree.
can you please let me know how can you become accountant by doing degree in any subject? what do you do after you complete your degree if you want to become accountant?
thanks

it tells which jobs you can do by doing business, maths and economics degree
Note the key word in the sentence "can" - it implies that you can go into those roles with those degrees, but you don't need the degrees to do so.
I would often go by the job requirement sections of individual job profiles as opposed to what is spouted on graduate websites. See:
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/sectors
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers
https://life-pilot.co.uk/job-sectors/sectors
can you please let me know how can you become accountant by doing degree in any subject?
I am starting to feel like a parrot. If you look above at my first response to this thread under my answer for Question 9, you would see that the UK recognises 6 main accounting bodies (there should be 7; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_qualified_accountants#Titles_of_British_accountancy_qualifications), from at least one of which you would need to become a qualified accountant. The links to their qualifications (along with their entry requirements usually) are the following:
https://careers.icaew.com/find-your-route#logic-tree
https://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/study-with-acca.html
https://myfuture.cimaglobal.com/starting-a-career-in-management-accounting/
https://www.icas.com/become-a-ca/routes-to-becoming-a-ca
https://www.charteredaccountants.ie/Prospective-Students/Entry-Routes
https://www.aiaworldwide.com/aia-journey/
https://www.cipfa.org/qualifications/professional-accountancy-qualification
what do you do after you complete your degree if you want to become accountant?
Ideally, you join an accounting graduate scheme where your employer will tell you what you will need to do. As all employers offer accounting roles understand the entry requirements, they would tell you what you need and how to approach this.
If you don't manage to get onto a graduate scheme, go and apply for entry level accounting roles. Your employer will tell you what you need to do accordingly.
Failing to do the above, you can enrol yourself to become a student through one of the links above