Single or Joint Honours (Accountancy (and Finance))

Im currently doing my UCAS undergraduate application for university in 2025 but I don't know which course would be better for me, my dream job is to be a chartered accountant. I could do accountancy which is a single honours degree or accountancy and finance which is a joint honours degree. My preferred university (Aberdeen) offers both so I could pick both of them as options on UCAS but then I would have the same dilemma in months time if I get offers for both. Basically which one is more likely to get me into a role which would eventually lead me to becoming a chartered accountant. Thanks in advance.

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MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

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Original post by Mills15

Im currently doing my UCAS undergraduate application for university in 2025 but I don't know which course would be better for me, my dream job is to be a chartered accountant. I could do accountancy which is a single honours degree or accountancy and finance which is a joint honours degree. My preferred university (Aberdeen) offers both so I could pick both of them as options on UCAS but then I would have the same dilemma in months time if I get offers for both. Basically which one is more likely to get me into a role which would eventually lead me to becoming a chartered accountant. Thanks in advance.

The job requirements to becoming a chartered accountant is to have a professional accounting qualification with adequate number of years of relevant and recorded professional experience in accounting. Which degree you do makes no difference towards getting a professional accounting qualification in the UK.

You can achieve this without going to university in the UK (or Scotland for whichever your find relevant).

Should you decide to do an accounting degree regardless, they would provide you with exemptions towards UK recognised accounting qualifications (depending on the specific course and uni, they can vary how for which professional accounting qualification).

If you do want a Scottish accounting qualification as opposed to any one in the UK, then your go to would be ICAS.
https://www.icas.com/become-a-ca/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant-ca

The other professional UK accounting qualifications have similar requirements.

If you do an ICAS accredited degree, you get 6 exemptions towards the ICAS qualification:
https://www.icas.com/become-a-ca/routes-to-becoming-a-ca/the-graduate-entry-route

Even if you don't do an accredited degree, you can still do ICAS but it would take longer.

Both of Aberdeen's accountancy degrees are ICAS accredited:
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degree-programmes/1137/N400/accountancy/
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/degree-programmes/413/NN34/accountancy-and-finance/#year_4

When employers look at your job application, they would look into more than just your grades and degree (all qualifications should have high grades) - this would at most be a means of shortlisting candidates. The degree alone won't determine whether you would get the job though. Other factors include whether you have the right personality, your aptitude, how much you want the job, your soft skills, commercial awareness, etc.

Original post by Mills15

Im currently doing my UCAS undergraduate application for university in 2025 but I don't know which course would be better for me, my dream job is to be a chartered accountant. I could do accountancy which is a single honours degree or accountancy and finance which is a joint honours degree. My preferred university (Aberdeen) offers both so I could pick both of them as options on UCAS but then I would have the same dilemma in months time if I get offers for both. Basically which one is more likely to get me into a role which would eventually lead me to becoming a chartered accountant. Thanks in advance.

Hi, this is the University of Aberdeen rep account. Thanks very much for your interest in studying with us! The above user has provided some great resources on how these qualifications are looked at, and both should provide you with qualifications for the line of work you're interested in. It's really up to yourself what you would be more interested in. I will say that the joint honours degree has more compulsory courses you would have to take, and so if you want to more elective courses in your first couple years then the single honours degree might be a better fit for you. It's not much of a difference but it's worth weighing this up for yourself.

I also just wanted to say that generally it's best not to apply to two very similar degrees at the same uni as these applications will likely receive very similar answers. If you're still having a dilemma over what to apply for I would say to apply to the joint honours degree and if you decide later down the line that you want to do the single honours degree it will be easy enough to swap you over (when and if you get an offer from us and decide to accept it). I hope that makes sense but do just let us know if you have any more questions!

- Matthew, Enquiry Team

Single or Joint Honours (Accountancy (and Finance))

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