Routes to accountancy

Not necessarily interested in working for one of the big finance companies, but I do want to become a chartered accountant. I've looked at a fair few degree courses, most of which have exemptions for various different routes to being chartered. I'm not convinced they're all the same and can't get my head around which give the most, best exemptions as I know some of that is linked to the modules that you go on to choose. Does it matter which accountancy and finance degree you do? Are there some courses that have more exemptions than others? By the way, I live in the north and wouldn't consider any London Universities or anything south of Birmingham.

I should really write a blog post on this. I keep running across too many of these questions.
To become a chartered accountant in the UK (and most other countries in the world), you would need the suitable professional qualification to become a chartered accountant for the country (they vary from country to country). The main ones for the UK are:
ACCA is also another one that you can technically become an accountant with but they are not referred to as chartered accountants as much as certified accountants. You can still do the same jobs though. Other accounting qualifications also include those from AIA.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_accountant#United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_qualified_accountants#Audit_of_limited_companies
To play things safe, I would pick ACA or ICAS if you're not based in Ireland. More so, I would ideally pick the qualification that your prospective employer would recommend you to study as you would need to get relevant work experience under an accountant with the qualification you intend to get e.g. an accountant with ACCA cannot record your work experience under ACA.
In terms of accounting degrees, most universities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales would provide accounting degrees that offer exemptions towards ACA or ICAS (most offer exemptions towards CIPFA, ACCA, and CIMA, but that's aside from the question). Those in Scotland would definitely offer exemptions towards ICAS, but you might not necessarily get them from unis in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (doesn't make sense to me since they should cover similar material, but I don't write the rules).
I can't find the exemption calculators on ICAS or CAI websites, but ACA offer a directory of which modules you should pick to maximise the number of exemptions you can get based on the individual degree:
https://apps.icaew.com/cpldirectory
The equivalent for ACCA , CIPFA, AIA, and CIMA are the following (in case you wanted to know):
https://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/help/exemptions-calculator.html
https://www.aicpa-cima.com/exemption-calculator/professional
https://www.cipfa.org/qualifications/exemptions
https://www.aiaworldwide.com/study/exemptions/
The "quality" of exemptions is the same i.e. you don't get more exemptions or fewer just because the degree is different - if you're exempt from the paper, you're exempt from the paper. You know which papers you would be exempt from based on the modules that you choose in your individual degree (not necessarily based on the individual degree itself), and you only know which modules you can get exemptions from through the exemptions calculators above.
Do note, you might need to take on multiple modules (usually up to 2) in order to gain exemption from one paper because of the way the university has structured their accounting degrees.
Do also note, you only get exemptions from the relevant and related "accounting" (it can come under "finance", "law", "business" as well) modules if you do a joint degree or a business related degree. You usually don't get extra brownie points from doing extra difficult finance or management modules - they're not relevant.
The maximum number of exemptions that you can usually get in any one professional accounting qualification is 9 papers, depending on the individual accounting qualification. It's usually closer to 6, but 9 is usually the max that I have seen. You would at the very least need to sit the professional/most advanced papers outside of academia.
In terms of professional accounting qualifications, the bodies don't particularly care about which accounting and finance degree you do so long it's accredited with the body. I am not entirely sure whether your employer would have a preference, since this is more of an individual thing. In my book, all accounting degrees accredited by professional accounting bodies are the same, but others might disagree.
Having said the above, do note: