Apprentice accountant help !

[razorsharpest]

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone can advise me / my son on accountancy apprenticeships.
He has left school with A levels ( BCD , B is in Maths) and doesn't want to go to uni so is looking at accountancy and actuary apprenticeships but is not having much luck. Even getting work experience seems to be a hard to achieve.
He is currently working part time ( retail) and has some spare time , would it be beneficial for him to study for some accountancy qualifications? Is this practical and something prospective employers would look at favorably?
Thank you 🙏

Potentially - I would start with AAT to give a really good solid base and look for starter roles within businesses not just Accountancy Folirms.

*firms

What kind of practice is he applying for? The larger firms are less likely to take on an apprentice whose not got a degree. But smaller/local firms are often a lot more flexible. Has he written to any small/local firms with his CV asking about potential training places?

Re doing his own training for exams, I'd maybe suggest he start looking at AAT which seems to be the standard "entry" qualification that smaller practices put their trainees through first, and then move them onto ACA or ACCA once they've qualified as an AAT. He can start AAT on his own to "show willing" but it can be expensive in terms of AAT student membership subscription, courses, training materials and exam fees. Employers usually pay all that for their trainee/apprentice workers. Personally, not too sure that self-starting the AAT course would "persuade" a practice to take someone on, but it can't do any harm. Certainly far more useful than them doing a GCSE or A level in accounting which is pretty pointless.

@taxguru - not true that the big firms don't take school leavers - see e.g. www.pwc.co.uk/careers/early-careers/our-programmes/join-us-from-school.html

We have had a few students get post A level apprenticeships but with much better A level results than your sons, sorry. They are very competitive indeed and the kid i was teaching last year who got one had A A A*. Since you get paid, and end up with a degree many switched on students are realising they are an excellent alternative to uni and a lot of student debt.

Is it actually their recruitment period ? The big four tend to intake at specific times of the year. He could try public organisations like nhs or local government to work in their finance departments and be funded for the exams. Which qualification does he want to do?

Big 4 all take school leaver apprentices. As do Grant Thornton, Mazars, Saffery etc. Some do CIMA and some do AAT so worth looking into options. They all do work experience as well. A relative applied to all and is now in second year and loving it. It was online initial assessments, group interview and then final interview with HR and a director.

I said "less likely". I didn't say they didn't at all!

I know some big firms take on school leavers, but in the big scheme of things, the vast majority (in terms of numbers of entrants) ARE graduates. You mention PWC, I saw some figures showing they take on twice as many graduates as they do school leavers. Some of the other big firms have a much smaller non graduate intake. They also have different "routes" for different intakes, i.e. non graduates tend to be assigned to tax work whereas graduates tend to be assigned to audit and advisory work.

The ones he's applying for now are mostly for September 25 start , and he has applied to most of the big companies mentioned above already and not heard back, which may be because entry doesn't close until the spring. It is rather demoralizing though when he doesn't hear back.

Thanks for your comments so far, will take on board your advice😊

Interviews are generally January time. He maybe fine with those grades and I know some firms are taking on more school leavers than grads.
They are big on team work skills so Retail work is a good competency skill he can use in interview.
school leavers I know have all gone into audit associate roles in Commercial and Public Sector or Business Outsourcing. Also has he looked at the banks? They also take on accountancy apprentices.

Has he contacted any of the larger local further education colleges to see if they can help? I had an accountancy apprentice working for me once in a two year industry placement, I think the FE college had managed to organise the work placement for him (I didn’t set it up, someone else in my finance department did). He got minimum wage but he was getting his AAT training paid for.

The other thing he could do is get really good at Excel. That’s something he could work on at home if he access to the full application on a laptop. There are some really good free courses online - if he got as far as Power Pivots for example,
he could be very employable as a junior finance analyst. Interesting work and lots of jobs in this area. Well paid too!