AIBU to retrain as an accountant at 28 after setbacks?

[Lunalara]

I have for the most part recovered from the horrible depression that I had, but I am still feeling a bit disappointed as to how little I have achieved, especially in adulthood. I used to play for the adult chess team as a child and achieved a distinction in my masters. Then I failed my PGCE and lost any remaining self esteem I had as the whole process was humiliating to me.

I have had a think about what I want to do. I would like to retrain as an accountant. I have an A in GCSE maths, but haven’t touched anything maths like since then. I have done some practice studying to get a feel for accountancy, and I do think I would enjoy it. The problem is I am 28 with not a whole lot to show for it.

@Lunalara go for it! You're still in your 20s!

I started a PGCE after uni and by Feb I was struggling. The school/uni told me I would fail if I continued, so I decided to drop out (initially in the hope that i could come back to it later...). Via a contact I managed to get a job in a local firm of accountants - they actually paid for me to do my chartered accountancy qualification. I stayed there for 3 years and then moved to a big 4 firm to do tax and I've done various tax roles ever since.

I would recommend contacting local small firms to see if they're looking for anyone. I would also recommend tax as it's interesting, a bit more niche and there are loads of different specialisms. But I think it's probably best to get a grounding in accountancy first.

You might also be able to use your languages if you go into tax. One of my jobs was in global VAT compliance in a big 4 firm. We did all the global VAT returns for large companies like Microsoft and we had to liaise with our colleagues in various countries across Europe and also with the local tax offices. The firm actually employed quite a few Europeans for their language skills - this was pre Brexit! You'd be very useful if you were able to talk to the local tax office in France or Germany for example.

I still see it as a good profession, if you like it. I love doing accounts. Some don't ! Like pp, I'm not threatened by AI.

That’s quite a sweeping statement. How do your male friends feel about it?

I know lots and lots of accountants or people who have used accountancy as a stepping stone to other things. Some of the most successful people I know started as accountants. I think it’s a great foundation and the OP’s age is nothing. I’m 20 years older and in a senior role and I actually regret not having an accounting qualification.

That said - procurement could be a good option for the OP, must be easier to get entry level roles, and you can earn high salaries eventually. It’s awfully dull though IME.

It is good to know that the PGCE experience will not necessarily prevent me from succeeding. I was led to believe the whole way by mentors that all I needed was an extra placement. Came as a big surprise when I was told that my appeal was not a success. I even had a letter of recommendation from my university’s mentor.

@thinkingaboutipswich , a friend is a CIMA accountant and the company she works for has them working late for each deadline.
Organisations vary but I expect that it gets very busy around the deadlines.

I work in an area that involves applying rules and nuance and many in my department were laid off as they're developing an AI system to do some of our job. Despite the people training the system telling management it can't do it as well as a human. And despite the escalating business costs of AI.

You're underestimating how much some companies are happy with a poorer standard of work if it's a shiny new thing they've been told saves money.

I am a chartered accountant who has worked in both small practice and industry.
I would encourage you to see if you can find an entry level job in either environment with AAT study support and see if you enjoy the work. There are so many strands to the work that I would be surprised if one wouldn't suit you.
As pp have said, language skills can also be helpful if you get a job in an international org and maturity and demonstrable skills might give you an advantage (ability to plan/prioritise/flex approach to your audience etc).

You’re definitely not too old. You get all sorts of ages and backgrounds undertaking accountancy training. I went straight into CIMA after struggling to get a job in my degree subject. I was 24 when I started studying. I was working as a temp in a finance department and came across CIMA at a graduate career fair and thought why not.

I’m now a finance manager (not as grand as it sounds) in an NHS niche department. Earning equivalent of a senior nurse or AHP. I’m quite happy with the work. I haven’t wanted to progress further although there were opportunities to do so. I’ve had several staff come in either having started AAT or started once in post who have gone on to CIMA and management accountancy. Financial accounting was never something I was interested in. I like being part of a large organisation and communicating with non finance people, prepare reports and costings and really understanding the business. I’m not great at maths at all but I can spot patterns and see when things don’t look right. Communication is an absolutely vital skill in my role.

If I am able to get into accounting, I would definitely be interested in trying to get work for an international company in the long term. But for now I have to start from the bottom.

If I do start properly looking for jobs in the main season, is there anything I can do until then to improve my chances? Would having a look at the first units be worth it?

Why? At DS’s firm, parents of either sex can work from home. Since Covid, DS works two days a week in the office in London and three days at home, although he doesn’t do it, because of child care. It just saves time and money on commuting.

DS says AI could replace what the trainees do; but it can’t replace the managers, and if they don’t train the trainees, where are the managers going to come from?

None of the women accountants, I know, disliked it.

Do you know what Claude is though?

This is totally normal for accountancy

Interestingly Claude has been down all day today 😂 (I’m not disagreeing with you though!)

I retrained at the age of 43 @Lunalaraso it’s never too late!
For me that involved 4 years of evening classes to gain 2 GCSEs and 2 A levels and then I started training as an HCP (degree course) for 3 years as well as caring for my school age family so I would say anything is doable!
I don’t know anything about accountancy apart from doing a Bookkeeping course so I can’t advise you on that.
WRT the teacher training, I know someone in the same position as you, very intelligent with a first class degree, good at chess and he also failed his teacher training and it severely knocked his confidence.
He found it really hard to cope with that failure having breezed through exams all his life. I think the problem was he couldn’t get down to a very low level to explain the basics; his thinking was on too high a level to really comprehend how some secondary school kids think. He didn’t made it fun or design a teaching plan that would start from the very lowest level, unable to see that if they didn’t have the basics then they wouldn’t be able to understand his terminology!
It just wasn’t for him, in the same way that one might train to be a nurse or doctor and find ultimately you are just too squeamish!
I would suggest you consider career counselling to identify what you would be good at before you spend more time and money on training.
Can you apply for jobs in finance and admin as continuing in education is unlikely to help you at this stage.
Anyway, dust yourself off and very good luck for the future, you have years and years ahead of you and I hope you find the right career for you.

I'm going to go against so many responses here and say go for it. I think a lot of people are over looking that you are already a graduate and have a lot of relevant skills. There is a lot of cross over & back & forth between the teaching & accountancy professions. You would not be alone in switching a few years after graduation.

There are 3 main accountancy qualifications (you can definitely move into the profession without doing AAT as you're a grad). Think about whether you are interested in working in industry (strategic, planning & controlling roles) or in practice (audit & tax roles). Then look for graduate entry roles in the size of organisation which interests you. In all 3 qualifications (CIMA, ACCA & ICAEW) you will have 3 levels of exams. They will get your brain working.

PM me if you want more info. Thousands of trainees start their professional exams each year. From what you've said there is no reason why you can't join them. Graduate roles tend to start in Sept, Jan or April so apply now. Many places for Sept are already full.

Accountancy encompasses a very wide net in the world of business, so before taking a leap, it would be good for you to have an idea about where you want your career trajectory to go. There have been various comments about AAT, CIMA, ACCA and ACA, each path tends to signpost a specific career path.

AAT - pretty basic, you will be working on entry level accounts assisting. I think this is a pretty boring place to be.

CIMA - professional exams, tends to focus more on in-house (ie working as a management accountant). You need to have a business sponsor who will sign off your skills over your qualifying years, and you will need to sit a lot of pretty tricky exams.

ACCA - as above, but with a more technical angle, often taken by people working in accountancy firms.

ACA - working for an accountancy firm, as above. I'm ACA qualified, so I may be well off the mark for CIMA and ACCA, but my grounding was about law, economics, marketing, customer service, business partnering, report writing, preparing accounts and tax returns, understanding all aspects of technical accounting and tax while working for a large accountancy firm (I trained in audit). Many, many qualified ACAers go into business management, lots of FTSE100 CEOs are actually Chartered Accountants.

I will say the exams were the hardest thing I've ever done, and we were told that our first year exams (the 'easy' ones) was the equivalent of taking 6 A Levels in 3 months, so not for the faint hearted, and not to be entered into lightly (my firm sacked those who failed a first year exam as it was an indicator that the pace wouldn't be right for them).

Personally, I think it has been an excellent career (I qualified 25 years ago), I've worked in the Big 4, a small accountancy firm, and across many different in house roles. Once I had children, I was easily able to work PT, and now my children are grown up, I've scaled back up to work FT. Deadlines are time-pressured, but I've put lots of systems in place to make them go as smoothly as possible. Go into it having researched, and find the right path for you.

I think for me the issue was a combination of anxiety and getting drained when spending too long in people facing jobs. Had to find this out the hard way as I coped fine with presentations at uni, but not with constantly talking to people and dealing with emotionally heavy topics. I briefly considered switching to HR, but realised that the issues that were present in the PGCE may very well be present there too.

I want a career where I can use more analytical thinking and I can just sit down and get on with it. I also enjoy studying and learning new things. Would have considered software engineering too, but not with the way it is heading. A friend I know has a degree in software engineering but has been stuck in charity work.

For larger businesses that can often be the case, but there are a huge number of small businesses who simply don't have that set-up, and for whom there are far too many variables for it to be an option. Besides, most small businesses don't have owners who know anything about accounts. They can't buy a software package to do it because it needs to be configured to suit their industry and unique circumstances, and without the right finance background they don't know what they are doing and fuck it up. Then they have to pay someone to unpick the entire thing and start again.That is what I've spent the last 30 years of my career doing!

AI is not the end of bookkeeping and accounts as a career, not by a long way.

My small (3 people in the office) company is installing the AP auto posting shortly. It’s either that or employ more people. So guess what…

It’s not just the big ones.

And yes, a bad installation of a new system/software is a headache. May that be a growing business for real people as opposed to AI!.

automation is different to AI. Automation is very well established in accounting and now comes as standard in many accounting systems. But mixing it up with AI over plays the specific threat from AI.

tech has automated basic accounting processes, 100%. It’s already done

Personally I would never choose accounting if I could go back. It is a long and difficult road. (Coming from an ACCA accountant).

However! You are not too old to start, absolutely not. I retrained at 25 as a single parent. It took me much longer than I would like to admit due to life getting in the way but there are people who started much later than I.

It is a stable career, one which is respected and generally allows for good progression. It can also be incredibly stressful, is very deadline deadline driven (working crazy hours) and at times is mind numbingly boring.

All I can say is try to get some work experience in the job itself before you commit what will be some of the hardest years of your life to studying for it. I wish I had gained more experience in the day to day of it before committing to it as I may have chosen something else.

All this is to say that it is a tough road, but there are many upsides if it is something that genuinely interests you. Just make sure that it is something that genuinely interests you. I went at it more from an angle of wanting a stable, respected and decently paid career (which it is on all counts!) I spent less time considering that I have to spend my life doing it 😂 😂

I’m unsure if you fully understand what Claude is..?
Looks like KPMG are keen to go all in on Claude for tax and PE work — areas that require some degree of nuanced advice rather than pure process https://kpmg.com/xx/en/media/press-releases/2026/05/kpmg-and-anthropic-sign-global-alliance-and-launch-digital-gateway-powered-by-claude.html

Whether it is successful or not is to be seen, but it’s pretty naive to say that deployment of AI will not pose a threat to white collar, cognitive work - particularly at entry level.

A new product they launched a press release about 3 weeks ago and haven’t implemented- yep I bet that’ll be why that posters part qualified mate was made redundant

Well implementation takes time and companies are getting a lot of flack now for saying job layoffs are due to “AI”.

KPMG job cuts in the UK announced in March 2026 https://www.cityam.com/as-kpmg-looks-to-cut-hundreds-of-staff-expect-more-layoffs-at-the-big-four/

KPMG tie in with Anthropic announced May 2026.