Good uni's for accounting and finance ? South East area

[mumma24]

My sons has chosen 2 sussex and Surrey. Ideally need to choose 3 more (but these were the only 2 we looked at) any suggestions. Ideally in the south east England

Is there a reason for that the restriction?

Not sure if it’s counted as the south east, but my sister did her accounting degree at the university of Essex, and they are considered a good university

ideally he wants to be within a 3 hour drive from home in East Sussex

LSE would probably be considered the most prestigious, but entry is very competitive. Or Cass?

What are his grade predictions?

The don't go to uni to do accountancy and finance its such a waste. Working and recruiting in the field professional qualifications such as AAT are far more respected

My dh is an accountant and says a finance degree is a waste and you’d be better with AAT or cima.

An accountancy or finance degree is fine if you want to be an accountant but be aware it will only exempt you from a couple of professional exams at best. If there are other subjects he’d prefer to study at Degree level then go for those, or indeed a training place or apprenticeship if he wants to work.

It’s not a disadvantage though if that’s what he wants to do, AAT is a technician level qualification and although excellent it isn’t as prestigious as a degree later in your career when going for senior roles.

See that’s interesting @ExcitementBubble as my dh earns really well but is only cima qualified. I’d agree though maybe a business degree backed by cima or aat.

My husband has a degree in business accounting and finance and is a cima fellow. In his experience for a senior role. - he is CFO north Asia for a European company - you will need a degree and professional qualifications. The number of exemptions from professional exams will depend on the courses you take at university. When he took his exams (graduated 1989) he was exempt from 7 out of 16 and took one exam at stage 2 and then all of 3 and 4. He finished all the exams in one year, but i don't think that 's possible now as you need to take a year between stages 3 and 4.

CIPFA, ACCA or ACA are requirements for accountancy positions and technically considered higher than degree level so they are the essential element, you can become qualified in all of those without a degree one way or another.

A degree is not essential but these days when most bright kids go to uni not having a degree may well be a disadvantage for higher level careers.

Alternatively I believe ACCA has a scheme with Oxford Brookes to 'top up' your ACCA qualification to a degree by producing a dissertation which is another way to do it.

For example when my employer recruits accountants they list an accountancy qualification as 'essential' and a degree as 'desirable'.

Bubble, CIMA too surely. Better perhaps if you want to work in industry rather than auditing.

Yes sorry not an intentional slight!

Another vote for don’t do an accounting degree here. Do a degree in something he will enjoy and do well in and keep his options open.

I would not consider anyone with an accountancy degree to be qualified to do accountancy, it would always need to be topped up by a professional qualification post graduation, and as others have said, you gain very little advantage in those from having studied accounting at uni.

The possible harm that doing and accountancy degree can do is that it can close down his options - and i’ve Known a lot of people who realised in the course of doing their accounting degree that it’s not actually the right job for them - those people then often had to start from scratch with something else.

Oh and meant to say that’s coming from someone who’s been recruiting and managing accountants at all levels for the past 15 years.

You could look at degrees that include the professional exams. This one looks good - it's an accounting degree that includes all the ACCA exams, CIMA accredited, guaranteed accounting internship, and the degree itself is validated by the University of Kent www.pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk/find-a-course/undergraduate/bsc-msci-professional-accounting-in-business.html

Pearson is private and so I don’t think you have access to the same SF loans.

Pearson dont seem to offer anything more than a lot of university A+F degrees do. Why do something validated by the university of Kent when you could just go there?

All the big 4 do funded degrees alongside working for them - so work experience and free degree. Would be a no brainer for me.

Another accountant saying
do not do an accountancy degree
Do a degree in something analytical that will give you a good view of the world
and then join an employer who will put you though CCAB

Accountancy degrees narrow your options rather than widen them

There are also apprenticeship routes into accounting. I have just seen this advert on Twitter which I hope you find useful.
www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/organisation/moore-stephens-llp-142

Moore Stephens are good firm.
Please to see that they have re opened the old "articles" route.

@needmoresleep - I've had a look and students can get a reduced tuition fee loan (because it's private) + a tuition fee scholarship (to bridge the gap) www.pearsoncollegelondon.ac.uk/for-students/finances.html

@jayritchie - Depends on if you can get into Kent (slightly higher entry requirements), want to live in London or Kent, want to take your ACCA / equivalent exams as part of your degree, want to go to a smaller institution etc. etc. It's not all about the name on the certificate at the end.

If you can get into one of the big 4 schemes, it's a great option, but they are ridiculously competitive. The same goes for the vast majority of degree apprenticeship schemes - we can be talking 100 applications per place.

Do ask careful questions about what happens on courses that have a year in industry if the student doesn't secure a placement for themselves; in many cases the student just continues straight into the third year without any placement or work experience. The university might offer support and guidance, but few actually guarantee a placement.