Which degree for accountancy?

[MadamBuxton]

Just planning ahead for my DS who is in year 12 and starting to think about degree choice. He thinks he'll probably want to train as a Chartered Accountant (probably in audit) after university but isn't sure about degree choice.

I am a CA myself and the advice always used to be that you shouldn't do an accountancy/business/finance type degree because firms often prefer a 'pure' subject (STEM in particular) for the transferable skills. However, through my job I've come across quite a few cv's recently for newly qualified CA's who did a finance-related degree then trained with a Big 4 or other firm so maybe my knowledge is out of date?

I'd be particularly interested in your criteria and preferences if you are involved in recruitment...

PMed you.

I know two young auditors, one has a maths degree from Cambridge and the other has a degree in civil engineering from Bristol. So as long as there’s maths in the degree and relevant A levels, then there is quite a wide choice. However I wouldn’t do an Accountancy degree. Choose something broader so choices of career are broader if he changes his mind later on.

or just go AAT etc to start with and save the cost of a degree ….

History. The big accountancy firms love history graduates

Do whatever degree he enjoys. I did law, DH did history & politics and both seemed more welcomed by our graduate employers (KPMG and PwC) than those who did accounting degrees.

Also a chartered accountant.
The big 4 (and I'd guess other) firms offer apprenticeship career paths where you do AAT then CA exams. And obviously get paid rather than getting £50k into debt for university. Worth investigating if that's what he thinks he wants to do.
My degree is arts. I had a bit more work to convince a big 4 partner to give me a training contract but was still doable. I agree that doing accountancy isn't a good use of time.

I'm married to a CIMA account whose degree is Accounting for Management from Aston (appreciate you said ACCA I think).
He always knew he wanted to be an accountant so it suited him fine, and most of his mates, they all knew they wanted to be accountants 🤷‍♀️ they are all doing well -
1 x big 4 grad who moved to more manufacturing based roles and is now an FD
1 x head of finance for a major bank
1 x was big 4 now gone to a boutique practice
1 x head of payroll and reporting systems

Also they all got maximum exemptions and so qualified very quickly as "first time passed finalists" which I'm told is a thing in CIMA circles.

If you go to somewhere with a big business school often the first year is all the same and then you can change later to specialise eg in finance/HR/marketing in Year 2.

DH actively recruits those with finance degrees due to his own background.

Where I work in the property industry it tends to also be CIMAs for service charge accounting.

Sorry you didn't say ACCA but I'm deducing that from audit.

Going to second what Blue says- you don't actually need a degree, a lot of firms offer training on the job.

No degree at all.

If he wants to do ACA at a big 4, they all now do apprenticeships for school leavers - far better than getting a student debt for no reason.

So as long as there’s maths in the degree and relevant A levels

This is bollocks, you don't need maths at either degree or A level. None of my A levels or my degrees were in numerate subjects.

Absolutely no point in a degree in accountancy, as they'll just put you through AAT/ACCA. Tell him to pick something eh enjoys or not to bofher. Accountancy degrees are a waste of time

Accounting degrees are not a waste of time if you get maximum exemptions and are qualified by 23?!

Presumably finance would be something he would enjoy if he fancies being an accountant.

At that age I wanted to be an accountant. Did a business studies degree, then accountancy exams. Realised I hated it and so am glad I did not start an apprentice route. Though of course I could have gone to uni later if that happened.

Jakeyboy - someone who did an apprenticeship could be qualified by that age too, with no debt. At least a different degree would broaden your horizons and give you a chance to learn more about a different passion... An accounting degree won't cover anything you can't learn on the job.

Hello, I’m a CA. I left school at 16 and did AAT which gave me the exemptions from the first year of CIMA. I’d suggest he looks at ACA(top 4)/ACCA if he wants to go into audit.

In fact, an apprentic could be qualified earlier. With less debt, no less knowledge, and more real life work experience.

It tends to be about half and half finance degrees/totally unrelated so it really doesn't matter. Big 4 ACA qualified here. It was quite a while ago but when I got my graduate entry I went to a fair few interviews and big 4 accountancy was the career that paid least attention to what I'd done before as long as I met the minimum criteria, it was purely about assessments and interview performance. No snobbery whatsoever. Never did maths or related after gcse. Agree that apprentice entry is something to look into first, though my firm still employs more graduates.

I was qualified by 22, no debt and had all my exemptions from AAT. Having recruited for finance, we are more favourable to people without a degree. A degree in finance doesn't give you anything, a degree in something else brings transferable skills and the rest can be learnt through AAT. We want more well rounded individuals.

Accounting degrees are not a waste of time if you get maximum exemptions and are qualified by 23?!

If you know you want to be an accountant then skip university and be qualified by 21 without debt.

I’d also suggest doing AAT first as I was adamant that I wanted to work in practice, but when I looked at what the role would involve/salary would be I decided industry would be better suited to me. It gives a good solid knowledge level of basics of tax/bookkeeping also.

Basically:

1. If your goal is to qualify as soon as possible and you're certain you want to be an accountant - enter one of the big 4 / top 10 as a school leaver.

2. If you're not 100% certain bout accounting, and want a degree - choose a subject that interests you, but don't bother with accounting (because if you were that set on it you should probably be doing option 1).

Definitely don't do a degree. 99% of firms offer apprenticeships/training contracts now and you qualify at the same time if not earlier but with the added extra of no debt (and 5 years of income under your belt).
In my office of 44 people 4 did accountancy at uni and all regret it as you end up doing ACA/ACCA to qualify afterwards anyway.

Also from a recruitment point of view we bring in more people at trainee level (straight from a levels) than we do at graduate level as it's good to have work experience from the very beginning.

Do a degree they’ll enjoy if they are academic. I did a Chemistry PhD (Cambridge then Imperial) then went to a Big 4 firm and spent a decade there before going in house. I would have been entirely miserable as an apprenticeship because I was an academic child and I can assure you it was worth the time. In my intake we had people with history, English, maths, economics...nobody with an accountancy degree in sight. And one 18 year old who avoided debt was noticeably less independent.

In short...if academically strong do a degree that they’ll enjoy.