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newly qualified CA's who did a finance-related degree then trained with a Big 4 or other firm so maybe my knowledge is out of date?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...

I have a DD in Year 12 who definitely wants to go to university, but thinks she may be interested in accountancy as a career. I know some posters have said their firms don't care which university a degree is from, but for those who do see a "pecking order" in terms of which universities are preferred, would you be willing to share which universities are the favoured ones?

Provided it's a decent redbrick/ Russell Group uni, she'll be fine. So Sheffield Uni, not Sheffield Hallam, for example.

FWIW, the application process is almost entirely automated for all the initial sifting stages. Provided she gets the good grades, the software won't discriminate on the basis of uni.

I work with people who went to lots of different unis. The only consistent factor is that they are academically able. If you are good enough to get into big4, you are good enough to have gone to a decent redbrick/RG uni.

Apprenticeship!

Thanks Receptacle.

DD was telling me at the weekend that the company she works for no longer allow people to use their exemptions from some of the accounting exams if they have any from their degree. Apparently there has been a higher level of failure in exams where people have had exemptions from some of the earlier ones.
So your DS should do the degree he wants to and a degree that is 'broader' say economics, maths etc as he will still be able to choose to do finance modules etc. Or as others have said, do an apprenticeship.

I moved to Investment banking straight after qualifying and along with most people who made a similar move I have a STEM degree. Many financial instruments are quite complex and do require good mathematical skills but this is a niche area and certainly not typical of accountancy in general.
One of DS1's friends who attended a very good school, excellent qualifications etc has taken an apprenticeship. I helped him look into it and I can't remember the numbers but it is a lot less competitive than finding a graduate training contract. He knew 100% that was what he wanted to do and career wise it is going fantastically for him. But I do feel a little bit sad for him because his mates are looking at long summer holidays travelling here there and everywhere whereas he is very limited in his time off, as is most of the working population.

Cake.... regarding the young apprentice you mention above, and my earlier post on the young adult experience, it is that aspect you lose when you enter the working population early.

It does limit your life experience with your own peers at that stage of adult development, and that bit of the clock you can never turn back.

I certainly felt that 'after the event' so to speak.

It really depends on what's best for the individual.

Surely it depends on the individual. I remember as a graduate trainee working alongside someone who had joined the firm straight from school. She was the same age, but qualified (like me, CIMA), married and had a mortgage. This suited her, and I would not have expected her lack of degree to have held her back in any way, indeed she was bright, super organised and well focussed and rightly tipped for the top. The University experience is not for everyone. (DD is really enjoying her vocational University course far more now she is on six months placements with pretty standard working hours. For some DC the stereotypical clubbing, partying, University culture is unappealing.)

When DD took a gap year she worked alongside a couple who were planning to skip University. One had an apprenticeship lined up, the other planned to join the family firm. The gap year - though the latter had two, seemed sensible.

That said a friend's DC who, for valid reasons, had had enough of education, landed a really prestigious financial sector apprenticeship, but who is now feeling daunted by possibly 50 years of working life ahead of him, and is hankering for a year off travelling.