A Career in Accounting

A career in accountancy will perhaps give you a traditional Dickensian image of an accountant being someone sitting in a dingy back office counting on an abacus is now rather dated. Things have changed; accountancy is now an exciting, lucrative and rewarding career option.

A career in Accounting
A career in accountancy can broaden your long-term career prospects and enable you to experience working within different industries, while providing you with what every graduate strives for: a good quality of life.You will also get to meet a wide range of people and enjoy a certain level of independence, even if you are part of a partnership.

What may surprise you is that you do not necessarily need a financial or accounting degree to get into the profession. Angus Farr, graduate recruitment manager at accounting firm HLB Kidsons, said: “When it comes to passing professional exams, you actually find that graduates with non-relevant degrees fare as well, if not better than, graduates with a related degree.”Therefore, most large accounting firms will recruit from any degree discipline, but you must obtain a minimum 2:1 degree and have 22 UCAS points.

Training For A Career In Accountancy
Training required for a career in accountancy is comprehensive – you will need to sit professional exams, which can be very tough and time-consuming. HLB Kidsons recently estimated its investment in graduate training over the course of a three-year training contract to be £100,000.

The skills necessary for the profession are consistent with what you would expect: accuracy, numeracy, ability to work as part of a team, logic, leadership skills, ability to remain impartial, general commercial awareness, good communication skills … the list goes on.

So, to get through interview stage and give yourself a good start in the profession you should demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and a good commercial and business awareness. Prospective employers will look for signs of initiative so, if you are serious about a career in accountancy, registering as a CIMA student will certainly help.

For further Information contact:
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) www.cima.org.uk
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) www.acca.co.uk
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAS) www.icasw.co.uk
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAEW) www.icaew.co.uk
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) www.cipfa.org.uk

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