Looks like mine and Shamus' posts have crossed, sorry for duplicate content.
Please don't take my opinion as gospel, but in the current economic climate my advice would be to take the offer of the apprenticeship as there will be no guarantee that completing a university course will lead to a job in the future. It may even make you less employable as many smaller employers cannot afford the graduate wages without very good and relevant experience.
Also, in the three/four years that it would take you to complete your degree you should have made a reasonable dent into the ACCA exam papers. If you opt to take the Oxford Brookes route, you will also get a degree along the way too, so best of both worlds. Your experience will also mean that you should have a good grounding in bookkeeping, payroll and accounts preparation.
I hope this helps in making your decision.
Martin
-- Edited by SoleAcct on Monday 28th of May 2012 08:36:15 PM
I'm 18 and about to leave sixth form. I've been offered the position of a trainee accountant with a firm of chartered certified accountants. It's an apprentice wage for the first 12 months and the firm will pay for me to do day release for the AAT. After AAT the senior partner says its normal for trainees to go onto do the ACCA. So all being well I could be ACCA qualified by the time I'm 23-24.
I've also been offered a position on an accounting degree course at university. It's a 3 year course with some exemptions from the ACCA when I graduate.
I'm certain I want to work in the accounting profession but I'm not sure which route to take. Money is not my main motivator as I still live at home. All my family have been to uni and have all got degrees, I just feel that not having a degree will look bad in the future if I go down the apprentice route.
Any advice would be great as my head is spinning with the options?
You do realise that at the end of the skills level of the ACCA qualification (paper F9) you have the option to do a 6000 word thesis which will give you a BSc in applied accountancy from Oxford Brookes University don't you? The skills level papers with the ACCA are at BSc level and the P level papers are at MSc level.
In this instance it's not either one or the other but rather both with the added benefit of experience as you go so yes, you can have you cake and eat it!
The downside is that you miss the social side of University life so down to you whether you want to go for the job now that you may not be able to find in three years OR risk missing a part of your education that you will not get another opportunity to repeat (You can go to Uni later in life but it's not the same).
Either way you can come out the other side with a degree.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Thank you both sooooooo much!! I wasn't aware of the Oxford Brookes BSc option. Just been on the ACCA website and it sounds perfect. Just shown both my parents and they're sold on it too, especially the saving's on the uni fees which I'm going to suggest should now be diverted to the car fund!
AAT BSc ACCA would sound great after my name. Roll on 6 years!
Will stick around on here as you've been so helpful.
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Well done thats a golden oportunity to get an apprenticship with an accounts firm, I would go for that especially as they are paying for it, like Shaun says no guarentees after uni that you would get a job. At least this way you will gain valuable experience.
Also do not forget that you will also get exemptions with your AAT, and will always have the option of setting up in practice as a MIP, which you will not be able to do with a degree.
An apprenctiship at 10k per year, say, will earn you 30k by the time you are likely to qualify. In the same 3 years you will have say 20K of student debt, so you are 50K better off. And when you have ACCA are you going to be any better off if you started off with the AAT or degree? Employers will only look at the ACCA qualification.
Nick
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
thats a good point about the degree however, it might be worth noting that some employers will only consider applicants who have a degree which I think is part of the ACCA's reasoning for virtually giving one away (#1) if you've passed the first nine papers.
On the more important point about where the ACCA qualification gets you. It seems that every CV that crossed my desk had a degree on it but ACCA / CIMA got the CVs to the consideration pile... Of course they still had to pass the "Could I stand spending the next six months of my life sitting accross the desk from this person" test. Which surprisingly an awful lot of graduates fall down on!
For anyone else who'se reading this. Worth mentioning that the interviews I conducted were for back / head office roles in banking and high finance. Not specifically in accountancy although for many of the roles you still needed to be an accountant.
Shaun.
#1 it's still a good one and to get to that you will have really earned a BSc.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
