Questions about becoming an accountant in the UK

Factual Questions
1

I have just moved to the UK from the US and was planning on going to Uni for accounting in three years (because it will be that long before I can get home tuition rates and I cannot afford international rates). However, upon further research it appears that you don’t have to go to Uni at all, you can simply become qualified through one of the qualfiying boards?

Assuming that I have this right for the moment, which is the best one to qualify through? They all (of course) claim to be the best, and I wasn’t able to dig up any third party information on them. Also, what would be the advantage to a Uni degree in addition to this?

:slight_smile: Thanks in advance

2

The purpose of the ‘qualifying baords’ is to determine if you are qualified to practice accounting.
I would expect them to give you an exam similar to that for a CPA in the US.
LottsaLuck!

3

I’ve worked in two of the Big Five (now Big Four) accountancy and consulting firms. Both trained junior staff in either the ACA or ACCA qualification (the latter generally for support or technical consultants).

A quick skim suggests that a university degree is not required, but may be useful. My own experience was that the degree subject did not matter (I studied politics).

ACA UK entry requirements (also more here).

ACCA UK entry requirements.

4

So what it looks like is that ACA is the exam to aim for, and the others (ACCA and CIMA) are ways of getting into that training (and also doing other jobs, of course).

I know a University degree would be helpful, however I will have to wait three years to get home rates at university and by that time I would be well on my way to qualifiying. Do you know if not having a uni degree will hurt the prospects of jobs later on? Will employers be put off because I didn’t go? (I could do CIMA or ACCA, uni, then ACA, if that were the case).

Thanks for your help! (how do you like your job? :slight_smile: )

5

:smack: never mind. You can train for the ACA with no prior qualifications as well – I didn’t read far enough.

6

I’ve got a friend who’s an accountant, without a degree…email me via my profile, and I’ll see if he’s able to give any specific advice.

7

GorillaMan, I am a trial member at the moment and cannot view your profile, but my email is jburls@fastmail.co.uk Thanks!

8

ACCA is a perfectly valid standalone accounting qualification ~ I studied it for two years (I’m not an accountant, but it was required even for IT consultants in my firm). It had the reputation of having much easier coursework, but comparably difficult exams; I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but the “proper” auditors and accountants studied ACA rather than ACCA.