Mummy in the foothills

Ds finally graduated and moved off back to the UK to stay. He's now looking at graduate programs/jobs some way of training to become an accountant.
He's really looking to find a wage so he can survive, he's living rent free at his grandmothers house so doesn't want to move obviously especially seeing he'll need a job to move.
His major was business administration and he concentrated on accounting.
So questions, (bearing in mind he's the first on both sides of the family to go to Uni and we have no flippin clue about any of it) What is a graduate program and how do they work? Are they the only way to become an accountant in the UK? or can you study on your own and take exams while working somewhere semi related to accounting?
What web sites would you recommend for accountants or wanna be accountants in the UK?
I'm sure I'll have more questions if anyone would be so kind as to send us in the right direction.
TIA

cranston

All the Accountants I knew took their exams whilst working at junior accounting jobs.

Mummy in the foothills

Thanks I told him to look out for junior accounting jobs to see where that leads. I think I sent him one the other day only 30 minutes from my Moms house.
Something comes up soon, or Grandma will be shipping him back to me

HarryTheSpider

Yup - in all of the organisations I worked at, the accountants worked their way up from Junior accountants whilst working for their exams/qualifications. It typically takes 3 years to do the whole lot.

So - a wage plus studies - and typically the employer paid the study fees too...

Cheers

Harry

Macca67

His first decision is what type of finance career he wants to pursue, i.e. Public Sector, Private Practice or Corporate. Each has their own governing body with different qualifications. If he wants to work in Private Practice (One of the Big 4) they used to recruit 2 or 3 times a year and he can apply directly to them. Both the Public Sector and Corporate recruit throughout the year. Unless things have changed he will need to work in the area he wants to study as the exams are seen as a test of competency in that field and require the necessary experience. His degree will help with some exemptions in his prelim and first year exams.

Mummy in the foothills

Thanks everyone, I'm sure we'll be back with more questions.
He says he did apply to one place that has a 3 year training and they support you through the exams and assign you a mentor, car allowance holidays etc etc etc, fingers crossed, they did call him back and ask more about him. they do financial adviser qualifications and also said chartered accounting qualification support.
Also 30 mins from Mums house.
I think he may eventually have to move to Manchester or Chester at least. North Wales isn't exactly a hot spot, although there are lots of accounting firms about it seems they aren't hiring.

Bob

Another thing to do, ask the actual uni.

Even a half decent place would have some chap with a title along the lines of Industrial Liaisons Officer or something similar.

Basically someone connected to industry and would know about and have contacts for any junior positions, internships, tradeshows etc that folks could go check out and get introduced to.

paul_79

The three main accountancy bodies in the UK are:

www.icaew.com
http://uk.accaglobal.com/
www.cimaglobal.com

A graduate program is not the only way to become an accountant. I started my accounting qualification whilst working in Junior Accounting roles as mentioned above. Luckily for me everywhere I worked (in London) paid for my tuition and also gave me days off to study. For me it really was a case of starting at the bottom as a Sales Ledger Clerk - but with hard work and studying for those exams you can move up quickly.

If he's going to work in practice for an accountancy firm then he will most likely study for either of the top two qualifications. If he works in industry (as an accountant for a company) then most likely one of the lower two. I had no desire whatsoever to work in practice preparing accounts, auditing etc and worked in industry so decided to study for CIMA. Not to say I haven't done my time in those fields!

Have a look over those websites as a start.

Mummy in the foothills

Thanks I'll forward the sites to him. Good to know you can do it by starting as a sales ledger clerk, he says he just sent in an app for Accounting assistant to try and get a start.

Rob_999

If he wants to become a Chartered Accountant then best bet in the UK is to go and work for an accounting practice. Most firms have a graduate program - basically it takes three years to get qualified, the firm gives you time off and pays for tuition and exam fees. They start recruiting around April and usually close out by end of August. Then they'll be another round of recruiting in January to replace those that dropped out after failing the first set of exams...

Here's a list of the top 50 accounting firms...

http://www.accountancyage.com/resources/top50

Good luck - its a great qualification to get, I've worked in UK/Aus/Canada & USA on it so very versatile!

MsElui

he needs to decide what type of accountancy he wants
chartered or the other one (CIMA) which is more commerical. If its CIMA He then can apply for graduate managment training schemes and opt for the finance stream (they usually take on a group of trainees some being HR, some commercial, some finance etc etc. If he wants tradiotional accounting then he applies for graduate trainee positions at the big chartered account firms.

Go visit the local Uni where he lives and find the careers section. they should have a whole set of brochures for the current big employers traineing schemes he can look through and also the graduate training vacancy sheet.

Typically on theses schemes you work and do study alongside it taking exams as you go - all paid for by the employer.

Mummy in the foothills

Thank you I keep sending him more info