Count on a charismatic career

You don't have to be a number-crunching maths graduate to join the global world of accountancy

Television companies, football clubs and dating agencies are just three of the potential employers opening their doors to graduates looking to specialise in accountancy. While many of the 3,000-plus UK graduates who opt to train as chartered accountants every year will choose a traditional career path – such as City banking, tax advice or insolvency – an increasing number will choose to enter more creative industries such as the media or fashion retailing.

Global demand for qualified accountants is huge, with more than 15,000 of the 122,000 members of the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England & Wales (ICAEW) now living and working abroad.

Many newly qualified accountants will use their understanding of business finance and commercial economics to launch entrepreneurial ventures of their own – either here or overseas.

Almost 60 per cent of the FTSE-100 finance directors are Associate Chartered Accountants or ACA qualified (the pre-eminent qualification in the industry) as well as a growing number of top CEOs.

Fortunately though, you don't have to have a maths degree to get into the profession. According to the ICAEW, the minimum graduate entry requirement to undertake the training to become a chartered accountant is 18 UCAS points. The majority of ACA students, it says, tend to have at least a 2.1 degree and three A-levels at grade C or above.

Training with an approved employer – usually a firm of chartered accountants, but possibly with a bank or the National Audit Office – takes an average of three years for graduates.

An obvious route to a career in number crunching is via an accountancy degree itself, backed up by an internship with a recognised accountancy firm, but in reality, the choice of degree subject is subordinate to practical numeracy and personal skills. Recent industry figures indicate that only around four per cent of graduate trainees studied accountancy at university, fewer than the five-plus per cent that studied arts subjects.

While maths graduates represent around 11 per cent of the annual graduate intake, the single most popular subject is business studies, studied to degree level by more than 40 per cent of entrants.

A growing number of trainee accountants enter the profession through the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) fast-track scheme, which is open to non-graduates and, occasionally, even those without A-levels. This offers qualification as an ACA in just four years.

In 2001/2002, 90 per cent of trainee chartered accountants were graduates, with 75 per cent of them having a 2.1 or even a First from a "good" university.

Peter Wyman, ICAEW President, says: "The 10 per cent of entrants who were not degree-holders were no less able than the graduates last year and we are keen to stress that this is an industry which believes very strongly in diversity.

"Although around half of our recruits are women, we also encourage applications from mature entrants and from ethnic minorities. This is a profession that you can move into later – perhaps from another sector – and also one which is often the springboard for other careers. Flexibility is very important to us."

Whether educated to graduate or A-level standard, all ACA students must pass ICAEW exams at the end of their three- or four-year training in order to qualify as a fully-fledged chartered accountant in England and Wales.

Once qualified, a chartered accountant can choose whether to work in the traditional private commercial sector or the fast-growing UK public and charities sector, where the skills of accountants are highly prized.

ACAs with language degrees are particularly sought after by international business employers, making chartered accountancy an increasingly international profession.

Typical trainee salaries in the UK range from £13,000 to £20,000 per year, with the newly qualified expecting to receive around £30,000. After that, the sky may be the limit financially, with the top accountants employed by City bankers receiving telephone number salary packages and annual bonuses to match.

Far from suiting introverted number crunchers, today's chartered accountant must be "extrovert and even charismatic", according to the Institute.

At a time when the accountancy profession is under pressure to raise its standards and avert any more scandals such as Enron, the ICAEW stresses that professional integrity is very much to the fore in 2003. The ability to make yourself heard in a boardroom environment will, from now on, become a vital skill in any ambitious chartered accountancy professional.