Accountancy careers

[Dow Dog]

Yes JT, Universities and degrees did used to mean something. These days they have hundreds of so called "Universities" in every city, village and hamlet offering degrees in Poodle Clipping, 3 Ply Toilet Paper and Fly Swatting.

What's more, that a*****e Blair is trying to make suckers pay through the nose for the privilege of getting a degree in a subject which is likely to be about as useful as nun in a brothel.

I applaud you for seeing the light at an early age.

Good luck to you - £££££££££ is better than any degree from the University of West Wigan any day of the week.

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hold up a second peeps, we're presuming that JTrader wants a career in trading

...and to get a career in trading, you need capital behind you - in which case you do need to do something outside of trading (unless you get a position in the city).

Jtrader

My advice to you would be to get into a job that pays well enough to live on and put a little away, while studying the markets. I wouldn't recommend accountancy as to make any money (i.e. £16k+ in London) requires studying, which is time that can be better spent in the markets.

HTH

 

[Salty Gibbon]

Rob a bank JT

 

[ravenglass]

I started training as an ACA but stopped (before qualifying) after a couple of years due to the low salary. Instead I traded shares on my own account, I made more money than as a trainee Accountant.

After a few years however I qualified as an ACCA, as well as gaining a Securities Institute diploma. I now work as an accountant & trade in my spare time.

Accountancy has nothing to do with trading, it will not help you as a trader, most accountants do not even follow the stockmarkets (or read the FT). What it offers is security i.e. something to fall back on, if your trading goes wrong.

The salary range for qualified accountants, I would say from mid £30’s to a couple of hundred £000’s, when you consider that a trader or hedge fund manager can earn millions every year, then accountancy is not really that well paid, just a useful qualification to have.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

So let's think laterally. Maybe jtrader should go ahead ... but ... plan to specialise in doing accounts for traders. It's a niche market, which must make it attractive. You'd know which traders to pick their brains, as you'd have seen their books.

I would suggest that peeps want to use someone who is experienced in knowing the ins and outs of trading in relation to HM Inspector of Taxes, and I'm sure very few would even bother to check if they are a member of a recognised professional body.

 

[ravenglass]

If he can trade & make steady profits year after year, then I would not bother qualifying.

If he goes through a rough patch in his trading (as I did), then what will he do for a living?

I agree with a lot of what Dow Dog says.

 

[Chuckie]

Hi,

My first post on here, so hopefully it'll all come out OK! Anyway, onto the subject. I worked as an accountant for six years, and I'd have to agree with what some of the others have said here - it really is boring and monotonous work. You are pouring over figures, surrounded by masses of paper, "ticking and bashing". It's a living, but it's not living - that's what I'd say. But you have to come to your own decisions, and they may take time. Other people are at different stages of their lives and see things with a different perspective. Make sure your decisions are your own.

When I handed my notice in a lot of the people thought I was crazy, as trading to them appeared to be so risky. Yes, there's a risk to it of course, but I think that wasting 30 or 40 years in a boring job that you hate is more of a risk.

A couple of weeks ago I met up with some of the people I used to work with. They're nice people, and to be honest, the people that I liked when doing that job are the only thing I miss, and the only thing that bothers me about being a solitary trader is the loneliness. However, the stories they were coming out with were the same stories as I would hear when I was working there nearly two years ago. Nothing really changes, just like the job. Same thing, year in and year out. It's probably more exciting as a partner or something like that, but I just wasn't the 'type' to become one of them. I don't play golf anyway

 

[ryangillespie]

Im studying ACCA at the moment. i have no degree and hope that the acca qualification allong with the experience gained in employment this will be enough to get into product control and then hopefully the front office as a trainee or assistant. Do you think this is the best route for me .....from experience

 

[msrxlbp2]

I am also a qualified accountant and would recommend it, but only as a fall back plan as the qualification effectively puts a minimum that you can earn. Although it is not the best paid job in the salary does go up quite quickly through the qualification process as most firms offer pay rises for each exam pass. Also with regards to money etc the best place to do it is within an investment bank as you will often find (I did anyway) that the trading floors highly value those skills acquired in departments such as Product Control and it is becoming a fairly natural move post qualification.