Jobs directly related to your degree include:
Chartered accountant
Chartered certified accountant
Chartered management accountant
Chartered public finance accountant
Company secretary
External auditor
Forensic accountant
Stockbroker
Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
Actuary
Arbitrator
Business development manager
Data analyst
Economist
Licensed conveyancer
Management consultant
Mortgage adviser
Procurement manager
Retail banker
Tax adviser
Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.
Work experience
Gaining some type of work experience is an important part of getting professional qualifications. An internship or work shadowing opportunity will show potential employers that you have the skills and practical experience they're looking for.
If your course didn't include a work placement, look for a role in a field that interests you. This could include part-time work in a local accountancy firm or work experience in the finance department of any organisation. Experience that shows you have office and admin skills, as well as the ability to work with numbers and budgets, will be helpful.
Typical employers
Opportunities are widely available with:
accountancy firms
building societies
high street banks
insurance companies
investment banks
management consultancies
public sector employers.
The main graduate recruiters are the very large multinational accountancy firms. They use large-scale recruitment campaigns to attract the most promising graduates and have high minimum requirements. There are also opportunities in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that specialise in a particular type of work or local area.
In the UK, a cluster of public sector jobs are available in central London with others available nationwide.
Find information on employers in accountancy, banking and finance, business, consulting and management, and other job sectors.
Skills for your CV
Accountancy and finance degrees provide you with knowledge of accountancy practices, commerce, industry and finance. As well as developing a range of subject-specific and technical skills, you also gain more general skills including:
knowledge and awareness of business organisations
numerical and quantitative skills
problem-solving and analytical ability
oral and written communication skills
ability to argue your case and negotiate
knowledge of global business issues and language skills, particularly if you study European or international finance
entrepreneurship.
Further study
Accountancy and finance graduates often go into posts that require further professional accountancy qualifications, such as the:
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) professional qualification
Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualification.
As an accountancy graduate, you may have exemption from some of these examinations, depending on the modules and credits you've achieved in your degree.
Some postgraduate courses train you to work in a more specialised area of the financial industry, such as an MSc in actuarial science. It's also possible to study for a PhD in specific areas of finance, such as banking or trade statistics.
For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search for postgraduate courses in accountancy and finance.
What do accountancy and finance graduates do?
Almost a third of graduates (31%) work as chartered and certified accountants. The second most common occupation is finance and investment analysts and advisers (10%). Eight of the top ten jobs held by graduates are related to their degree subject.
Destination Percentage
Employed 67.2
Further study 4
Working and studying 18.2
Unemployed 5.8
Other 4.8
Graduate destinations for accounting and finance
Type of work Percentage
Business, HR and finance 56.1
Secretarial and numerical clerks 24.6
Retail, catering and bar staff 3.8
Marketing, PR and sales 3.2
Other 12.3
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