Accounting
firm during their apprenticeship,” recounts Sinclair. “Some of our earliest apprentices who started in 2016 are now senior managers, they’ve had very successful career journeys.” BDO is the UK’s fifth-largest accountancy & professional services firm with 18 offices across the country, including in London, Guildford, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Belfast. Elan Davies, is an early careers resourcing adviser at the firm. “At BDO we
work on client projects like audits and tax reviews or work in our strategy and transaction teams,” she continues. “It’s real, meaningful work that has an impact for our clients.” At the end of the apprenticeship, apprentices move into a permanent role with EY, as fully- qualified chartered accountants. “We find that our apprentices tend to stay with us longer because they are really integrated into the
. . . and CIMA qualifications
C IMA isn’t a traditional accounting qualification,” says Jason Nye, senior operations “
“Business needs finance people, because every business has a finance department,” Nye believes. “And every team within a business needs the support of their finance colleagues, whether that’s marketing, sales, technology or operations.” Degree apprenticeships that include the CIMA qualification are often rotational schemes that give apprentices experience in a number of different parts of a company, in addition to the finance department. “At Sky, for example, the finance degree apprenticeship includes several rotations, so an apprentice could be involved in the launch of a new channel or looking into the viability of a TV series,” explains Nye. “CIMA is a financial qualification for business. If someone is looking for a finance or business career and they’re good with numbers, but they’ve got other interests too – like television, football, technology or fashion – they can have a great finance career within that industry,” he enthuses. “You’re combining your passion for something, with your interest in finance. When you bring those two together, you’ll love the job you do and will have a really rewarding professional career.”
“A management accountant wouldn’t necessarily have that as their job title,” Nye says. “They could be a financial analyst, a project manager or a management consultant. It depends on where someone’s career takes them and where they choose to specialise.” For school-leavers, one route to CIMA’s CGMA qualification is the Level 7 accounting apprenticeship that’s offered by employers like Amazon, the NHS, Unilever, TfL, Hilton Hotels and the BBC. The apprenticeship includes each of the different stages of the chartered global management accountant qualification and usually takes around 5 years to complete. Alternatively, there is a two- year Level 4 apprenticeship that leads to the foundation stage of the full CIMA qualification, the CIMA certificate in business accounting. Upon completion, there is then the opportunity to progress to a shorter version of the Level 7 apprenticeship, in order to become a chartered global management accountant.
manager at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
“It’s a professional qualification that’s been designed for finance and business leaders. Its purpose differs to that of a more traditional accountant whose focus is purely on the ‘financials’ and who you may find working in areas such as tax and audit,” he explains. “Management accounting brings together a real mix of financial and business knowledge and insight.” A management accountant, qualified as a CIMA Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), would use this expertise and combine it with their broader understanding of business. “Management accounting is very different to what people assume accountants do – being a ‘number-cruncher’ who reports on the past performance of a business,” cautions Nye. “It’s forward-thinking, it’s about how we use financial expertise, our understanding of the numbers, to drive decisions in the future.” Management accountants usually work in an internal role within an organisation, unlike an auditor who is brought in to do its annual accounts.
Degree Apprenticeships 27
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