If you’re looking to boost your career in accountancy, you might want to act quickly.
This month a brand new batch of university and college students will stir themselves from slumber after a round of Freshers Week parties and head to their first lectures.
It’s step one in the development of a whole new generation of top-class accountants.
Among them will be 19-year-old James McFadden: aspiring rock drummer, part-time waiter and a serious mathematician.
James is a man who knows his figures and, when it came to the business of deciding which academic course to take, he put on hold his dreams of rock star fame to study figures instead.
“I’ve always wanted to do music but I’ve always loved maths as well and when I compared the job opportunities for people with both degrees there was no contest. It had to be maths.”
The pivotal moment came, says James, when his maths teacher invited along her accountant husband to talk to the class.
“He’s an actuary and he told us he earns £50,000 more every year than some of the highest paid accountants.”
That’s a fact, boys and girls: accountancy, the actuarial profession and finance are where you’ll find some of the best paying careers.
James’s mathematics course at Glasgow University includes modules on statistics and finance so by the time he graduates in four years he’s going to have a good grounding in the principles of figures, money and all the clever things you can do with numbers. But that, he adds up, is not enough.
“Far more people are graduating with first class honours than even a decade ago so to really stand out you have to go one better and get a Masters degree as well, and that’s what I’m planning to do.”
“The amount of work you have to do is ridiculous and I still plan on working as a waiter so that during my third year I can take up an option to study in Bologna.”
As any accountant knows, this kind of hard graft at every level is a must but also reaps big rewards.