Accountancy Academy 2021
This year our annual Accountancy Academy took place virtually and whilst once again, we were denied the opportunity to meet students face-to-face, we were able to invite 16-18-year-olds from around the country to one joint session. We had over 200 students register for this year’s event which was hosted by tutors from our Yorkshire and East Anglia centres.
This year’s format followed the same programme as 2020, as this had proved very popular and received great feedback. We ran the programme twice in 2021; once in April/May and then again in July. This allowed those students who were completely assessments for GCSE and A’levels to choose the best time to attend.
The Sessions
This year we offered attendees four standalone sessions with our tutors followed by a separate session in which they could meet employers.
Session 1 – Introduction to Accountancy.
In this session, our tutors talk about the routes into accountancy at all levels and abilities. Whether you’d like to start after GCSE’s, A’Level’s or university, there are course options that can be studied as an apprenticeship, employer-funded or self-funded. Our Apprenticeship brochure explains this in more detail.
Session 2 – Accountancy Taster
This is a practical session in which our tutors work through a business case example with attendees and look at a small business model from a number of different accounting angles.
Session 3 – The skills needed as an Accountant
In this session, we look at the skills needed for accountancy roles. We also help students to identify where they might already be using those skills in their everyday lives, extracurricular activities and part-time jobs.
Session 4 – CV preparation and interview skills
We talk about how to put together a CV so that it stands out and give our top tips on mistakes to avoid. We also look at interview skills and show some good and bad examples. Our team give their advice on how best to prepare for an interview.
Session 5 – Employer Q&A forum
For this session, we invite employers from East Anglia and Yorkshire to take the questions of our attendees. This gives the students a real opportunity to understand what employers are looking for when they recruit.
Accountancy Academy Feedback
Here’s a summary of just some of the great feedback we’ve had on our 2021 Accountancy Academy.
2022 and beyond
Subject to government guidelines at the time, we intend to resume our Accountancy Academy in 2022 as in-centre sessions. We’ll release more information about these later in 2021 but if you’d like to register your interest now, please contact shellytweed@fi.co.uk.
Further Information
To help young people get started in our industry, we have put together a range of resources aimed at helping them to identify roles, find, prepare and interview for jobs and make a successful start in their new careers. You can find these resources here.
If you weren’t able to attend this year’s accountancy academy, we ran similar sessions last year in conjunction with the ICAEW, you can view this with this link.
For more information about the Accountancy awarding bodies, please use the links below:
