Caroline Pritchard - Sydenham- 1963 - 1974

Chartered Accountant

I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981 after reading Chemistry at Oxford University.  It is not necessary to do a degree in accountancy – my current colleagues did subjects as varied as maths, languages, history and science. 

When I first left university in 1981, I started work for KPMG’s London office.  The training period is three years, with exams set annually by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW).  The firm pays for your training and gives you block release to attend the training weeks.  However, it can be hard work as you are working a full day, often with overtime during busy periods, and you have to keep up with the studies in your spare time.  The reward is a significant pay rise after each set of exams passed and early responsibility.  In a large firm of accountants, you will mainly be dealing with large well-known company audits to start with, where a team of qualified staff and trainees spend a period of maybe three weeks at the client’s offices, checking the accounting systems and year end accounts.  In a smaller firm, you are likely to have very extensive involvement with small local businesses.  Over the three years needed to qualify, you can obtain a world class qualification and a deep understanding of how businesses, large and small, operate.  Some firms also offer a qualification route for A level leavers – this takes five years.

My career has subsequently worked out as follows:

·         I had my first child in 1986 and returned to work part-time for about a year.  Most accountancy firms will try very hard to accommodate part-time workers at all levels.

·         In 1987, I left KPMG and accepted a job as a file reviewer for a national trade association of small firms of accountants (UK200 Group) and worked part-time reviewing the quality of work of small firms of accountants thought the country.

·         I had a second child in 1989 and moved to a home-based role administering the review scheme – I still do this today, but have also expanded to offer a review service to any local firms.  I also write technical material and have a small portfolio of my own clients for whom I prepare accounts and tax returns.  I also deal with all the administration for my husband’s company.  In addition, I have time for two voluntary activities, as a local magistrate and as a chairman of  school governors.

·         I have been a self-employed accountant for almost 20 years and have found it to be extremely flexible, always being able to work around my sons’ timetables, for example being able to do school runs virtually every day.  I would particularly recommend accountancy for anyone who is unsure of their future career as it offers a wide variety of opportunities, from running large multinationals to being a village hall treasurer.  With larger firms of accountants, there are also good prospects for working abroad for a period of time and also to be involved with nationally recognised one-off projects.

·         Further information can be found on the ICAEW website www.icaew.co.uk.