If you decide that university is not right for you, it can sometimes feel like you have eliminated high-level career options. That was true in the past. Lacking a degree would probably have limited your chances of reaching the top of the finance profession.
Thankfully, it’s different now. Today, if you have the ability but no degree, you can begin a high-level career in finance by completing an apprenticeship in management accounting.
Huge range of careers
Employers across the country, from Sky to the London Ambulance Service, offer paid apprenticeships, allowing you to study for a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants’® (CIMA®) CGMA professional qualification while earning a wage.
The apprenticeship route to CIMA’s qualifications is designed to ensure that the profession is open to the many bright young people who wish to take it up. CIMA’s apprenticeships are available to anyone over 16 who lives in England and isn’t in full-time education. This includes school leavers, new employees and people who are already working but looking to upskill.
Highly respected finance qualifications
CIMA offers two accounting apprenticeships to help you develop the real-world skills vital to workplace success:
- Level 4: Professional accounting/tax technician is equivalent to the first year of an undergraduate degree and aligns with the CGMA Certificate in Business Accounting.
- Level 7: Accountancy/taxation professional is equivalent to a master’s degree and the full CGMA Professional Qualification.
Get paid while earning a professional designation.
School leavers can begin a paid apprenticeship to gain a CIMA level 4 qualification. Armed with this, you can start a level 7 apprenticeship. Completing it allows them to gain the highly respected Chartered Global Management Accountant® (CGMA®) designation. You can earn a wage while studying for these qualifications, and the CGMA designation opens many high-level career opportunities. It is respected worldwide as the gold standard in management accounting excellence.
In contrast to schemes other accountancy bodies run, if you complete the level seven programme and have accrued the necessary three years of experience, you are granted a fast track to membership with no additional cost.
Popular route
This vocational route into management accounting has already proved popular. The number of people starting a CIMA’s apprenticeship has grown yearly since the current scheme started in 2019. The skills the apprentices learn are valued by the country’s best employers, many of whom offer placements for CIMA apprentices. Of the top 100 apprenticeship employers in a Department for Education league table, 43 employ at least one CIMA apprentice.
So if you want to start a career that aims for the top of the corporate world, but university is not for you, then look into starting a CIMA apprenticeship. It could be the first step on a varied and fulfilling career in finance that can take you to interesting jobs in great organizations worldwide.
The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2022 is the national league table that recognises England’s leading apprenticeship employers for their overall commitment to employing apprentices, their creation of new apprenticeships, the diversity of their new apprentices and the progression of their apprentices onto further apprenticeships and employment. The Department for Education, in partnership with High Fliers Research developed the annual rankings.
By Paul Turner - AICPA – CIMA Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland
