What is a chartered accountant?
Discover what a chartered accountant is, their roles, responsibilities, qualifications, and career path in the UK. Start your journey with BPP today.
Becoming a chartered accountant is one of the most highly sought-after career paths in the accounting and finance sector. Chartered accountants play an important role in the business functions of a wide range of organisations, across industries and sectors.
If you’re looking for a role as a chartered accountant, this guide will help you learn everything you need to know.
We’ll look at some of the most common questions people ask about chartered accountants, including:
What are chartered accountants?
What do chartered accountants do?
What does chartered accountant mean?
What is the role of a chartered accountant?
What skills do chartered accountants need?
What qualifications are required to be a chartered accountant?
If you’re interested in becoming a chartered accountant, see our accountancy courses.
What is a chartered accountant?
A chartered accountant is a fully qualified accountant who can take on a broad and important role within a variety of organisations. They analyse and provide information about financial records, focusing on areas including financial reporting, taxation, corporate finance, business recovery, and insolvency. They will often be responsible for auditing accountants and giving financial advice.
Chartered accountants generally work in four primary areas:
Applied finance
Financial accounting and reporting
Management accounting
Taxation
What does chartered accountant mean?
Being chartered means that an accountant has achieved a high level of professional qualification and experience within accountancy.
Chartered accountants are recognised by the professional bodies through which they qualified. As accounting professionals, they will be members of these professional bodies for which they will pay an annual membership fee.
Read the accountancy qualifications guide.
Roles and responsibilities of a chartered accountant
A chartered accountant’s job description will vary widely depending on a number of factors. What chartered accountants do day-to-day depends on their specialist area, the sector they work in, and what kind of company they work for.
Between different organisations, the role of a chartered accountant can be quite different, especially if they have a small or large team around them.
Day-to-day responsibilities may include:
Managing budgets
Undertaking financial audits
Providing financial advice
Liaising with clients and businesses
Analysing risk
Advising on tax planning
Maintaining accounting records
Counselling clients on areas of financial improvement
Producing reports and recommendations
Preparing financial statements
Negotiating terms with suppliers
As a chartered accountant, you could also oversee managing a team of junior colleagues, while reporting to senior and board members of an organisation.
What skills do chartered accountants need?
Having such an important role with a large number of responsibilities, chartered accountants need a wide range of different skills to effectively perform their duties.
Numeracy
Accountants work with numbers day in, day out. Accountants should have strong numeracy skills and understand how to analyse data efficiently.
Problem-solving
Accountants are responsible for balancing books and providing advice to clients. In some cases, this could mean doing research to ensure that problems are solved and averted properly. Chartered accountants should be able to resolve issues proactively in a way that is beneficial for each specific client.
Organisation
While studying, you’ll need good organisational skills to adequately manage your time between working in accounting and studying for your exams. Once qualified, you’ll need it to manage your workload between clients or projects. You’ll also need to organise information in order to present it to others.
Teamwork and leadership
Accountants must be able to work well both independently, and as part of a team. Having leadership capabilities is important for chartered accountants, as they will often need to manage employees.
Self-motivation
A career in accountancy may not be rewarding straight away. Studying for exams while working can be difficult, so self-motivation and commitment are both must-have skills for hopeful chartered accountants.
Chartered accountant qualifications
The qualification path for chartered accountants starts with three possible routes:
An undergraduate degree in any subject
A degree in accountancy, finance, or a related subject will help you achieve your career goals. A degree in one of these subjects may make you eligible for exemptions from some of the exams during the next stage of your accounting qualification.
An entry-level accounting course
Regardless of what qualifications you have, there is an accountancy pathway available to you.
AAT is an entry route to accountancy which will help you access high-level accounting qualifications. This route is available to anyone looking for an accounting career, including school leavers, career changers, and graduates.
You could also complete a foundation certificate, such as the Certificate in Business Accounting foundation qualification. You’ll gain the skills and knowledge needed to progress onto the full CIMA CGMA Professional Qualification.
An accountancy apprenticeship
An apprenticeship is a popular route into an accounting career. This route allows you to earn while you work, gaining valuable professional experience while earning your qualifications.
Become a chartered accountant
ACCA Chartered Certified Accountant
The ACCA Chartered Certified Accountant qualification is a globally recognised pathway to becoming a chartered accountant. This route develops knowledge, skills, and strategic understanding through three levels, Applied Knowledge, Applied Skills, and Strategic Professional.
After completing the ACCA qualification route, you will have exceptional technical accounting expertise as well as ethical and professional skills.
CIMA Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA)
The CIMA CGMA qualification develops critical knowledge and skills that are needed to succeed as an accountant. You will learn professionalism, business and leadership skills, ethics and commitment, alongside accounting knowledge.
There are three main levels to the CIMA CGMA qualification, Operational, Management, and Strategic.
ICAEW Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA)
To become ACA qualified, aspiring chartered accountants will need to take 15 exam papers split over three levels, Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business, Professional Level, and Advanced Level. The qualification is particularly popular as it is incorporated into a training agreement which includes between three-five years of on-the-job training that you can undertake at the same time.
ICAS stands for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. To complete this qualification route, aspiring accountants will need to complete three levels, Test of Competence, Test of Professional skills, and Test of Professional Expertise.
To become chartered, you’ll also have to have a minimum of 450 days of relevant practical experience with an ICAS partner employer.
You can enrol onto ICAS training with a partnered employer.
Chartered accountant salary
Chartered accounts hold much responsibility within a company, and this role has high earning potential as a result. According to Reed, the average salary for a chartered accountant in the UK is around £46,000. As chartered accountants gain more experience, their earning potential can rise to over £100,000, with large bonuses.
There is high regional variation in how much chartered accountants earn, with average salaries in London around £60,000.
How much chartered accountants earn will depend widely on a number of factors, including the sector they work in, and their specific role and specialism.
For example, chartered accountants in the charity sector will generally earn less than those working in the banking and finance sector. Similarly, larger employers (national and multinational companies) tend to pay more than smaller ones.
Final thoughts
Becoming a chartered accountant promises a highly rewarding career path with a wide variety of options in terms of company, specialisms, and industries.
If you’re looking to go down the chartered accountant route, there are several ways you can advance your career.
Work experience
Many accountancy roles require relevant work experience. This may include placements, professional experience, and shadowing. Seeking this type of work proves you are proactive and dedicated, as well as interested in the field you are applying for.
Volunteer work is also worth mentioning on your CV, especially something such as working as a treasurer at a university society, or organising a fundraiser.
Continuing professional development
Throughout your training and career, you should keep up with technical and business issues. Membership in a professional body such as ACCA or ICAEW will help keep you in the loop.
Accountants with other skills such as digital literacy or foreign languages are particularly in-demand.
If you’re looking to become a chartered accountant, start by learning about our accountancy and tax courses.
