ACA after university
When recruiting ACA trainees, employers are free to set their own entry requirements, provided they meet the minimum entry requirements for ACA training. For some employers and trainees, a popular route to qualifying as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant is to study the ACA qualification after completing an undergraduate degree. But this doesn't have to be in finance, business, or accounting.
You can offer the graduate route to students who have studied a range of disciplines, as as Business and Management, Science and Engineering, or Arts and Humanities.
Why train graduates?
Recognised as a world-leading qualification, the graduate to ACA route appeals to a large volume of students looking to begin a career in accountancy. These students will come with a wealth of knowledge which forms a great foundation for ACA training.
As your students can come from many different disciplines, they can offer a fresh perspective for your organisation, where you and the ACA can mould them. Your students could even specialise in niche client areas such as science, engineering and more, based on their respective university backgrounds.
Structure
To qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant, your graduate trainees will need to complete the three elements of the ACA
Many undergraduate programmes cover some elements of the ACA syllabus. If this is the case, your students could claim credit for prior learning (CPL) for some of the Certificate and Professional Level exams. If your student has studied a related subject at university, they may be eligible to apply for exemptions for up to eight exams.
Success stories
The best way to understand the success of offering the graduate route, is to hear directly from some organisations already offering graduate schemes.
Since launching its bespoke graduate scheme, Shawbrook Bank has had the opportunity to grow its own high-calibre talent pool.
It's an exciting place to come and grow your career. Ultimately we're building our finance team for the future. A lot of work and effort goes into training our graduates, but three years down the line they will form part of our finance team.
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Last updated: June 2026