Private practice accountants help people and businesses manage their money effectively. On a day to day basis they may prepare financial statements, business plans and budget reports, produce accounts, audit - inspect books of accounts and check inventories, manage clients’ spending and costs, file tax returns and give tax advice, forecast profits and performance, help businesses that may be in financial difficulty, investigate fraud (forensic accounting) and much more.

You could do a degree in any subject and then apply to graduate schemes that offer training towards a professional accountancy qualification. Subjects that show you have excellent numeracy and analytical thinking skills may be particularly useful.

If you want to take a more focused route to a graduate scheme, you could take an accountancy related degree, like:

• Accountancy

• Accounting and finance

• Business and management

• Maths

Some degree courses may give you exemptions from some of the professional accountancy training modules.

Personal Statement Help 

https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/accounting-and-finance-personal-statement-examples

https://universitycompare.com/personal-statement-examples/accounting

https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/personal-statement-finance-and-accounting

You could gain your professional qualifications through the apprenticeship route. You could take your first steps to a career as a professional accountant by starting off on:

• A professional accountancy technician higher apprenticeship

• An accountancy and taxation professional higher apprenticeship

This is dependent on the company and you will usually need to complete and pass an interview to secure a role. 

Apprenticeship Finders

https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship