Luke Broughal

Luke studied his undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Reading and had no doubt from an early stage that he wanted to continue further study at the University.

“The breadth of modules, all of which provide different, valuable, transferrable skills and the quality of teaching and resources within the Economics department were my reasons for continuing with Reading. The subject itself is very interesting and opens a lot of doors in the professional world. I have benefitted from this first-hand due to its direct application in my role.”

He now works as a trainee-chartered accountant at UHY Hacker Young. Whilst working, he is also studying towards the ACA qualification with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Preparing you for the practical world

The mathematical and problem-solving side of the degree inspired Luke to go into the finance sector.

“Once I qualify, I am keen to go down the financial advisory route, utilising my knowledge of economics to provide useful advice to businesses and individuals.”

During his master’s study, Luke was very enthusiastic about modules within which statistical programmes such as Stata and R were used.

“I had the freedom to use these programmes in later modules, such as The Capstone Project and my dissertation – the latter in which I used Stata to investigate the impact of hosting the Summer Olympic Games on medal outcomes."

One of the most useful thing from his time at Reading, that Luke has taken forward into his job is a strong work ethic.

“During my master’s degree I worked a part-time job, and the simultaneous demand of a work/study/social life balance set me up perfectly for the professional world.”

The Capstone Project Module

A Capstone project gives you the chance to work in a team with other students on a project for an external organisation. This experience was both interesting and extremely useful for Luke.

“I worked in a team of three, using a large dataset from amateur football games in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to analyse the trend of yellow cards across age groups, leagues, genders, and counties.”

“We then presented this to the Football Authority. This provided a fantastic chance to develop my data analysis, teamwork, and presentation skills – all of which have been very important in my current role.”

“There are a variety of different businesses and non-profit organisations offered within this module, and you can have a say in which you are to work on. I would highly recommend anyone considering taking this module to do so!”