BA Accounting and Business – The Flying Start Degree Programme

Fast-track your career and become a Chartered Accountant in the UK with our BA Accounting and Business – The Flying Start Degree Programme.

 This four-year programme has been developed in partnership with the University of Reading’s Henley Business School, PwC – the UK’s leading professional services organisation – and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

An innovative, challenging degree, it’s been designed to provide you with:

• the benefit of university study and life
• paid work experience
• a guaranteed job offer from PwC at the end of the programme, if you achieve a 2:1 or above on your degree and perform well on placement
• one of the fastest degree routes to becoming an ICAEW Chartered Accountant in the UK.

Once you’ve graduated, you’ll be approximately one year away from achieving full chartered status.

The application process for this course involves completion of online assessments run by PwC. This will include an online interview as well as a Virtual Assessment Event. 

During your first year you will study alongside other students at Henley Business School, enjoying the traditional university experience and developing a thorough grounding in fundamental aspects of accounting, business, ethics and law.

In Years 2, 3 and 4 you will then combine your studies with paid professional work placements at PwC, lasting 12-16 weeks each (16-20 weeks during your final year). You will receive dedicated training and can expect to earn a competitive salary, offsetting a significant proportion of your tuition fees or living costs.

During the four years, you will gain a strong academic and professional foundation in business and accountancy, along with a significant proportion of the work experience and technical study requirements needed to qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. This means that by the time you graduate, you will have completed modules that give you credit for prior learning for 12 out of 15 professional examinations.

Our teaching and assessment approach

Henley Business School’s undergraduate degrees are taught through a mix of lectures, group projects and interactive classroom lessons, giving you the opportunity to discuss, explore and then apply the subject content in depth with both lecturers and fellow students. Through exploring and tackling real-world challenges, you will also develop key critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Thanks to a varied range of assessment methods – including written assignments, in-class tests, group presentations and formal examinations – you’ll graduate as a well-rounded individual with transferable skills that are highly sought after by leading graduate employers.