Young people do not want a career in accounting, as 75% said the job did not appeal to them, imagining it as a ‘formal suit-wearing profession’, and ‘a job you could do after university, advising businesses on budgets’.

School leavers ranked accounting lower than jobs in local government (36%), education (33%), and hospitality (23%).

Accountancy did fare better than nursing (19%), and financial planning (21%). However, most respondents wanted to be lawyers (37%), teachers (36%), or architects (31%) according to a survey of 500 young people aged 17 to 23 by Lang Cat and YouGov.