The Assistant Accountant Apprenticeship programme provides an ideal training programme for anyone entering their first junior role in the finance industry. It can also be used to provide training for staff already in post who have little or no formal training in the subject.
Examples of roles for which the programme is suitable include: Assistant Accountant, Trainee Accounting Technician, Accounts Clerk, Cashier, Finance Assistant, Purchase Ledger Clerk or Sales Ledger Clerk.
Candidates who successfully complete the apprenticeship can progress to the level 4 Professional Accounting Technician. And if you’re really ambitious you can progress from there all the way to becoming a fully qualified chartered accountant!
The apprenticeship consists of three main elements:
Knowledge
- Business awareness
- IT Systems & processes
- Ethical standards
- Financial accounting and reporting
- Management accounting
Skills
- Analysis
- Communication
- Producing quality & accurate information
- Using systems and processes
- Problem solving
Behaviours
- Embracing change
- Adding value
- Ethics & integrity
- Personal accountability
- Productivity
- Team working & collaboration
End Point Assessment
Once the candidate has completed the training programme and the tutor, the employer and the candidate all agree that all the elements have been completed and achieved, the candidate will undergo an ‘End Point Assessment’ (EPA) undertaken by a third party organisation. The EPA has two elements:
Synoptic exam
This is a 3 hour online exam. It’s a ‘synoptic’ exam which means questions will touch on the full range of knowledge included in the apprenticeship training. The model for the exam is that the candidate is asked to complete a range of assessment activities relating to a fictitious company.
Reflective discussion
This is a discussion-based interview between the candidate and an external assessor. The discussion is about the portfolio the candidate has produced during the apprenticeship.