Best A-Levels for Studying Finance

Finance and accountancy degrees are popular choices for students with a head for figures and a passion for money. More than 2,000 students graduated with a degree in finance in 2012. If you’re methodical, level-headed, and enjoy working with numbers and spreadsheets then finance could be the right degree course for you.

Many students know that they want to do a degree that will utilise their love of working with numbers but aren’t sure what a finance degree actually involves. In short, finance is the specialised study of how an individual or a company manages its funds. When you study for a finance degree you will be given a broad understanding of the way that money influences people and places, and you will also learn how to manage money in the most secure and efficient ways.

Often finance degrees are studied alongside accounting, and the aim of the course is to equip you with the numerical and technological skills that you’ll need to succeed in accounting, finance or business management roles. From a theoretical point of view, this degree will involve maths and statistical skills, whilst from a practical perspective, you’ll learn how a business operates and how finance and accounting experts work within them, gain transferrable problem-solving skills and also cement your ability to both communicate and negotiate successfully. As you can see, a finance degree involves so much more than maths and the ability to read a spreadsheet!

So, what A-levels should you take if you want to study finance at degree level? What A-levels are university admissions officers looking for, and what grades might you need to achieve? Here’s everything you need to know about the best A-levels for studying finance:

Why Study Finance?

There are many wonderful reasons to choose to study finance, but perhaps the most significant of these is because you wish to pursue a career in the financial sector. This could be working within financial services, accountancy, or as a finance officer within business or corporate environments. Being able to balance books and having a head for finance is an incredibly sought-after skill, particularly within the business sector, which means finance is a degree subject that will increase your employability. What’s more, having a finance degree will also make your personal life easier, as you will be better able to manage your own books. Ultimately, in the job market and in your personal life, you will be a more attractive prospect if you have a firm footing in financial management and concepts. Some of the most common career paths taken by finance graduates include:

• Accountant
• Management Accountant
• Auditor
• Business Analyst
• Actuary or Economist
• Banker
• Stockbroker
• Payroll Manager

Aside from the wonderful career opportunities it affords, other great reasons to choose to study finance include:

• Finance is a versatile subject. It can be studied as both a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, which is indicative of just how varied the subject matter is. This means that you can choose your modules to best suit your specific interests and goals.
• Finance can be a three-year degree course, or a four-year course with a sandwich year included. You will spend your year out on a finance-related work placement, which provides a wonderful opportunity to make connections within your chosen industry, and to better discover which elements of finance you enjoy (or don’t enjoy).
• You will develop a huge number of transferable skills. Even if you ultimately decide to completely change your career trajectory, the skills you will learn through a finance degree remain important and valuable. You will find it much easier to take a sideways step into an alternative profession with this skill set.

The Type of Knowledge Needed for a Finance Degree

If you’re thinking of studying for a finance degree then there are some skills that you will need to have established before you arrive at your chosen university. These skills will make your degree studies much easier if you already possess them. The first, and perhaps most important of these skills is the ability to use technology. When you are studying finance, you will use technology much more than you might when compared to many other degree subjects. This is because finance is a technical subject and it requires skills in data processing and other related online systems, as well as good numeracy skills.

You should also be good with numbers! Finance isn’t all about understanding the bottom line: you will need to know how you got there too. For this reason, you should be good with numbers, detail, systems, analysis, and data. Looking at all of these elements to quickly both calculate the bottom line and also understand the bigger picture of what these numbers are telling you is what will separate a good finance student from a great one. Academic learning will also play a key role in your finance degree, so being comfortable around academia, and able to process and assimilate academic theory will serve you well as you start your finance degree.

Finally, it’s also important to note that you will need a strong work ethic to study finance at degree level: although you will only spend around 13 hours a week in lectures and seminars (which is around the average for higher education students in the UK) you will be expected to complete extensive research and coursework as part of a typical finance degree. Many finance students also combine their studies with an apprenticeship, which allows them to work and study while earning a salary. There are nearly 40 apprenticeships in the legal, finance, and accounting sector available in England, with more in development. Whilst this is a popular option, it will require hard work and commitment to complete, as you are juggling the workloads of a full-time employee with that of a full-time student.

Essential A-Levels for Studying Finance

No matter which university you hope to attend, or which course you want to enrol in, to attend university in the UK you will need to have at least five GCSEs with a passing grade (that’s a grade C/4 or above). Of those five GCSEs, at least two of those should be in English and maths: most universities will specify English language or English Literature, whilst some will ask for both). Once you have the right GCSEs, then you will be ready to think about which A-level subjects you should take.

There are no essential A-levels that you are required to take to study finance at university, but some of the best universities will ask that you have studied maths or business studies at A-level. Maths is perhaps the most important subject you should study at A-level if you intend to study finance at degree level because so much of finance is based on having a firm understanding of numbers. University admissions officers will look favourably on students with a maths A-level, so if you are able to study this subject you should, and you should put as much time and energy as possible into achieving a good grade too. But if you’re interested in studying finance even though you don’t have a natural head for numbers then don’t worry: because finance is such a broad subject that covers a wide range of skills and disciplines, it is possible to get a place on a finance degree and thrive on the course, without a maths A-level.

If you choose not to study maths then you should definitely study business studies. The best combination is to take both subjects if you know that finance is your ultimate goal. A business studies A-level will give you a firm understanding of both economics and management. Business studies is one of the broadest, and the most international, subjects that you can study at A-level. The subject combines elements of accountancy, finance and marketing as well, meaning that it is the A-level perhaps closely related to a finance degree. As well as looking attractive to university admissions officers and improving your chances of securing the offer you’re looking for, studying business studies at A-level will give you a better idea of whether or not you enjoy studying finance and are suited to it: This is an important decision to make before you make the costly decision (both in terms of time and financial commitment) to study the subject at university level.

As well as maths and business studies, another popular A-level subject for finance undergraduates is economics, with maths, business and economics being the most commonplace subject combination for finance degree applicants. Like business studies, economics has many similarities to finance, and this subject will give you a firm grounding in the economic theories and concepts that you will be introduced to as you begin your finance degree.

Other A-Levels for Studying Finance

If studying a combination of maths, business studies and economics doesn’t appeal to you, or if you are considering studying a fourth A-level subject but don’t know which one to choose, then other A-level subjects that can be beneficial if you wish to study finance include:

• History or geography. Many university admissions teams look favourably on these ‘essay subjects’ as they show your ability to write long-form content, assimilate a lot of information and present it in a meaningful way, and commit to denser, communication-based subjects. These are all skills that you would use as part of your finance degree.
• Further maths. If your passion is for mathematics and you wish to demonstrate this, whilst also gaining a greater depth understanding of the subject, then you could choose to study further maths in lieu of either economics or business studies (as these two subjects are very similar, there is rarely a need to study both). As outlined below, some universities will express a strong preference for students who have studied further maths, so it is worth looking at the entry requirements for your chosen university before you select your A-level options.
• Languages. Finance is an international subject with wide-reaching implications. If your ultimate goal is to live and work overseas then you may consider taking a language A-level and using this to complement your more traditional finance-based skillset. This may also help your application to stand out from the crowd.

It’s important to note that whilst many schools and colleges will ask their students to study A-level general studies or A-level critical thinking, and these mandatory A-levels can help to develop your core skill set, they are rarely accepted as one of the three A-level grades that you must achieve to attend university. View these subjects as an added extra or bonus A-levels, but do not rely on these.

Getting the Right A-Levels for Finance

As well as ensuring that you study the right A-level subjects, it’s also important to ensure that you get the right A-level grades. Regardless of the subjects you study, if you don’t get the right grades it will be much harder to turn your dream of studying finance into a reality. Finance is a popular degree subject: this is good news, as it means that it is a course offered by a huge range of universities, and is available to students with a wide range of grades and ability levels. The range of offers universities make for students looking to study finance and accounting reaches from 96 UCAS points (which is the equivalent of CCC A-level grades) to 144 UCAS points (which is the equivalent of AAA A-level grades) with most universities falling into the middle of this range. These grades are achievable for most potential finance and accounting students.

According to The Guardian’s 2020 University Rankings, the five best universities in the UK to study finance and accounting are the London School of Economics, Warwick University, Aberdeen University, Edinburgh University, and Bath University. To attend each of these universities you should expect to achieve the following grades in your A-levels:

• London School of Economics: A typical offer is A*AA but you must achieve an A* in A-level maths. The London School of Economics prefers its students to study a broad mix of traditional academic subjects, and further maths is also considered desirable.
• Warwick University: A typical offer is A*A*A, including an A in maths. A-level accounting and A-level business studies are considered overlapping subjects, so you should not study both (unless you wish to study one of these qualifications as a fourth subject).
• Aberdeen University: A typical offer is AAB with the minimum offer from this university being BBB. GCSE maths is required but there is no specific A-level requirement here.
• Edinburgh University: A typical offer ranges between A*AA to AAB.
• Bath University: A typical offer ranges between AAA or A*AB, and one of these A-levels should be in maths.