Professional Accounting Technician (Level 4 Plus)

This apprenticeship is vital within any accountancy and finance department. Participants will develop their skills and proficiency in producing, verifying, and assessing precise and prompt financial information, all while adhering to applicable ethical, professional, and legal standards as well as accounting practices.

What’s different about our Level 4 Plus programme?

Our Level 4 Plus apprenticeship stands out by including an extra module from the respective qualification, designed to give learners a valuable advantage and a strong foundation for completing the rest of their qualification.

Apprentices will be encouraged to expand their technical knowledge and skills, applying them in their current roles and future careers. They can choose from various specialism pathways within Accountancy and have the opportunity to earn an industry-recognised professional qualification alongside the apprenticeship.

Developed in partnership with globally recognised institutes and employers and firms of all sizes, a Kaplan Accountancy apprenticeship is anything but standard.

Who's it for?

This apprenticeship is ideal for organisations looking to develop talent that are seeking to further develop their skills and expertise and take on greater levels of responsibility to support your organisation’s finance function. Kaplan’s Level 4 Plus programme is designed to provide an excellent start towards achievement of the full ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualifications.

Upon completion of the Level 4 Plus, learners can progress outside of apprenticeship funding to subsequently become fully qualified in a timely manner.

Appropriate for professionals working within accountancy, finance, tax and bookkeeping within a variety of organisations, this programme offers a choice of pathways to ensure it has broad appeal, while Kaplan’s personalisation of programmes ensures the learning outcomes are focussed and relevant to your organisation.

If you’re seeking to maximise the benefit of time used as part of off-the-job training and develop technical excellence coupled with sector relevant skills that can be directly applied to the role, this apprenticeship might be the right option for you.

Job roles

This apprenticeship is suitable for a wide range of roles including: Financial accountant, Management accountant, Assistant auditor, Assistant financial accountant, Assistant management accountant, Commercial analyst, Finance advisor, Junior analyst, but this list isn't exhaustive.

One of the key things to success is that the job role and Line Manager provide the opportunities, support and relevant work based experience to be able to contextualise and apply the apprentice’s learning back in the workplace, to gain real competency in that area.

Career progression

An apprentice’s journey doesn’t end when this programme has finished. The natural next step would be to progress completing the relevant professional qualification.

Eligibility

Employers may specify that candidates have at least a grade 5 GCSE (or equivalent) in maths and English. If apprentices don’t have this level of maths and English, Kaplan offers free resources and support to make sure they develop their understanding and application of these subjects by the end of the apprenticeship.

Each pathway has specific requirements that must be declared on the application form:

ACA (CFAB): Two GCSEs (or equivalent) (grades 9-4 / A-C) passes in English and Maths (or equivalent) or AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting (AQ16 or Q22)

ACCA: Two A Levels (Grades A-E) and three GCSEs (or equivalent) (grades 9-4 / A-C).

CIMA: Two A Levels (grades A-E) (or equivalent) and three GCSEs (or equivalent) (grades 9-4 / A-C) OR AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting (AQ16 or Q22) or Learners must have a relevant job role with six months' experience.

Kaplan will support you to assess the job role suitability as part of your application.

Costing and funding

The cost for this apprenticeship is £12,000.

Apprenticeship funding

Employers can get government support to fund up to 100% of apprenticeship training. The amount available can depend on the size of your organisation, whether you’re a Levy payer or not, and whether you are employing a young apprentice. Find out more.

If you are looking to become an apprentice on this programme, there is no cost to you.

Level

Level 4

Apprenticeship

Accounting Technician

Pathways

ACA, ACCA, CIMA's CGMA®

12-18 months (depending on pathway chosen)

Costs / funding band

£12,000
Free for learners

Looking to recruit or upskill existing staff?

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Aiming to launch your career?

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About the programme

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Strengthen your finance function

Build your core accountancy, finance and tax organisational capability at a fundamental level by honing your talent pipeline.

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Work-based learning

Our programmes provide a structured, applied learning route that ensures learning and skills are directly applied to the role and maximises the time used as part of off-the-job training.

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Support and insight for managers

We have robust processes and reporting in place to ensure you and your line managers have all the insight needed to help your apprentices progress and succeed.

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Support for apprentices

Each learner has regular 1:1 contact and progress reviews to keep them on track, review their portfolio, and get them fully prepared for their final assessments.

Routes available

Our Professional Accounting Technician apprenticeships combine specialised technical knowledge with additional online learning and work based experience to develop the necessary skills to build capability and credibility that can be directly applied in the workplace.

There are a variety of pathway options with end point assessments for industry leading professional bodies including ICAEW (CFAB), ACCA or CIMA depending on the chosen career paths.

CFAB

This pathway is ideal for those with a role that requires a good understanding of business, finance and accounting. It provides essential practical skills and knowledge for today’s competitive business world. At the end of this programme if apprentices have passed all assessments they will also gain their ICAEW Certificate of Finance, Accounting and Business qualification.

The pathway consists of six exams that introduce the essentials of accountancy, finance, and businesses.

Subjects included:

Certificate level:

Accounting Fundamentals (AF)
Assurance and Risk Fundamentals (ARF)
Business Insight and Performance (BIP)
Business Law (BL)
Sustainability and Ethics (SE)
Tax Fundamentals (TF)

Professional level:

Assurance, Risk and Reporting (ARR)

ACCA

The ACCA Accounting Technician Apprenticeship is an ideal choice for learners because it provides a solid foundation in finance, accounting, and business structures through the first part of the globally recognised ACCA Qualification. This Level 4 Plus apprenticeship equips learners with the skills to understand various business structures and functions, enabling them to create, verify, and review precise financial information.

Throughout the apprenticeship, learners will gain comprehensive knowledge of ethical, professional, and legal standards, ensuring they are well-prepared to meet industry expectations. Additionally, the programme enhances their understanding of business systems and processes, as well as standard accounting practices. This holistic approach not only boosts employability but also prepares learners for a successful career in the dynamic field of accounting.

Subjects included:

Financial Accounting (FA)
Management Accounting (MA)
Business and Technology (BT)
Corporate and Business Law (LW)

Choice of:

Performance Management (PM) or Financial Reporting (FR)

And an interactive module:

Foundations in Professionalism

CIMA's CGMA®

The CGMA pathway is ideal if the individual’s role or future role involves business partnering across other functions within your organisation. At the end of this programme, if all subject assessments have been passed, apprentices will also gain the Level 4 Certificate in Business Accounting qualification, awarded by CIMA.

Subjects included:

Fundamentals of Business Economics (BA1)
Fundamentals of Management Accounting (BA2)
Fundamentals of Financial Accounting (BA3)
Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law (BA4)
Operational Level: Managing Finance in a Digital World (E1)

View all pathways

Included in this apprenticeship

Attending scheduled classes in one of our training locations or via Live Online, apprentices benefit from the wealth of technical expertise and practical sector experience of our expert tutors. Classes are interactive and discursive, giving learners quality time with tutors and sector peers to support the development of their knowledge and skills and bring new perspectives to their thinking.

Self study

Innovative skills development

To complement the vital technical training, apprentices receive access to a series of online modules designed to support the development of sector relevant skills at the right time for their job role. Set within the context of familiar financial sector settings, learners are challenged to think about their role and the critical skills they need to develop to have a successful career as a finance professional. The modules give apprentices a safe place to think about topics such as:

Effective communication of relevant information across the organisation and to appropriate stakeholders in both written and verbal formats.
Honesty and integrity in all of their actions and interactions.
Respect for others and the ethical requirements of their profession.
Proactively managing own development.
Effective planning and prioritising and co-ordination of others in order to meet both deadlines and changing priorities.
How information can be used most effectively to add value to the organisation.
Flexibility to maintain high standards in a changing environment.

Self study

Microsoft Specialist Skills

Optional modules covering core Microsoft products, over 100 hours of online tuition supports learners in preparing for Microsoft accreditations. Globally recognised, our tuition and exams available at Associate and Expert levels will equip apprentices with the skills to unlock the potential of Microsoft Office products.

Available in a range of subjects including

Word
Excel
Powerpoint

date_range Timetables

Programmes are running regularly throughout the year. View our timetables for scheduled sessions to see when the next one is running.

View timetables

Why choose Kaplan?

The leaders in accountancy training

Kaplan has over 80 years experience in designing and delivering programmes that help individuals to achieve results and business to achieve success.

Future facing

Our apprenticeships equip your employees to make a positive difference in the workplace, applying their learning in real life projects which can transform teams and cultures.

Comprehensive learning

Learners attend scheduled classes involving lots of practical discussion and application, and combine this with additional online learning that can be completed at their own pace.

Expert teaching

Our tutors are all subject matter experts, with real world experience, and teach groups of diverse learners from organisations across the UK.

Support for employers:

Named client solutions point of contact to support you at every stage
Recruitment service to help you hire an apprentice for a new vacancy
Transparency throughout the application and onboarding process for your learners
Sector expert tutors and talent coaches delivering relevant training and development
Learning that is applied to your organisation through work based experience
Accurate, timely and accessible tracking for each learner
Line Manager visibility of your learner’s portfolio dashboards

Support for learners:

Tutor contact via email outside of scheduled classes
Regular 1:1 contact and progress reviews with their line manager and a named, industry experienced talent coach to keep them on track, review their portfolio and get them fully prepared for their End Point Assessment.
Peer to peer contacts from across the industry as part of a small cohort - creating opportunities to spark new ideas and get new perspectives
Apprenticeship ePortfolio to track their progress, capture off-the-job activity and hours, manage and capture progress reviews, upload evidence, as well as communication with their Talent Coach
Student Service support available 362 days a year
Work based projects and support from a line manager to be able to contextualise and apply their learning back in the workplace