Kirsty Butler - Reading Scholarship winner 2009

I’ve been asked to write a bit about me and what I have to do with Kaplan. This is also my first ever blog but hope it’s of some help to anyone interested in studying with Kaplan.

My name is Kirsty and I am a student studying my AAT accountancy qualification at Kaplan Financial. I currently work full time at Target Chartered Accountants and am able to study on day release alongside my job.

So in the summer of 2008 I visited an open day at Reading University, and it was purely by chance that I went into a lecture presented by Kaplan about the various routes to an accountancy profession. It was from this that the idea of studying alongside a full time job, instead of going to university, sparked an interest with me. Instead of looking at university prospectuses, I started looking for an accountancy job. I also visited a Kaplan open day and was able to talk to some of the tutors and staff and get direct advice on how to get my accountancy career started. Kaplan regularly emailed me to see how I was getting on and to suggest events that would be of benefit to me. One of which was the meet the employers evening and it was from this event of mini interviews with various employers that I now have my current job. That same evening I found out about the Kaplan Scholarship in which the winner is awarded all of their training fees, paid for by Kaplan. I honestly didn’t think I stood any chance at winning but wanted to keep my options open so thought there was no harm in entering. To my surprise my application was selected to the next round, I had to give a presentation to various staff within Kaplan on why I deserved to win the scholarship. Again I got through this round and had a 15 minute interview with an external panel.

The next week I found out I’d won the scholarship and two days later was offered a trainee accountancy job which I had applied for. I honestly couldn’t believe how suddenly my career aspirations were coming together.

I have now studied the intermediate AAT qualification in the autumn term and am awaiting my exam results later this month. The style of teaching is really suited towards me and the study material is brilliant. There is also good support from the tutors and Kaplan is in regular contact with my employer to assess my progress.

I hope this has been of some help to anyone looking to begin a career in accountancy. I can defiantly say that this way of training was the best choice for me to take.