Accounting & Mathematics [BSc] personal statement example

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

When my aunt moved her small bakery from a paper ledger to cloud accounting software, I spent a weekend helping her match bank transactions to supplier invoices. I had expected the work to be purely mechanical, but her accountant's notes showed that many figures depended on decisions, such as how to spread the cost of a new oven over its useful life. That mix of fixed rules and reasoned judgement is what draws me to accounting. I enjoy mathematics most when it models something real, and accounting gives that modelling a clear purpose: owners, lenders and tax authorities rely on the numbers to make choices. Studying the two subjects together appeals to me because each sharpens the other. Straight-line and reducing-balance depreciation are simple sequences, yet choosing between them changes how profitable a young business appears. I want to understand the theory behind choices like these, along with the probability and statistics used in audit sampling and risk assessment.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare?

A level Mathematics and Further Mathematics have built my confidence with proof, algebra and calculus. I particularly enjoyed the statistics content. Hypothesis testing showed me how to decide whether a result is meaningful rather than chance, which seems close to what an auditor does when testing a sample of transactions instead of every one. In Further Mathematics, matrices and decision mathematics taught me to set out a problem systematically before trying to solve it. Economics complements this by giving me a sense of how firms behave. Studying inflation made me consider why a company's reported costs can look very different from one year to the next. For my EPQ, I compared the real cost of buy now, pay later schemes with credit cards and overdrafts. To make a fair comparison, I calculated equivalent annual rates using compound interest and built a spreadsheet that showed how late fees affected the total repaid. The project improved my Excel skills and taught me to explain technical results clearly to non-specialists. Beyond the syllabus, I read Double Entry by Jane Gleeson-White, which traces bookkeeping from Luca Pacioli's fifteenth-century treatise to the present day. It made me see accounting as a system that people designed and continue to argue about, rather than a fixed set of conventions. The comparison also made me distinguish the advertised borrowing rate from the cost a borrower actually faces when repayments are late.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Last summer I spent a week at a small local accountancy practice. Most of my tasks were routine. I scanned and filed client receipts, checked that totals on expense sheets added up and, using practice data, attempted a bank reconciliation that a trainee then reviewed with me. With the client's permission, I also sat in on a meeting about a self-assessment tax return. I noticed how much of the accountant's role involved asking the right questions and explaining options in plain language. I have worked on Saturdays at a garden centre for eighteen months. Cashing up the tills at closing and helping with quarterly stock counts have made me careful with figures, and I have started to notice how seasonal demand for bedding plants affects what the manager orders. I also play cornet in a community brass band, where I help the treasurer count and record raffle and concert takings. Recording every sum accurately so the committee can trust the books is satisfying in a quiet way. Band rehearsals also give me a weekly commitment that has nothing to do with numbers, which I value.