Hi!
Are accounting cadetships actually worth it? I know they give valuable experience but it would take me an extra two years to complete uni if I was to do one.
As a cadet myself, I have greatly appreciated the career opportunities it has afforded me. Whilst my experience may not be typical of every cadet, I've had a great run with great experiences working with clients from various sectors, a few international secondments, a couple of client secondments, and even meeting my wife at work. So both professionally and personally, I have no regrets and would recommend it.
(btw why +2 years? I thought it's only +1?)
And are you required to stay on in the company you do a cadetship for? Or can you apply for grad jobs elsewhere upon completion?
Whilst each firm may be slightly different, keep in mind there are multiple 'stages' in what is ultimately bundled together as a cadetship (some firms may vary and not have one phase depending on start/finish dates):
1. Full time study after HSC (before you've started your full time work at the firm)
2. Full time work
3. Back to full time study
Typically you will be offered a contract or 'grant' at the end of the full time work stage which gives you an allowance/study grant/textbook allowance or some other monetary benefit whilst you are studying full time in exchange for your commitment to work at the firm upon graduation. If you do not end up working at the firm upon graduation, you may be required to repay some or all of the benefit, and potentially there may be other clauses/liabilities/costs involved. If you don't take the grant, then there is no obligation for you to come back to the firm when you graduate.
Most people take the grant because there historically hasn't been a penalty (besides paying it back) so they just set it aside as savings, and then when they near the end of their full time studies, they usually know what they plan on doing (ie they have gotten a job elsewhere or not) which will determine what they end up doing.
Sorry for all the questions. I would like to end up in forensic accounting. Anyone know if it is a good career path? I love law and accounting so thought maybe it would be good for me.
Depends on which firm and role you end up in. Some would be better suited than others - eg. audit lends itself to forensic accounting more so than tax would. That being said, forensic accounting is rather specialised and the industry is moving towards finding new ways to analyse/handle large amounts of data (basically using robotics/AI to reduce false positives).
It might be worthwhile breaking down both the role and your preferred areas of studies (law/accounting) to work out what it is you actually enjoy/want to pursue.
