Accountant Salary UK: Trainee, Chartered Accountant and Senior Pay

Accountancy pay climbs steeply once you qualify. Here is what UK trainee, newly qualified and chartered accountants earn, by year and by month, pay by specialism, and what moves the numbers most.

By Tony Musso on Wed Oct 14 2026

Accountancy is one of the clearest pay ladders in the UK: pay is modest while you train, rises sharply when you qualify as a chartered accountant, and keeps climbing as you take on management and then finance leadership roles. This guide sets out typical accountant and chartered accountant salaries at each stage, by year and by month, and the factors that move pay most: qualification, sector, location and specialism.

Headline answer

These are the ranges in our accountant career guide. Monthly figures are the annual figure divided by 12, before tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan. London and the South East usually pay more at every stage, and bonuses are common in larger firms and industry.

Chartered accountant salary UK

A chartered accountant is someone who has passed a professional qualification from a chartered body and completed the required work experience. In the UK that usually means one of:

• ACA from ICAEW, giving the title Chartered Accountant. Common in audit and practice. See our ACA qualification guide.
• ACCA, giving the title Chartered Certified Accountant. Used across practice and industry. See our ACCA qualification guide.
• CIMA, the management accounting qualification, leading to the CGMA designation. Common in industry finance roles. See our CIMA qualification guide.
• ICAS CA, the Scottish chartered accountancy qualification.

Here is how chartered accountant pay moves through the three main stages, using our accountant career data:

Trainee accountant salary. While you train you are paid as a student: typically £24,000 to £32,000, or about £2,000 to £2,670 a month before tax. Your employer usually pays tuition and exam fees and gives study leave, and pay tends to rise each year as you pass exams.

Newly qualified chartered accountant salary. Qualifying is the biggest single pay rise of the career. Newly qualified chartered accountants commonly move into the mid-£40,000s and above, at the lower part of the £45,000 to £70,000 qualified range. Moving from practice into industry at this point often brings a further rise.

Chartered accountant manager salary. Managers, usually a few years after qualifying, sit towards the top of the qualified range and beyond, moving towards the senior range as they become senior managers, financial controllers or directors. Our chartered accountant manager salary guide looks at the manager stage in more detail.

Chartered accountant salary in London. London employers, particularly the largest firms and financial services, usually pay at the top of each range. Major regional cities pay less in cash terms but often stretch further on cost of living.

Pay by specialism

Our accountant career data also gives ranges for four common specialisms. Each range covers the whole career in that specialism, from early roles to experienced:

For audit in more detail, see our external auditor salary guide. For tax, see the tax adviser career guide.

Pay while you train

Trainee accountants are usually employed on a salary while they study for ACA, ACCA or CIMA, with tuition and exam fees often paid by the employer. Large firms and London employers pay at the top of the trainee range; small regional practices at the lower end, though they often give broader experience early. Many employers deliver training through the Level 7 accountancy or taxation professional apprenticeship.

People who start in bookkeeping or finance assistant roles, often with AAT, earn less to begin with - see the bookkeeper career guide - but many use these jobs as a stepping stone into a sponsored professional qualification.

The jump when you qualify

From qualification, pay grows with responsibility:

What moves accountant pay most

Qualification. A full professional qualification (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) is the main dividing line between finance support roles and accountant pay. Part-qualified accountants earn between the two.

Sector. Financial services, banking and large listed companies tend to pay more than small businesses and the public sector, though the public sector often offers stronger pensions and more predictable hours.

Practice or industry. Audit and advisory careers in large practices progress on a clear grade structure with partnership at the top. Industry roles often pay more at the newly qualified stage and lead towards financial controller and finance director.

Specialism. Tax, corporate finance, forensic accounting and transaction services tend to pay above general accounting. See the corporate finance analyst guide as well as the specialism table above.

Location. London and the South East pay the most; major regional cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol pay well for their cost of living.

Part-qualified, public sector and charity pay

Part-qualified accountants - people partway through ACA, ACCA or CIMA, or holding AAT - usually earn between trainee and newly qualified pay. Passing exams often triggers a pay review, so it is worth checking how your employer links pay to progress.

Public sector finance roles in local government, the NHS and the civil service follow published pay scales. Headline salaries can be lower than in the private sector at senior levels, but defined benefit pensions, flexible working and more predictable year ends make the total package competitive. Many public bodies also sponsor CIPFA, the public finance accountancy qualification.

Charities and not-for-profits tend to pay below the private sector for equivalent roles, but often offer flexibility and a sense of purpose that matters to many accountants mid-career.

Is accountancy worth it for the money?

For most people who complete a professional qualification, yes: the qualified salary range is well above the UK middle starting salary in our UK salaries by career report, and the senior range is among the higher-paying careers that do not require a specific degree. The trade-offs are three to five years of exams alongside work and busy periods around year ends.

How to start

The usual routes are a graduate or school leaver training scheme, a Level 7 accountancy apprenticeship, or a finance assistant job with study sponsorship. Our accounting qualifications guide compares AAT, ACA, ACCA and CIMA side by side. Short courses in bookkeeping, Sage, Xero or Excel can help you land that first finance role; the accountant career page lists courses from UK providers. If you are weighing accountancy against other options, Career Compass ranks careers against your interests and priorities.

Read the accountant career guide

Comparing careers? Here is which career test is actually worth taking before you decide.