Careers in accountancy: Student Advice in 2026

Here’s some insights from two of our talented trainees, Maple and Nicole, on the reality of working while studying for accounting exams.

Paul O’Donovan & Associates is an accredited employer under the training programmes for both Chartered Accountants Ireland and ACCA. We’re proud to support the next generation of financial professionals and give them the tools they need to succeed. 

Want to know what that looks like in practice? Here’s the inside scoop, straight from two of our exceptional trainees: Maple Aleem Uddin and Nicole Dowling. 

• Maple joined us after taking first place in her year at MTU and is currently studying for her QFA and Accounting Technicians Ireland (ATI) exams.

• Nicole first joined us for a summer internship and has chosen to return to us for her 3rd-year MTU placement. 

We sat down with them to talk about their experiences, the reality of working while studying, and advice they have for anyone considering a career in accountancy.

---

Nicole, you had a choice of placements for your third year at MTU. What made you choose to return to Paul O’Donovan and Associates?

Nicole: With MTU course placements, students who go to the biggest firms have to choose straight away between tax, auditing, or finance. Because I wanted to take advantage of learning everything, I came back to PODA.

Here, you get to experience all three areas, which gives me a massive advantage over my classmates when it comes to learning. If I am interested in a specific module like auditing, I can just ask to do more auditing work, and I get put onto it.

Maple, you’re balancing the ATI course, your QFAs, and working. How do you do that and tie your work into your studies?

Maple: I have one day a week physically in college, and the other four days I am here in the office. A lot of what I study in my ATI course is exactly what I do at work.

The managers here are really good, they push you to take on new work and learn. For example, I found the bank reconciliation topic hard in my college class. But one of our managers taught me how to do it for an actual client here so when it came up again in my college work, it clicked. I was able to get all my questions correct because of the real-life example I had worked on.

What does a typical “day in the life” look like for you both?

Nicole: I have specific responsibilities, like doing the bookkeeping for one particular client every Wednesday. For the rest of the week, I get assigned different tasks by the managers.

Everyone is really nice – if I am stuck on anything, I can just turn around to the qualified accountant sitting right behind me and ask them a question. You get to learn something new every day.

Maple:  I usually have a set of tasks from my manager, and whenever I finish, I ask for new ones. When I started last year, I was only doing smaller tasks, but now I am able to start an account and see it all the way through to the end.

The managers are always pushing me to take on different types of work to build my skills. 

What is the advice you would give to someone just starting out in an accountancy course?

Nicole: Hand your CV into accounting firms for summer work, because I feel like that’s the best way you can learn accounting. Also, note-taking is key. Whenever I am learning something new during the day, I always write it down in my own personal work document, which helps so much when it comes to doing assignments. Whatever opportunity comes up for you, take it straight away!

Maple: Don’t wait until the last minute to make your study notes, try to make them after each topic is covered. Also participate in your classes. I was a class rep and also tutored people in my course, and my lecturers saw this. Building those connections with your lecturers is actually how both Nicole and I got recommended to work at Paul O’Donovan & Associates in the first place!