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The route into external auditor

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار إدارة الأعمال— Business Administration · مسار إدارة الأعمال— Business Administration, or a science track

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management, Economics
  • Economicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management, Economics
  • Business Studieshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management
  • A languagehelpsfor Business Administration and Management
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Economics
  • Historyhelpsfor Economics

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Economics
  • Economics HLhelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Economics
  • Business Managementhelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management
  • Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation HL or Analysis and Approacheshelpsfor Accounting and Finance
  • Mathematics: Applications and Interpretationhelpsfor Business Administration and Management
  • Economicshelpsfor Business Administration and Management
  • A second languagehelpsfor Business Administration and Management
  • History HLhelpsfor Economics

Advanced Placement

  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management, Economics
  • AP Microeconomicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management, Economics
  • AP Macroeconomicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management, Economics
  • AP Calculus ABhelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Business Administration and Management
  • AP English Languagehelpsfor Business Administration and Management
  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Economics

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Accounting and Finance

    The most direct destination, through a professional qualification with one of the large firms or in industry.

    Four years in the Kingdom, three to four in the UK, followed by three or more years of professional examinations while working.

  • Business Administration and Management

    Reachable through the professional accountancy exams, which are open after any degree.

    Four years in the Kingdom and the US, three to four in the UK, frequently with an internship or placement.

  • Economics

    Accounting and audit routes are open through professional qualification after any degree, and economics is a common starting point.

    Three to four years, with a placement or exchange year common.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi admission composite; some business colleges require the humanities Tahsili and some do not.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • SAT or ACTGrade 11 to early Grade 12

    For US applications, where business schools are often a separate admission.

    • March, May, JuneSpring sittings. The standard first attempt, in Grade 11.
    • August, October, November, DecemberAutumn sittings. The second attempt, and the last one that reaches early US deadlines is usually the October or November date.
    • Two to four weeks after each sittingScores released; sending them to universities is a separate step with its own timing.
  • Professional examinationsAfter graduation, over three or more years

    SOCPA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA or ICAEW. This is the qualification employers pay for and value; the degree mainly buys you exemptions from parts of it.

  • IELTS or TOEFLBefore applying abroad

    Required almost everywhere for international admission.

    • Weekly, year-roundIELTS and TOEFL both run frequently at centres across the Kingdom; Duolingo and PTE can be sat at very short notice.
    • 3 to 13 days after the testResults, depending on the test. IELTS computer-delivered is among the fastest; paper-based is slower.
    • Autumn of Grade 12 at the latestWhen to have sat it by, leaving room for one repeat before offers are decided.
  • TMUAOctober

    Required or advantageous for economics at Cambridge, LSE, Warwick and Durham among others.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • TSAOctober

    Oxford PPE and Economics and Management.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

United Kingdom · United Kingdom — graduate route

  1. schoolA-levels, any subjects2 yr
  2. undergraduateDegree in any subject3 yr
  3. trainingTraining contract with professional exams, paid throughout3–4 yrs
  4. licensingChartered accountant qualification0–1 yrs
  5. practiceQualified accountant0 yr

LicensingMembership of a chartered accountancy body. Signing statutory audit opinions requires an additional practising certificate.

United Kingdom · Without a degree — school-leaver programme

  1. schoolA-levels or equivalent2 yr
  2. trainingSchool-leaver training programme with professional exams4–5 yrs
  3. licensingChartered accountant qualification0–1 yrs
  4. practiceQualified accountant0 yr

LicensingIdentical to the graduate route. Nobody asks afterwards which way you came in.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, either track3 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's in accounting, finance or a related subject4–5 yrs
  3. trainingProfessional qualification (SOCPA or an international body) while employed3–4 yrs
  4. practiceQualified auditor0 yr

LicensingSigning statutory audit opinions in Saudi Arabia requires SOCPA certification. International qualifications are widely held and valued but the local certification is what permits sign-off.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 3–4 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 1 year by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £27,000–35,000 of earnings deferred.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–6 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 3 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £81,000–105,000 of earnings deferred.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 4–8 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 4 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 560,000–880,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.