Accounting and Finance Personal Statement Example

Sample Statement

No one who has watched the news or read the newspapers over the last few years can doubt the importance of finance in the modern world. Since the economic crash of 2008, the economies of Britain, Europe and the wider world have been headline news, and the affects have been keenly felt by each and every one of us. I want to study finance at university not only to allow me to understand what is happening, but also to influence these events for the better.

With my parents running a long-standing family business, accounts and finance have been a large part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father has always involved us in the running of the business, explaining his decisions so that we could support him and know what was going on. However, it has been really difficult to watch as events way beyond his area of business, have caused his company to struggle, despite the hard work and dedication of him and his staff.

I have steered my studies towards the ecomomic subjects so that I can gain a better understanding of the wider picture and how this has affected my family business. I have studied maths and business studies, along with geography to give me a worldwide context for these events. As I have got older, I have also become more involved in the details of the company’s finances, gaining an in depth understanding of the mechanics of running a small business.

While I will ultimately inherit the family business from my father, I aim to spend the intervening time gaining as much experience in the wider world of finance and accounting as I can, in order to bring fresh perspectives to the way things are done. I believe the best first step on this road is to study finance and accounting at university, so that I can apply the very best practice to the business.

I am a subscriber to The Economist and regular reader of the Financial Times, which help by giving me different views and opinions on the key issues of the day. I am also a keen member of the school debating society, and enjoy being given a point of view to defend, especially if it is one that I do not personally agree with. I have even considered a career in law as a result of this, but I feel that finance and the economy are in my blood as part of my upbringing.

Of course, life is not all work, and I enjoy hill walking with my friends as well as playing for the school rugby and cricket teams. I was also part of a school project to build and race a go-cart, and was one of just a handful of people who stuck with the project to the end. This experience of working in a close-knit team was a valuable time for me and one that I will treasure, along with the second place trophy that we worked so hard for.

I believe that university life will be an education for me, not only academically, but also in a social and interpersonal way. The experience will prepare me for the working world and ultimately make me a worthy successor to my father as head of the family business.