Accounts or finance assistant apprenticeship, level 2 · Register title: Accounts or finance assistant (ST0608)
Grow the finance assistant who keeps your records right
The Growth and Skills Levy covers the training and assessment, and we handle the enrolment and the paperwork. Your apprentice learns online around their working week, applies it to your own ledgers and systems, and gains the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting along the way. They might already be helping with invoices and payments, or be a school or college leaver you hire onto the apprenticeship.
RoATP approved · Approved AAT Centre
What they'll be able to do
Three milestones, ending ready for assessment
Record transactions, keep the sales and purchase ledgers, manage cash and payroll records, and apply bookkeeping controls.
Use accounting software and spreadsheets confidently, record costs, and explain how financial and management accounting differ. Spot and fix routine errors, and report results clearly to colleagues.
Work to professional ethics and the law that touches finance, from data protection to anti-money laundering. Keep financial data secure online. AAT Level 2 Certificate complete and ready for end point assessment.
Their learning journey
Four themes, built around your work
Bookkeeping and controls
Financial records, ledgers, cash and payroll, and the controls that keep them accurate. AAT units: Introduction to Bookkeeping, and Principles of Bookkeeping Controls.
Spreadsheets and costing
Accounting software, databases and spreadsheets, cost recording, and how financial and management accounting differ. AAT unit: Principles of Costing.
Communication and starting in accounts
Working with colleagues and customers, professional ethics, and catching routine errors.
Professionalism and ethics
Legal entities, anti-money laundering, cyber and data security, sustainability, and preparation for assessment. AAT unit: The Business Environment.
Interview and knowledge test
An interview of at least 60 minutes with an independent assessor, and a knowledge test.
Every programme works the same way. They learn it, use it in your organisation, then look back at what they did and why.
Know it
How bookkeeping, controls and costing work, and the rules a finance team works within.
Show it
Accurate ledgers, clean reconciliations, and errors caught before they reach your accountant.
Live it
Attention to detail, and the professional ethics finance depends on.
Who you could put forward
Someone already with you, or someone new
A school or college leaver
Someone new you hire onto the apprenticeship from day one. If they're under 25 you may also qualify for an incentive payment (see the questions below).
The person already handling invoices and payments
They're doing finance work already. This gives them the grounding and the qualification.
A colleague moving into finance
Someone from another part of your organisation who's been asked to take on the numbers.
Someone changing career
An adult from a different line of work who wants a start in finance.
You're trusting us with someone from your team. Here's how we look after them.
One tutor from start to finish, who knows accounting and gets to know your organisation.
A one-to-one review every month, and a three-way review with you at the end of every theme. Nobody is guessing where they are or what's next.
Learning online, built around the working week, with live tutor sessions every fortnight. No day or block release. AAT exams are sat at a local exam centre.
What your organisation gets
Clean numbers, and a finance team you grow yourself
Records you can trust
Ledgers kept accurately and reconciled, so month end starts from clean numbers.
Fewer errors reaching your accountant
They're trained to spot and fix routine errors, and to escalate what's beyond them.
A finance career path you control
Level 2 leads straight on to assistant accountant, level 3, so you can grow your own finance team from the first rung.
Training and assessment are funded from the Growth and Skills Levy you already pay, up to the funding band for this standard. If you don't pay the levy, there's nothing to pay for apprentices under 25, and a 5% contribution for those aged 25 and over.
We check eligibility before you commit to anything. We complete the enrolment, the funding agreement, and the records the rules require, in the format auditors expect.
You get one named account manager, from your first conversation to your last review. If something isn't working, you go to them, and we take it seriously.
Where it leads
The next step, when they're ready
Assistant accountant, level 3 ›The natural next step, with the AAT Level 3 Diploma in Accounting.
The honest answers
Questions people actually ask
Yes. The AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting is part of the apprenticeship, delivered by us as an Approved AAT Centre. AAT exams are sat at a local exam centre.
Training and assessment are funded from the Growth and Skills Levy, up to £7,000. If you don't pay the levy, there's nothing to pay for apprentices under 25, and a 5% contribution for those aged 25 and over. We'll confirm exactly what applies before you commit.
From 1 October 2026, you may receive up to £2,000 for an apprentice aged 16 to 24, an extra £1,000 if they're 16 to 18, and an extra £3,000 if they've received Universal Credit for more than six months. We'll check what applies to you before you commit.
At least 278 hours of off-the-job training across the programme, all online and built around their week. No day or block release.
No. Level 2 starts from the foundations. We check what they already know at the start, so the programme covers what's new to them.
If they move to a new employer, they can carry on their apprenticeship there. Your funding commitment from the Growth and Skills Levy ends when they leave.
Let's begin
Tell us who you'd like to back.
We'll reply within one working day. You'll know whether this programme fits them, what it costs you, and how quickly they could start. No commitment. And if we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
Together, let's go