A NEW partnership could help Bolton accountancy students start earning sooner.

The collaboration between Bolton Institute and the Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) is seen by both organisations as good news for young people who finish their education with large debts.

Students studying for an accountancy degree will automatically be given membership of the IFA.

With both a BA Honours degree in accountancy from Bolton Institute and membership of the IFA, students will have more of a chance in the jobs market.

Graduates will have covered practical topics as well as academic ones.

Bolton Institute principal Mollie Temple said: "Bolton Institute is very proud to be working with the Institute of Financial Accountants.

"Both organisations have very strong traditions of providing excellent vocational, work-related training, as well as accessible educational opportunities."

She added: "Our partnership will enable the institute to extend worldwide its provision of accounting education -- to reach people who would not otherwise be able to obtain a professionally-accredited and widely respected British degree in the subject."

Malcolm Dean, chief executive of the IFA, said: "Degrees are useful in that they teach people how to reason and how to find academic solutions to problems, but alone they do not prepare students to deal with practical business accountancy. "It is important to be able to analyse a balance sheet, but employers want people who can prepare a set of accounts too. This degree course will deal with academic and practical accountancy, to the benefit of graduates and to their eventual employers."