James Briggs never envisaged making history when he embarked on his working life.

At 20, James is the second youngest chartered accountant in the country.

After taking his A-levels at Bradford Grammar School, James, from Undercliffe, started work. He had always been mathematically-minded and, with encouragement from a teacher, gained an accountancy A-level while at school, which equipped him to enter the profession without a degree.

Work experience with a local accountancy firm gave him some important grounding too.

“Basically, it didn’t put me off,” James says. “I thought I would stick with this idea.”

During his final year at school, James sent applications to local accountancy firms and was invited for an interview with Clough & Co, an independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisers.

Established in Bradford in 1953, the company – with offices in Keighley and Cleckheaton – boasts a range of clients, from start-ups to well-established businesses.

Following his appointment as accounts trainee in 2006, James, who is based at the Keighley office, spent a year preparing the accounts of sole traders – independents and the self-employed.

After passing what he calls “ridiculously hard” exams to achieve chartered accountant status, James is now auditing the books of some of Bradford’s high-profile companies. His job is to check through the accounts.

“I’ve always enjoyed business and seeing how businesses work, and you get a different insight into it because you are seeing so many different businesses,” he says.

James loves the variety of clients he works with and being able to help businesses make positive changes through advice and support.

He dispels the myth of accountancy being a boring profession. He says there is plenty of variety once you progress to preparing and auditing books for companies with turnovers of more than £1 million.

His advice to anyone wanting to become an accountant is to be prepared for the commitment. Being mathematically-minded is also an advantage.

“You have to have a certain academic mindset,” James says. “If you are minded for it, then get straight into it.”

James is pleased to be the second-youngest accountant in the country, and his ambitions for the future are to become a manager or partner.

Dermot Lucid, one of Clough & Co’s managers, describes his achievement as “exceptional”. Trainees usually have a degree and start their examinations to become chartered when they are 21.

Dermot says the examinations are intense and demand a certain level of commitment.

“You have to be exceptional to do it at his age,” says Dermot.

For more information about starting a career in accountancy, go to icaew.com, the website of the Institute of Chartered Accountancy in England and Wales.