The two bright young faces are an excellent advertisement for taking a course in accountancy. Caroline Dickson has just completed a diploma in professional accounting in Athlone IT and is now doing an add-on degree in accounting and finance. She attended nearby Moate Community College and says: "I was always good at figures - this course was pre-chosen for me."

For the first year, she commuted the 10 miles to Athlone but she says she missed out on college life. "Third year was the best year . . . there was plenty of craic. Athlone is a small college and community - it's easy to get to know people." After the diploma, she took a year out and worked in London and in accounts department in the IT.

This year, for her degree studies, she has moved back home. As well as the degree, she is planning on completing the final professional accountancy exams.

As to the future: "There's an elective in financial services in the BA and I hope to end up in a large company in the financial services area. I can't see myself working in an office in Moate. Hopefully, I'll get the opportunity to travel abroad."

Alan McDonagh also completed the national diploma in professional accounting in Athlone and he is now taking a one-year full-time course which will allow him to complete the final exams of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Alan attended Garbally College, Ballinasloe, Co Galway, and took economics, business organisation , economic history and accountancy in the Leaving Cert.

"It's a brilliant course. You start off in first year, taking seven or eight subjects including aspects of both practice and industry. I didn't like the thought of auditing and so I went the CIMA route."

Alan works part-time to supplement his grant and, he says, working in hardware motivated him to work even harder at his studies.

Dan O'Sullivan, head of the college's department of accountancy, says the department is over 20 years old. "We offer the exams of the main professional bodies. One of the main programmes is the diploma in professional accounting which was introduced 10 years ago. Graduates of this course are exempted from all but the final exams of the relevant professional accountancy bodies."

It can be difficult for second-level students to choose between the various accountancy bodies with their differing emphasis. O'Sullivan says "we're very conscious of this. In the first year of the diploma, we expose students to a wide range of subjects. At the end of that year, they then decide if they want to into the practice stream or the industry stream."

Graduates of the diploma can then opt for the BA in accounting and finance or a further one-year full-time course which allows students to take the final exams of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Athlone IT is the only IT in which you can take all of the final-year exams in full-time mode.

O'Sullivan says the course is very successful with three students getting world rankings in the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exams.