TikTok accountant calls for financial literacy
Accountant Grace Hardy, 21, who runs her own business and has a growing following for her financial advice and tax tips online, has called on UK political parties to deliver a programme of better financial education in all schools.
In a Tik Tok video, Hardy says: “If the government want to make national service compulsory, why can’t they do something that would actually be helpful for young people, like National Financial Education?”
Hardy is launching her own Unconventional podcast to share the advice of business and finance leaders for the growing number of young people interested in being their own boss, starting a business, or getting on top of their finances.
The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), which represents more than 50,000 accountancy and finance professionals in the UK – including Hardy – shares her concerns and is the official sponsor of the Unconventional podcast. A longstanding advocate for these issues, the AAT’s licenced and qualified members support 840,000 SMEs in the UK with accountancy, finance and tax advice services.
AAT’s Director of Policy Adam Harper said: “Young business starters like Grace are doing the right thing – they’re already contributing to our society. We need policies that back our young people and their ambition with better financial education and access to capital.”
Party manifestos variously describe SMEs as the “lifeblood of our economy”, and “the lifeblood of communities and high streets across the country”. But when it came to the real barriers faced by business starters, AAT’s Harper said there was little evidence of an understanding of challenges, such as access to capital and the impact a lack of financial literacy has on holding back young business starters. He pointed to 25 percent of SMEs relying on credit card debt as a riskier-than-necessary way of financing their business, as one example of where the two issues converge.
Hardy continues: “Making financial education compulsory in all schools would be so beneficial; it’s currently only mandatory in state schools yet academies and private schools make up 90% of schools. The next government needs to make this a priority because only half of adults are financially literate. If we want better futures and to be more financially stable, then financial education needs to be taught in schools. Were you ever taught financial education? I wasn’t.”
In May 2024, a parliamentary committee called financial education “vital” for 16 to 18-year-olds given they are “transitioning into the workplace, paying taxes, considering applying for a student loan, and perhaps living away from home for the first time”.
Hardy said a common theme amongst the 16-24 year olds who follow her channels, is that financial terms can be overwhelming – with many not acting quickly to deal with bad debt such as credit card interest repayments, because of ‘finance fear’.
She believes that financial education is too important to be simply crammed into A-level maths, as some parties have suggested. Instead, there are two big reasons the accountant says she wants an ‘accessible financial education overhaul’.
“Number one, the social media era has brought the social media scam with it. Get rich quick schemes, shady investments, people pretending to be someone they’re not – it’s never been a more important time for our country to be finance smart.”
“Two: teaching proper, practical financial education with skills you can use, will lead to young people being more money confident, so more of us can take control of our financial futures. We can unleash a generation of entrepreneurs by removing finance fear from blocking them following their dreams – like starting a business.”