It is the year of the comeback with Jensen Button, Robbie Williams and Whitney Houston boosting their careers in the last few weeks alone.

But making a career comeback is not just for celebrities.

According to website workingmums.co.uk, "Since the credit crunch we have seen an increase in mums looking to retrain. A recent poll showed 59 per cent of mums were considering retraining as a way round the recession or to get back into work. In addition, visitors to our website have risen in recent months to around 100,000 a month."

One of the most popular careers for women returners is accountancy.

"Accountancy is one of the professions where your training and working life can be flexible," says AAT Chief Executive Jane Scott Paul. 

"Every year over 60 per cent of our training intake are mature students who find that a career in accounting and finance gives them the flexibility they want to have a happy work-life balance."

"An AAT qualified accounting technician can earn significantly more than their unqualified colleagues so this can make a real difference to a household income."

Case Study - Myra Geater

Myra Geater works for Vodafone and has two children Jake and Danielle.  She decided to put her career on hold to be a full-time mum whilst her children were little but at 29, Myra decided she wanted to progress her career and decided to qualify as an Accounting Technician.

Myra started her AAT training whilst working for Saxon Industries (a marketing and distribution company in car care and horticultural products).  Saxon sponsored Myra's AAT course enabling her to study whilst she earned a salary. 

Myra attended a local college two evenings a week for two years and managed to fit her home study in during the evening and weekends.

After gaining her AAT qualification and becoming a member of the AAT, Myra had the confidence to progress to the CIMA qualification.

Myra has worked for Vodafone for 7 years and is currently a Europe Management Information Business Partner within the Group MI department.  She is responsible for ensuring that the Global Marketing and Technology functions have appropriate management information for the business as well as ensuring a strong governance procedure is in place for changes to management information.

"I think accountancy is a great profession for mums," says Myra.

"It is completely flexible to fit around family life and it's a profession that you can put on hold when children are young and go back to it once they have flown the nest.

"Returning to work or study requires dedication and commitment but mostly good organisation skills.  There are so many other commitments to juggle - is it football tonight or swimming lessons, or do the children need help with homework?  Just try and be clear in your head about when you are working, when you are studying and when you are playing!  And find people that can help you if you need it.

"There are different ways you can study for the AAT qualification - you can do full-time, but you can also go on intensive 2/3 day courses, study two evenings a week during term time or do distance learning.  This makes it ideal if you have children as there are so many different options you are bound to find one that fits.  It can be tough some days, but you have such a great sense of achievement when you pass the exams.

"I would definitely encourage mums to return to study, particularly AAT, I now have financial security but also a challenging and rewarding job."

Notes to Editors:

*The value of qualifications:

An AAT qualified accounting technician can earn more - source http://salarysurvey.hays.com/

http://salarysurvey.hays.com/

Career Retraining Costs

Training costs for other professions that might suit Mums: