my 2 pence worth....
To qualify as an accountant will take shear determination and motivation.... dependant on the qual.. CIMA, ACCA, ACA all of which will require you to pass at least 14 exams - and they are difficult and did I say difficult.......
It will also take 3 years for your to qualify with 1st time passes (for CIMA atleast), so if you fail a few - add on another 6 months!!!
However, not a bad plan - as you will always have a job and as qualified a salary of 30K plus...
I know of another person who has gone through this route and is now funding his training through his higher salary - but you need to be focused and really motivated...
Another plus point is that you have a fall back with another profession under your belt....
So in my opinion its a better option and a safer one....
PS - as for bonding and payment of the training funds - its peanuts and even though companies do have these clauses, they rarely do excercise them as its costly to do and too resource intensive and if they do - you will be left with a max hit of £5K which in the scheme of things is nothing, most likely you will get another job and they will pay for it... and not make you sign for anything ! ;-) .... so I would not worry about it...
Best of luck