I am fairly new to this site and am still confused about the differences between ICB & IAB. Which to become a member of, sit exams with, and stick with..unless both?
With IAB, do you becaome a registered bookkeeper with full membership, and with ICB a certified bookkeeper?
If so, what's the difference, and would employers knowe or care? There seems such an overall and I don't know why they don't merge and be done with it.
I have been an associate member for over a year now with ICB. I am not going to be renewing my membership because of the unprofessional attitude of ICB, even though I have practising certificate running until April. I am joining the IAB in September.
Other ICB members have had no problem with ICB they got their practising certificate with no problems. I was told that my certificate had been posted so I must have received it. I said that I had not received it, they said that I was not allowed another because they have not had the original returned. After a lot of complaining they sent me another certificate.
I sent an email just asking why I had no access to the job vacancies section of their website as that was the main reason I paid membership each year, they did not have any explanation on the website that maintenance was being done, no email to say maintenance on website and they claimed access to jobs was not being taken away and I was wrong to say that the job vacancies was the most important reason I had membership.
In fact they have taken away the job vacancies by insisting that members pay for letters at £15 a time for each exam taken but each year then they can see that job vacancy.
ICB also are very slow at replying to emails, sometimes not replying for a few weeks.
IAB replied to my emails within 20 minutes of me sending them.
When I contacted IAB asking if they do exemptions for ICB qualifications said that there company policy was originally no but because of the sheer number of requests from ICB members to join IAB they have made an exception.
But at the end of the day it is your choice what company you apply to.
IAB are making exceptions for any ICB members who contact them.
They did not tell me number of ICB members that had requested just said that they have had a number of ICB members asking same thing so that is why they are allowing it.
If you don't mind me asking, what are the exemptions> Are you saying that its a straight swap so to speak and that you can get a practising cert with IAB without more exams? Thanks.
I think the excemptions are based on the qualifications with ICB that someone has. Think they need proof of the results from ICB when you apply. There is an admin fee as well as an exemption fee. I did look into registering with HMRC for Money Laundering but with the fit and proper test it worked out not that much different so decided best with IAB so I have the option for further study if I want as I have only got to level 2 manual with ICB but got level 3 in computerised and payroll.
With IAB you are not restricted in same way as ICB - they leave it to peoples own common sense to know they should not take on clients past their knowledge and capabilities, whereas ICB state you must not offer payroll services without taking the payroll exam and believe they say you should not do bookkeeping for Limited Company until you are a full member.
With regard to your question about choosing IAB or ICB. If you are thinking about obtaining employment in bookkeeping then to be truthful potential employers will not necessarily be looking to see if you are a member of IAB or ICB. I think it is better to obtain a recognised bookkeeping qualification by going to your local college of further education, most offer part time evening courses which lead to a nationally recognised qualification. Also, it is much cheaper than going down the ICB or IAB route as those organisations will take alot of money from you with all their membership fees etc in addition to the exam costs.
my local college offer IAB !! so what course are you thinking of when you say
"I think it is better to obtain a recognised bookkeeping qualification by going to your local college of further education, most offer part time evening courses which lead to a nationally recognised qualification"
IAB and ICB are both recognised quals - were you thinking of the AAT possibly ? as this works out extremely expensive
When you talk about recognised quals through a local college, which quals had you in mind? I thought the point about IAB was that it was recognised - but now not so sure. I am doing their level 3 [which seems less challenging than the ICB version] and I am underwhelmed with doing T accounts at this level! Ltd companies are not covered at Level 3 apparently!
Grateful for any suggestions. Would AAT level 4 be a good idea and can you go in direct to that without proof of sitting 1-3? Cheers
as i understand it with the AAT you would be able to enter their qual at NVQ level 3 with IAB or ICB :
so you would need to complete 5 units at level 3 and also 6 units at NVQ level 4 -
then in order to obtain your letters you would need to have 12 months work experience signed off by either an AAT member or other CCAB qual accountant
on top of this you would then be able to apply for your practising certificate - so quite a long process to go through !!
i looked into this a few years ago - at least with the IAB i could start at bookkeeping level 2, -- I then completed level 3 this year the level 4; my next set of exams are the two tax units -- this would mean that i would complete what i thought i needed in terms of quals in a shorter time than the AAT wold have taken and at a lower cost as i could do the study from the texts and ask my boss for help where needed without having to pay a college to do the AAT as you need to; because of something called skills tests and build a portfolio of evidece to prove competence
the IAB also doesn't require you to have work experince to obtain your own practicing certificate (not really a problem for me as i am working anyway) and also they leave it to your discretion as to what work you can do for your clients
Sorry, if you misunderstood, the IAB is recognised but what I really meant was that normally you would have to pay student registration fees etc making it more expensive. The other qualification is the OCR bookkeeping qualification which is usually (in my experience) cheaper to follow. You don't need to pay membership fees etc. However, the qualification you are aiming for is good also, infact in my view it is better than the ICB qualifications because if you wanted to proceed to a higher level in the future, such as accountancy I think with IAB you could get exemptions.
