Too old to study! - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

maidofkent · Member

Too old to study!

BackOfficeGroup · Guru

Christine

Welcome to the forum.

Until now I have never been qualified and have been working in the industry since 1991. The only reason I am now with the ICB is for MLR and that alone.

There have been many discussions on here about qualifications and I certainly believe you do not need them to do the job! In fact, many people have never been asked when self employed - its normally a requirement when looking to work for someone.....

Stay as you are and keep going.

P

semsley · Guru

Hi Christine

I've been doing book-keeping (amongst many other things) on and off since 1968!!!! I have some very old book-keeping qualifications Pitman and RSA (as it was) and a GCE O Level in Accounts but huggins of "real life" experience from both employed and self-employed work. I am doing the IAB L3 computerised diploma and it's a doddle (the only real studying being exam technique) but the reason for this, is like backofficegroup it is cheaper to be a member and pay membership fee including MRL than pay HMRC.

Sheila

farmergiles · Veteran Member

You are never too old to study. I'm 57 and I start back at college on 8th December to complete my AAT qualification. 2 exams and a project to get that MAAT after my name.
I will feel a bit out of place in the classroom what with all the kiddywinks around but I don't mind being the class grandad....lol.

If you want to update your skills,Christine, I say "Go for it, Girl"

Good luck
Peter

Marky65 · Guru

Hi Christine

Welcome to the forum.

Like most of the other replies I have been in this industry for quite some time and the only reason I have for studying is the same as above, to save money on MLR but to also be able to use the ICB logo on any promotional material and my up coming website.

Not being a member has not disadvanatged me as whenever I have been networking or speaking directly to prospective clients they have never asked about my qualifications.

Regards

Mark

BackOfficeGroup · Guru

I also believe you are never too old to study and in fact would go further to say that you never stop learning and its good to learn something new every day!

As is the case in this industry, things change, and therefore we have to learn to adapt to those changes and keep up to date with new legislation etc

P

Bubsy · Veteran Member

Hi Christine

It's never too late to study - I started studying for my AAT a month ago (I'm nearly 46 and have never worked in accounts before). I passed my level 2 IAB bookeeping last year but decided to go down the AAT route so that I can get a better grounding in accounting/bookeeping.

Farmer Giles - I wasn't interested to hear that you are studying for your final AAT qualitification this. Did you study distance learning?

Barbara

Bubsy · Veteran Member

Farmer Giles

oops! slip of the fingers - I meant to say that I was interested in hearing whether you are studying distance learning.

Barbara

farmergiles · Veteran Member

Hi Barbara,

I did mention that I was returning to college on 8 December to restart my course.

Kind regards
Peter

stephen72 · Senior Member

Hi Christine,
Welcome , as it has already been pointed out we are continually learning and it never does any harm to keep on learning. Nobody knows everything

stephen

maidofkent · Member

Ooppss!

Thank you for all the replies.....but.....

I might have sounded as if I was complaining - I didn't manage to get my point across properly.

I study voluntarily all the time, and never stop reading where tax and accounting is concerned, and I absolutely appreciate that there will always be learning to do.

But what I should have said is that I'm not interested in studying for a formal qualification again; after all, I'm already qualified, but just so long ago that IAB won't let me in. And with only another 5 years maximum to work, I only want to work as long as I have to, then retire. So sitting exams again is not what I want to do.

With regards to cost, I did make enquiries a couple of years ago and the cost of taking a course, examinations, membership of IAB etc, came to around £600, and I'm sure I wouldn't get that amount more work just because I had letters after my name.

I wanted to know if anybody felt that the lack of membership of a body had affected their ability to find work.

Christine

farmergiles · Veteran Member

Hi Christine,

It hasn't affected me. I'm not qualified yet but after working in a practice for quite a few years I have the experience to complete accounts for clients. They don't seem overlly worried about lack of qualifications as long as their accounts and tax are correct. I pay HMR & C for my MLR and I source my insurance privately(it may be slightly more expensive than getting it through a professional body) but at least I'm not restricted. I can tackle any job I feel competant to do without constantly having to ask how to do it. If I don't feel confident, I don't take the job....simples!

maidofkent · Member

Thank you, farmer giles

That's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to hear.

I guess I wanted to confirm that the decision to not re-train was an alright decision.

I find that, working alone, I worry that I'm becoming out of touch with the rest of the profession, and so it's nice to know that I'm the same as the rest of the world!

I'm off to the other forums now........ many thanks for everyone's response to my post.

Christine