Theres been a lot of discussion on the forum about which organisation to join when first starting and I wish I had known the following before I made my choice.

I thought I would pass this on if you are considering IAB or ICB.

If you think you may want to enhance your qualifications at a later date and go for the ACCA Certified Accounting Technician you may want to consider the following.
(You can check on their website which qualifications exempt from their papers)

ACCA CAT only recognise ICB level II manual/ comp and exempts from paper T1 -Recording Financial Transactions. There are no exemptions for any higher level.

All IAB grades give varying degrees of exemption From Papers T1,T2,T3,T4,T6 and T9
(Depending on which IAB qualifiacations are held) IAB Level 4 Diploma Accounting to International Standards also gives exemption to ACCA paper F3

AAT do not list exemptions on their site, it looks like you can take a Skills Test, though.

Just something to consider before you pay your money and make your choice

Bill

Just to update, I have just done the AAT Skills Test, Anyone that has done ICB level III manual, shouldn't find it a problem.

As our exam guru (thats you Shaun) said in another post today, You get hooked on exams and I'm wondering what to do next.