PAYE Course - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

Silly Digits · Senior Member

PAYE Course

Alison · Senior Member

Hi

If you have some knowledge of payroll and you want to keep the cost down a possibility is to get a couple of ICB past payroll papers, you will need to get hold of the relevant tax tables for that past paper, you will need access to a computerised payroll package which you will need for the exam anyway - think you can get a free trial on 12Pay and possibly there are other free trials which will do for the exam.

With the past papers why I suggested a couple is if you have one where you don't look at the answers at all and the other one if you use it to learn how to do each section of the exam, looking at the answers as you go along then when you are confident do the one you have not looked at the answers for from start to finish then check the answers to see how you did. If you still don't feel confident get another past paper and do the same.

This will cost £5 per past exam paper, then if you get a free trial of payroll won't cost anything else except the actual exam paper.

Alison

PJC Bookkeeping · Veteran Member

You could buy a Sage Instant Payroll Self-study pack, for example, at

http://books.theregister.co.uk/catalog/browse.asp?cat=B&subcat=7&group=8014&start=10

for less than £50. Although it is a fairly old bit of kit (maybe based on tax year 2005-6?) the principles of payroll are very well covered and therefore worthwhile.

With past exam papers as well, as Alison suggested, I think you will have enough material there to study for the exam.

Good luck.

Peter

PJC Bookkeeping Services

Marky65 · Guru

Hi

I know that you said that you wanted to do a course from home but have you considered attending one of the free HMRC workshops on this subject. If you have some knowledge of payroll it will help as they will confirm what you do know and might help fill in a few gaps as well. This may then help avoid the need of having to spend too much on a home course.

Regards

Mark

Lisa Jo · Senior Member

The best books to get are the AAT study books, Ive done level 2 & 3 as theyre manual assignments & cover s/employed etc. Ive just finished L3 & L4 computerised & start my payroll degree in June. Are you doing computerised?

Silly Digits · Senior Member

Thanks Lisa for your reply.

Yes looking at doing computerised.

Good luck with your degree.

Neil · Senior Member

Referring to Peter's message above, it looks as though Sage themselves are selling a self study course based on the current version of Instant Payroll for £45.

I think this is the option I'll take.

Cheers
Neil

attilabenko · Guru

Well I am thinking to do payroll as well. If you really want to do it with ICB have a look at Ideal Schools Glasgow (distance learning) they do it under £500, you can pay it in instalments and you will get a fully licensed SAGE 50 Payroll from them. I looked at many training providers but all of them seems to give you SAGE Instant Payroll only and they charge you the same price so at least with Ideal Schools you would get a bit more for your money. SAGE 50 Payroll would cost you £265+VAT if you had to buy it yourself. SAGE does sell work books for £45 (for Instant Payroll) and £99 for Payroll 50 both these come with 180 days trial of the software (instant or 50), if you want a certificate as well it is another £50 and very likely you still will have to take ICBs payroll managment exam if you have your practice license with them.

Neil · Senior Member

Morning Attila

I've decided I'll use the Sage Instant Payroll self study pack to prepare for the ICB exam. You're right, I'd certainly need to get their OK to provide payroll under my practice licence. My budget for this would be £75 including the exam fee.

It's almost axiomatic that if Sage sell a package then almost everyone else will do it cheaper and I've seen plenty of recommendations for alternatives on this forum. It may be that I'm old, cynical and contrarian but on principle I'll definitely look at the alternatives before I go for Sage.

Cheers
Neil

attilabenko · Guru

Hi,
if you have prior knowledge of payroll you should go with the cheapest possible option, none of the ICB exams seemed to be difficult at all and i did not have any knowledge before my studies. I have no knowledge of payroll so i will have to look for a training provider maybe at least to boost my confidence. And as I have got no payroll software either i will have to consider the price of this as well. if i can work in practice with payroll 50 i will just go with the school above if not or for additional cost then i will have to consider other options...
Someone adviced me the other day we only should use what SAGE say for technical support as they are not accountants or anything. They only know how their software works but hey don,t know why. I don,t really know if it is right or not. Before I was thinking about joining SAGE bookkeepers club, you get software, their logo on your site and support for £400 and something but now i am concerned if their support is good or is it really technical only. I have never seen their study books either does it explain payroll or it explaines the software only?

Neil · Senior Member

Attila

I've seen several people talking about the Sage Bookkeepers Club on here. If I recall, the benefits aren't obvious but you could do a forum search.

Cheers
Neil

attilabenko · Guru

Thank Neil