Hi peter,

as you have no doubt noticed there are loads of threads on here giving advice on the best route to take.

Generally this falls into two categories. If you want to seek employment with the option to go self emloyed then AAT seems to be the optimal route.

If you only want self employment then IAB or ICB would work for you.

Bookcert is a business in a box type of sollution where you are taught the basics of bookkeeping and sage but it is not a supervisory body and you are not covered for MLR which you MUST have or suffer severe penalties including two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Other alternatives similar to the Bookcert route could be the AAT ABC bookkeeping certificate or the Open University course B190 (might be B191) either of which will give you exemptions from many of the exams of the supervisory bodies.

Be careful with training providers as there are some extremely expensive ones out there and expense does not necessarily equate to a better service.

Two good and reasonably priced training providers are Premier Training and Ideal Schools.

For reading matter it all depends on your level of previous experience.

Assuming that you are a complete beginner I would suggest Business Accounts for Book-keeping and financial accounting courses (3rd edition) by David Cox. Osbourn Books.
This book will be a desk reference for the rest of your career.

Match that with the AAT revision companion units 1-4 (all in one book) which will take you through all the basics of sales and purchase ledger.

A couple of introductory books that may also be of interest would be :

Mastering Accounting Skills by Margaret Nicholson

Mastering Book-Keeping by Peter Marshall

For a complete beginner you may wish to do the last two books first.

Note that unless you take the AAT route you do not need a training provider. You can just do everything from books and take the exams when you see fit.

If you read and understood the above four books you would sail through ICB levels I and II and maybe even III.

However, I personally would advise the AAT ABC bookkeeping or OU introduction to bookkeeping and then join the IAB by exemption.

Hope that this short note helped and welcome to the forum,

Shaun.

Here's another useful link:
http://opentuition.com/aat/unit30/

It all depends on how much time you have and your ability to pick things up.

I would say unless your a very intelligent person that doing all three levels in one year is a big ask.
Two years sounds reasonable though, although providers claim you can do a level in 6 months I would say that depends on the above.

blimey...i guess if you put your mind to it you can acheive anything...
can't see me completing it in a year though!!
more like 2..
annemarie

Hi Anne Marie,

better to do the subject in two years and know the subject matter than to do it in one and just pass exams!

All too often people learn how to pass exams but don't really understand the subject matter.

Two years is a good investment of your time and I would stick with that as a plan.

good luck with it,

Shaun.

Ammers wrote:

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Still, experience in something is better than experience in nothing!......

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You know hat they say about experience.

Experience is something you get when you are looking for something else.

A bit like taste really, it's better to have bad taste than no taste.

Have a good day/ weekend

Bill

Aha this post just made me a Guru 

-- Edited by Wella on Saturday 24th of April 2010 08:17:38 AM

Well done Bill...Think Shaun is getting my fan mail though!