Which government department does? Although I have found the ICO to be better than most.

Then this question is back to ICB. I pay them, they tell me if they require me to register...unless they make me, I am not willing to pay for it. Anyway can anyone explain me what would I actually pay for? I mean what would I get for my money?

What do you get for your £35 - a little certificate that says you've paid for a year!!!!!!

Steve, can you do it for £20? Being a first time customer,etc.

BackOfficeGroup wrote:

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I also read that its no longer a straight £35 to register. Is this true?

P

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There is a two-tiered notification fee. The two-tiered structure is based on an organisations size and turnover.  A data controller will need to assess which tier they fall in and hence the fee they are required to pay.  The fee for tier 1 is £35 and the fee for tier 2 is £500. 

 

Attila

I agree, I do not retain any personal information on the computer with regard to information that can identify an individual, other than that needed to run the business.


Bill

Money down the drain Julie, book-keepers do not need to be registered.

BackOfficeGroup wrote:

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well done you.

I lost a couple of points for not adding up correctly!! I did rush it though as was at work, but pleased anyway.

P

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I've just done the mock and got 96%.

I think had it been paper based I might have got another two correct as it was also not adding things up correctly. I think I was in too much of a rush. Not because of the time - I just wanted the thing over with as quickly as possible.

I never bothered to check any answers in the time I had left - just went through to make sure I had actually put an answer to every question.

Having said I might have got another two correct had it been paper based I might have got another 7 or 8 wrong becuase I was just filling in the gaps.

Anyways - I think I'll just need to see if I can get my problem with the log-in sorted. Still a bit annoyed at the way the ICB washed their hands of the matter.

Well done Peasie, have you booked your exam at Pearson Vue yet?

semsley wrote:

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Money down the drain Julie, book-keepers do not need to be registered.

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Hello,

2009 the ICB received a huge number of calls about this (larger than previous years) so the ICB set out to get a simple answer, as each time someone calls the ICO, they get a different answer.

The ICO (Information Commissioner's Office) have told the ICB that the deciding point is that if you offer advice, you must register.

Previously the ICO presumed bookkeepers only record information and do not give any advice. So if you call and say your a bookkeeper they assume all you do is type in receipts for an accountant.


What is advice?
Well it includes things like a client asking 'can I claim this as a business expense?'


The ICB went around the country in 2009 holding seminars and meetings to cover Data Protection, and they have produced a booklet on the subject.

If you are a practising member of the ICB call 0845 060 2345 to get a free booklet on Data Protection and registering with the ICO.

You can also speak to one of our advisors if you feel you fall outside the scope of the Data Protection Act.

ICBUK wrote:

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Hi Peasie
Sorry didn't mean to skip your post, I belive our team has been in touch?

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I knew those posts would give away my identity.

I'm still waiting on Pearson Vue replying to my email. I don't want to book my exam over the phone. I want to be able to look and see what available slots there are and how they would fit into my day. Still annoyed that the momentum of doing the mock and then going on to do the real thing has been broken - and for how long I don't know as I don't know when I'll be able to book my "on demand" exam.

 

Peasie wrote:

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I knew those posts would give away my identity.  

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Hi,

Its fine, actually we have had very few problems, only about 4-5 peoples records didn't register properly, so it wasn't like I was snooping to find you as we have now fixed the others.

We registered just over 7,600 UK people on the 1st July, and it turns out it might have been too much for their system so any little formatting errors got kicked out instead of being sorted on the import.

Your record should be fine now. 

I'm booked in now for next Friday (30th July) at 2pm.

Should be fun. I'm absolutely hopeless at driving in towns (I don't know) and parking. Passed my driving test two years ago and have managed to avoid reverse parking ever since. Wasn't required in the test so I never learned. All I was taught was reverse parking behind a car - not in between two cars. I got lost on the way to the exam centre when doing my driving theory test. I've even been on google street view trying to find the place. Think I'd better set off today to try and find the place that is only about 15 miles away.

I get the impression apart from the weekends mentioned above the only dates at my centre were Tuesdays and Fridays. Still, it's better than three exams a year.

Good luck to you as well Pauline (and congratulations on the mock).

I think the question on VAT had me puzzled. Not so much the question - but the headings for the various day books. I don't want to write too much about the exam for obvious reasons but I hope they look at it. I also got one mark wrong because I put the answer in the wrong box. This was due to the actual VAT100 form being on a different page and being tiny anyway. This won't make any sense to anyone still to sit the mock but may make sense to those that already have.

Hi Philip,

Yes that was the one!

Peasie, you could have zoomed in on the VAT100 form to make it bigger.

Pauline

I've queried that with ICB but await any reply.....

P

Congratulations Ruth.

Well done Ruth excellent result

-- Edited by Chris G on Thursday 22nd of July 2010 04:21:32 PM

I've just checked my free report and my mark has changed, now I've got 99%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was an extra answer box at the bottom of a balance sheet and I didn't know what to do with it, my guess is this error had wrongly affected my mark, and that is what has increased my percentage. Either way, I'm not complaining!!

Yeay!! Did my Level 2 yesterday, and as Ruth said it was all very civilised and straightforward. I even got a room to myself! I passed too with 99% !! Marching on to Level 3 now!

Pauline

Just completed the Level II Manual Bookkeeping exam. Nice format, but I was expecting a little more. The exam took me 61 minutes, including the review. I thought the format was good.

My advice to anyone is, don't be afraid to use the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons while you are doing the exam. You'll probably need to do that when you get the P&L and Balance Sheet questions. But, before you click on the 'Previous' button, make sure you've at least scrolled to the bottom of the screen, otherwise you'll get a warning that you haven't looked at the whole screen - and you don't need to worry if you've only completed part of the question; so long as you've scrolled to the bottom, you'll be able to move from screen to screen with no data loss.

There are three options for reviewing your answers when you've finished.

I'd love to know how large the question bank is - and I don't mean the thirty nine questions you have to answer - I mean the bank that those thirty nine are drawn from.

I got 94%. So I'm quite happy with that. I know where I lost those six marks, so am not too worried. I'll be booking the Level III manual exam as soon as ICB have got the results for this one.

I'm trying to rattle through the ICB membership exams as quickly as I can. I started taking the exams seven weeks ago and have so far done the Level I Basic (97%), Level II Computerised (96%), Level III Computerised (89% - didn't spend long enough on the non-computer questions in this paper), today's Level II Manual Bookkeeping (94%). So, long as the Level III manual comes in the same zone as the rest I'll be happy. Once the Level III is under my belt, I'll be swatting up for the Level III Payroll Management and the Self Assessment Tax Returns (I love taxation). So, all in all, hope to be finished by the end of October.

I think the ICB is a good qualification, but its the same with any professional qualification - the qualification is just the start of any on-going professional development.

I think the ICB have done a reasonable job with the move to online assessment. That said, I found the ACCA Certified Accounting Technician exams to be much harder - particularly the cost accounting and they were offering online assessments seven years ago.

Anyway, I wouldn't waste my time on practice exams. If you've learned your stuff well enough, you are going to pass. That knowledge needs to be sufficiently ingrained - not just for the exams, but for your career as a bookkeeper.

Hope these views are a worthwhile contribution.

All the best for tomorrow.

Remember: Top Right of the screen is your countdown timer, telling you how long you've got left. You can easily go back and review questions (and change your answers if necessary).

Be prepared to go through the first 25 questions very quickly.

Let us know how you've got on.

GrahamG wrote:

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Hi Ruth,

What 'free' report are you referring to? Is this the printed paper centre gave to you at the end of the exam, or something else?

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Maybe there is some confusion over whether people have taken the mock exam or the real thing. There is a free report with the mock exam.

 

I think he means the mock isn't "exactly" the same as the real thing.

There were 13 tasks in the mock but a lot more than just 13 questions. The first 25 in the real thing must be easy questions and the next 14 (?) made up of more marks.