Yesterday I signed up for Level II bookkeeping - really looking forward to getting on with it. Today I received my certificate for Level I - with a letter from ICB congratulating me and strongly advising me to apply for the level II in computerised bookkeeping. I telephoned them as they put it in their letter "do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance", so I took them up on their offer, and called them to discuss the computerised certificate. I explained that I didn;t really want to do it as I have already passed computerised accounts in Sage, the lady on the phone explained that they didn;t recognise Sage and I would need to complete it with them.. I dont really want to - so I said as much - that I didn't want to spend more money when I already have Sage 1 2 and 3 - the reply was - well you wont have any problem passing our exam then... I was shocked... how rude... how rude is that.
So if I pass the Level II bookkeeping but dont take the computerised exam.. how will that effect me getting a practice licence if I ever needed one.
So it looks like you'll need to fork out another £25 - but you have just over a year.
I'm doing the opposite of what you are doing - I'll be sitting my ICB computerised level II shortly (maybe 6 weeks) and my manual level II next Friday. At some point in the future I'll be doing the Sage exams as I would guess they are regarded better by most people.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
That's the problem with the ICB, they're very arrogant. You should try www.iab.org.uk, they a bookkeeping body which has been around for a long time and is well respected. They definitely recorgnise Sage qualifications, so you would'nt have a problem getting exemptions.
That's the problem with the ICB, they're very arrogant.
The ICB is the largest bookkeeping body in the world and is made up of councils of bookkeepers and accountants, along with advisors such as MPs and other government bodies.
The reason why the ICB do not accept Sage certificates as straight exemptions is because Sage do not teach bookkeeping to the ICB standards, they teach how to move around software.
The ICB is the toughest bookkeeping body to join - it has the highest standards as it only wants the best bookkeepers.
If you like, you could compare it to a trade union of bookkeepers, if its members do not want to accept Sage certificates, it is (hopefully) for a very good reason.
Maybe we could start a discussion to get the feelings of other bookkeepers on this forum as to whether a Sage certificate is enough?
That's the problem with the ICB, they're very arrogant.
The ICB is the toughest bookkeeping body to join - it has the highest standards as it only wants the best bookkeepers.
Many will strongly disagree with this statement. The ICB will sell their courses to anyone. Their priority is making money, this is why their courses are sold to training providers such as 'Home Learning College'.
IMO, the IAB is of a higher standard than ICB, hence the reason they are more respected by other accounting bodies when comes to exemptions. For your information, many ICB qualified bookkeepers on here have regretted taking this route, they wish they had done AAT or IAB, hence the reason many are now transfering to the IAB.
You don't seem to listen to your members, this comes down to arrogance and being caught up in your own hype.
Many will strongly disagree with this statement. The ICB will sell their courses to anyone. Their priority is making money, this is why their courses are sold to training providers such as 'Home Learning College'.
Now this is a very good point IMO. However homo learning college do tend to have their fingers in many pies, the fact still remains that ICB are only interested in themselves, my father is a very well respected educator, has a PHD, researches around the world etc, who basically disagrees with learning providors like ICB purely because they offer no actual continuance with their qualifications beyond the basics, if you want to be a book-keeper then its a cool qualification, but in reality people tend towards pushing themselves further, human nature really, and this is one reason not to pursue the ICB route, especially when there are many other options open.
-- Edited by Rhianrach on Saturday 24th of July 2010 07:21:15 PM
Good posts here, I am starting to really get into this forum. However:
Louis wrote: The ICB will sell their courses to anyone The ICB don't have or sell courses. Even if they did how would they not sell a course to someone as they aim to help people from all backgrounds and start at the very start of accountancy.
Louis wrote: Their priority is making money The ICB is a not for profit organisation, and its fees are extremely competitive to the IAB but (in my personal opinion) offer much more support.
The ICB was founded to support bookkeepers and realised that there are people who actually want to be bookkeepers, rather than bookkeepers being people training to be an accountant.
This did mean that its syllabus differed slightly from lets say the AAT.
Recently (within 2 years) at member meetings it has become obvious that the ICB is gaining a lot of members who do want to become accountants, or just study further. Therefore the ICB is expanding its syllabus to cover Level 4 which should be ready for next achemic year.
Other examples of ICB listening to their members would be the qualification in Self Assessment Taxation that was released in 2009 after members at meetings, and surveys, requested it. Also the new membership structure came about because of meetings with members and others in the accounting industry.
The ICB did not listen to their members when they decided they must past all three levels of both computerised and manual bookkeeping to receive a practicing certificate for providing bookkeeping services. They did not listen to their members when they decided they should pass a separate self assessment exam to beable to provide this service.
It is a good thing that you have decided to add the level 4 qualifcation, but members who go on to pass this qualification, would they still be regarded as bookkeepers? I ask this as you a bookkeeping body and not an accountancy body.
Members haven't decided you need all 3 levels, infact far from it. Many ICB members only do books to Level 2 standard before passing them on.
Not sure what you mean by: 'they should pass a separate self assessment exam to provide this service', what service? Do you mean Self Assessment Tax Returns, which there is a separate assessment and qualification for that.
