Hi, I'm new to this. I've just completed my AAT training and am considering self-employed bookkeeping. I am currently on maternity leave from my job as accounts administrator for a small business but not intending to return to (out of home) work for a couple of years as I couldn't afford the childcare!
I would love to get some advice on other qualifications that might be useful eg I've heard about an ICB Level 3 that is being released soon? I know I have to register with certain bodies but unsure quite where to start. Any advice would be much appreciated.
The advice you seek on how to start and who to register with has been asked many times on this forum. They are changing the forum on 1st June I hope they make a post like that a sticky on any new style of forum.
So basically you're looking for info on Money Laundering Regulations Professional Indemnity Insurance Practise Licence (if needed)
I'll let others with better English writing abilities fill these details in (if required)
__________________
Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
ok thanks. is that something i should/could do? or do you need to do lower levels first?
You need to do the lower levels first. There is mention on this forum of qualifications from one body exempting you from exams on another body - it's all beyond me. James from the ICB is regularly on this forum so he would be the one to ask.
EDIT : Don't be fooled by the 609 posts in the bit on the left hand side of the page and the "Guru" status I have achieved as a result. 570 of those posts were likely me asking questions.
-- Edited by Peasie on Tuesday 24th of May 2011 11:10:05 AM
__________________
Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Thanks for taking the time to respond, have been having a look around on the forums to find the info but its all very complex isn't it? I'll keep looking :)
If you put "starting up" into the search link at the top of this forum there will be a lot of results. You could go through them one by one but a better idea is rather than read each individual post scroll down the page of each thread until you see a thread with a really long paragraph (which rules out most of my posts). A lot of the posts ask for different aspects of starting up but there will be a thread somewhere that hits the nail on the head. Likely the thread with the long paragraph.
__________________
Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
as Peasie says you can get exemptions from the qualifications of other bodies but reading your note you state that you have already been working in accounts admin whilst you were doing your AAT so now that you've passed your exams why not go for MAAT MIP rather than going to ICB or IAB?
An MAAT MIP can be called an accountant but the reality is that it's somewhere between bookkeeper and accountant. You could then work as a bookkeeper for starters and add more services later as your skills and experience expand.
If you are adamant about ICB / IAB I know that when I was having discussions in relation to the ACCA qualification with the ICB, AAT was also quoted as one where it was not considered bookkeeing (I know, a long debate done to death elsewhere) so you may find that IAB offers more exemptions (possibly full exemption as you come to this with full AAT and experience). Of course, the ICB may have also changed their minfd now about the AAT qualification as the bodies regularly review and update their exemptions.
Personally I would persue the AAT route but it's your call.
Good luck with the new venture, the new baby and welcome to the forum.
All the best,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
If you have done them all then the ICB Level 4 would just be going over old ground so I wouldn't worry about that.
If you have AAT Levels 2, 3 and 4 technician then you will get exemptions into ICB but you will be required to do an entrance paper (scenario based, you complete the books for a fictional company and send them to ICB).
You could then become Full Member (Certified Bookkeeper) with the ICB.
If you are happy with the AAT support/membership etc, or want to go onto ACCA/ICAEW then perhaps best to stick with AAT.
Otherwise I would be glad to give you advice on how to go about applying to the ICB
I completed the AAT and i did the two tax modules. After this i set up as a member in practice and found the support of the AAT pretty good. I started off just as bookkeeper but as my confidence grew i added a few tax clients. Although some may not consider the AAT bookkeeping it covers pretty much most of what the IAB and ICB cover, with a few other things that i have never used such as costing.
I have since gone on to train to be a chartered accountant, and due to my AAT I gained 5 exemptions from the 15 exams under the ICAEW, which was a welcome benefit. So keeping your AAT membership may be useful in later life if you choose to study further. I am sure Shamus can tell you what exemptions you may get under ACCA. I am not sure how easy it would be to leave the AAT and then try to get your membership back at a later date.
The IAB and ICB are very good if you want to be a self employed bookkeeper and are more focused on bookkeeping than the AAT i feel and now they are adding furtehr syllabuses you have more oppotunity to do other work outside of bookkeeping. But in my opinion having the AAT status, which you have worked hard for goves you more options in the future.
Nick
-- Edited by NickCraggs on Tuesday 24th of May 2011 02:17:08 PM
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
Just to confirm the AAT-ICAEW fast track or AAT-ACCA is given based on the AAT qualifications, not membership.
Therefore if you left AAT you would not need to rejoin them in order to progress.
What I meant by sticking with AAT if you wanted to join ICAEW or ACCA is that the AAT support/newsletters/work experience etc is all geared towards being an accountant, which may help you rather than the ICB which is geared towards being a bookkeeper.
Just a thought, if someone who has done the technician level AAT exams and then sat the entrance exam would they get fellow membership of the ICB? Would it depend on which AAT modules they did at technician level as the tax modules seem to cover ICB level IV, but if someone did the audit and cash management modules they would not as this would not be sufficient to cover the ICB level IV syllabus.
Thanks
Nick
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
No to get Fellow you have to be a Full Member for at least 2 years and have all the ICB qualifications.
Then you write to the Fellows council and they interview you and decide.
The ICB Level IV is written to national standards, although it is not accredited, therefore it will be very similar to AAT's Level 4. They are modular so most likely you would get exemptions from each relevant module you have completed, even if with another body.
However, the Level 4 exemptions and cross matching is not quite complete so this is all to be finalised.
I'm actually finding this one more annoying than most of the spammers as this one is professing to offer advice but the advice if not what would be expected from this site.
They are obviously reading the posts that they are responding to as there is a tentative link to the subject matter but the advice for what it is is just complete rubbish.
Also quite clever that they're patching onto existing threads rather than starting their own so that the whole thread can't just be deleted.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I can give the site up anytime that I want to... I'm not an adict... lol
Just did a group accounts scenario question so decided to take a quick break.
Which of course is not such a quick break when spammers on the site start annoying me.
The one that really got my goat was that we have a first time poster asking about wat they needed to learn to do their business accounts better and you get that darn stupid answer from Eshaa83 about chartered accountant.
I wonder if site admin have a facility to delete not just a user but also every post that they've made but without deleting the threads? I say that as Eshaa83 is patching onto existing threads rather than our normal spammers who at least have the decency to make their threads easy to delete.
-- Edited by Shamus on Saturday 28th of May 2011 03:11:27 PM
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I'm sure she didn't have link in her posts the first two or three. I smelled a spammer but looked tat the profile and no link. That post with the chartered accountant gave the game away and I looked again and saw a link.
__________________
Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Hi, I was very interested in this post as I am currently looking into what to continue with as I have just completed my AAT.
I work for a small accountancy practise that my sister owns and plan to continue with her and hopefully become partner. I am learning a lot on the job but would like to be able to hold my own and take on a bigger role whilst she wants to take a step back for a couple of years to have a family. She completed her CIMA many years ago and I wanted to do something to complement her qualification. As I am stronger with the financial accounts rather than management acccounts I have considered going down the ACCA route. I believe with a full AAT it only exempts me from the first level and I'd still have 3 years of study ahead of me and quite a high cost as a distance learner.
I also hope to start a family in a couple of years so wondered if there is something else I can do instead that furthers my learning but isn't such a long commitment, especially with them being fixed paper based exams twice yearly as opposed to CBT's which I found very flexible.
Would you have any advice as to what course I could do?
ATT would be a good complimentary qualification and depending on what modules you took in the AAT you should get some exemptions and it wont be a long 3/4 year slog.
Unfortunatly the big guys, ACCA,CIMA and ICAEW will atleast 3+ years even with your AAT.
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
Reading your post Suzie you sister is CIMA so why not take the same route... Oops, actually CIMA don't exist anymore do they. what are they called now? Back in a min.
CGMA
It's often banded around that one can do ACCA in three years but do you know of anyone whose done it? I don't. The probablem is that its often quoted as three years but they forget to tell you that the candidates have relevant degree's so considerably more than just three exemptions.
I think that a more reasonable expectation is 5-6 years for ACCA if you do it pretty solidly at two papers per sitting (and realise that you will have resits).
If you did however want to go ACCA why bother with the AAT qualification at all?
As soon as you join up with the ACCA as a student you can't use your MAAT MIP status as that would be in breach of ACCA regulation 8. (Although working under your sister rather than unsupervised you will be ok).
Why not just sit the first three ACCA papers which will teach you everything that is on the AAT syllabus plus some and then launch into the full qualification in the knowledge that you are prepared for the ACCA way of thinking.
ATT as Nick suggests is another excellent qualification and it's one that I'm intending to do as CPD.
HTH,
shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Many thanks. I am just taking my last AAT exam next week and have completed all units except the audit one. With the change over from diploma to the new route I ended up taking one extra unit as I wanted to do both Personal and Business tax. As this is a large part of what I do at work.
I definately don't want to take the long route of ACCA as its not realistic for me with wanting to start a family and learning all I can from joining my sister in her business last year. My sister will be able to provide me with a lot of skills whilst on the job but I guess what I'm really looking for is to have an equal status to gain respect from the clients and to be an equal to my sister in the future.
I did print off the AAT-ACA fast track from the ICAEW website. I haven't yet read through it all to work out what it involves but might that possibly be a good option for me having already completed the AAT?
i did the AAT/ICAEW fasttrack and i thought it was realy good, however, this wont be quick or easy. You need to get a training contract at an approved employer, and whilst you do get exemptions and can sit most of the exams every 3 months you need to get 450 days of work experience, so it will be atleast 3 years before you can qualify through this.
If you do get the chance though I would take it though!
Nick
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
I looked into using my AAT qualifications (level 2 and 3) as exemptions from either ICB or IAB in order to get working before finishing my AAT exams. The IAB asked for the normal membership fees plus £25 for processing the application. They meet once a month to award membership on that basis and job done.
ICB on the other hand told me that I could become a member without sitting the exams but that I would still have to pay the exam fees for the exams I would not be taking. This was going to cost several hundred pounds and seemed like madness!
Until James took hold of the reigns at the ICB they didn't even consider AAT (or ACCA, or CIMA, or ICAEW!) good enough to warrant exemptions from ICB exams.
The quote always related back to the ICB statistics about accountants not being able to pass bookkeeping exams.
Anyway, that's old history it would seem as now if you have taken ACCA paper F3 (one of low level papers) within two years you can get exemptions and it would seem that ICB is now also being more accomodating for AAT.
But, as you've discovered, as with many organisations those guaranteed passes come at the price of paying the exam fee's that they missed.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
