My name is Gary, aka clawz! lol, and I have wanted to find a site like this now for a while. I've needed a support network for a while, the reason for this is I passed B190 Accounting and Bookkeeping back in December last year gaining a Distinction. I then went on to take B292 Financial Accounting with the OU this year, however sadly i didn't prepare enough for the exam, well that and the VERY poorly layed out course content, But i can retake the exam later this year, which i am going to do.
However in the mean time I am going to start the AAT course (lvl3) as most employers want this qualifacation on your CV, i've tried explaining that i have the same in the form of my OU ones, but I've sent out countless CV's since November and have not gotten a SINGLE call back! So AAT it is then! Fingers crossed this will get me somewhere!
So im a qualified, but NOT registered, bookkeeper holding the MIAB status, but no-one wants to employ me! Which is also making me think shall i start my on service up? But its WAY to daunting for me! :/ lol
Anyways thats me in a nutshell, i hope to have fun while im here!
the problem that you are hitting is one that's happening to a lot of people.
On the back of redundancies many people have retrained into bookkeeping meaning that employers are being flooded with CVs for every advertised role.
I think that I've mentioned before that the Reed website shows the number of applicants for each role and close to me one job for an accounts assistant had over 900 applications within two hours of posting!
Agents can't be expected to sift through all of those and on many occassions even the most suitable applicants for the role don't get a call back let alone people who come to this with no previous experience.
Don't take that the wrong way as it's good that you are trying to better your prospects but do realise that your competition for every role are people with experience and often higher qualifications.
It sounds as though you've already spotted that employers look for AAT qualification as a minimum for non experienced, but experience will always win out over qualifications for these sort of roles.
My advice would be to attempt to gain some temping roles rather than going straight for employment. Look at credit control as well as sales and purchase ledger work. The first role may be difficult to land if all you do is send out CVs. Speak to the agents, try to strike up a banter with them that will set you appart from the crowd. Remember the agent is the gatekeeper standing between you and that elusive role that you are looking for!
I have to disagree with you on the B292 material. I've not actually sen it but am assuming that it's been adopted from one third of the now defunct B680 which is the one that I did (I think that it had to die as it was heading towards £3000 for a one year, pretty intensive, course). If however you are having problems with it try adding the kaplan study text for ACCA paper F3 to your reading list.
The book doesn't have to be the latest version. use this search (your only interested in the Kaplan, not BPP books) :
The material used to be better with BPP under the old 1.1 sylabus but of course that was under UK GAAP and I'm assuming that you have moved onto IFRS.
As you get further into your studies you will find more and more that the books that you adopt for study are not neccessarily the one's of the body that you are signed up with. I'm ACCA but have got study texts for ACCA. CIMA, AAT, CAT, HND, A2, etc. etc.
On the qualifications front you've already realised that B190 alone will not get you anywhere even though it is an excellent introductory course (very much the same as AAT ABC). Even when you've finished AAT you still have the experience hurdle to overcome which is why I say that you should look seriously at temping whilst doing your qualification.
Good luck in your studies and landing the role that you want,
kind regards,
Shaun.
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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.
No i really did mean B291 financial accounting. The course itself is pretty much a full on version of B190, with some business Law and accounting ethics. 292 is more of the management accounting, the course which i did not start as i thought why pay 750 notes for a course that, judging by the first (being overly complicated, and thats not just my views/opinions over 50% of the students who took this exam failed it!) i thought my money was better spent taking the AAT course. That way at least at the end of it i can stand a better chance of getting a job! Thing is though, as you have said, is that no-one wants to employ you as you have no experience....! :( and you cant, correct me if im wrong, just 'do' peoples books for them as you need to be licensed and insured meaning your effectively 'setting up you own business'....
Hi, just a small correction, I was on the first presentation of B291 with the exam in May, pass rate was 57%. And yes it was a really hard course but I think it was a really good grounding on the extent of what you need to know. Anyway good luck with your AAT studies!!!
I stand corrected then... lol... Thanks Madmaz, i couldn't remember the exact figures but all i know is that the pass mark was very low! :/ lowest i've seen for a long time!? :/
