Fist off Hello! first time poster, long time lurker.
I am thinking about doing the OU K01 certificate in accounting as it will give me membership of the ICB when finished and would give me exemptions from various accountancy bodies if I decieded to go down that route (would prefer to start on my own as a ICB bookkeeper, but always good to have a back up!).
I have a year off work and I am able to study fulltime, so I would like to pass as quickly as possible. The course module B291 starts in November and then the second part B292 follows in may so if I was succesfull would be done by october 2012.
However if i was to do the B190 intro course as recommended then this would mean I would miss the B291 start date and push everything back until april 2013.
So my question is (to those who have done k01, or those who have knowledge of the course) could I leap straight into K01 if I was able to study on a fulltime basis or is it a no no?
I have little experience with accountancy but have had some experience many moons ago I was a purchase ledger clerk.
a very good first question there to which I don't honestly know 100% the answer.
The reason that I'm still posting a response is that I do know something of this area having done the forerunner (B680) which was basically B190, B291, B292 and another module with no current equivalent on accounting theory.
The three OU modules (excluding B190) could very much be tied to cut down versions of the first three ACCA fundamentals papers (F1 Accountant in Business, F2 Management Accounting and F3 Financial Accounting).
What remains now only to my mind covers F2 and F3.
The OU B190 covers pretty much the same ground as the AAT Foundation level.
Ok, history and compa risons out of the way. What your question boils down to is does B291 cover the same material as B190.
Simple answer is yes it does... But... There's always one of those! B190 used to be given away as a pre course before you launched into the then equivalent of B291 which was the first of the three modules. You found yourself covering a lot of the same material but in greater detail.
If you haven't got a basic understanding of bookkeeping then not knowing it will slow you down in B291. However, as you cover the same material I think doing B190 is an unneccessary expense that can be avoided with a bit of reading.
I would advise that before you do B291 you read the following book :
Business Accounts for Bookkeeping and financial accounting courses. David Cox, Osbourne books. (currently 17.79 from Amazon or cheaper from a reseller).
Bill (Wella) always advises "Book-Keeping and Accounts" by Frank Woods and Sheila Robinson but that one comes in at £30.08. There is a version of that one that you can look inside here :
There are lots of other alternatives and the book that you use very much comes down to personal preference.
As your ultimate aim is to go down the bookkeeping route (you mention ICB) you might also want to check these out :
Mastering Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall (£8.66)
Computerised Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall (£8.66)
Mastering Accounting Skills by Margaret Nicholson (£10.06)
Look inside versions are available for all three on Amazon.
Ok, back to the question at hand.
Unless you want to do B190 I would save your money and read one or more of the above books on the run up the B291.
If you get the book(s) this week then there is no reason that you could not be up to speed by the start of B291. (Appreciate that you are really only giving yourself October to study but the fact that there is repetition of much of B190 in B291 should help).
This advice is intended specifically for your case where you are looking at doing B291. Others reading this not looking at B291 should in many instances still look seriously at B190 as a very good introduction to bookkeeping (although I do disagree with the amount of exemption that the IAB give on the basis of that qualification... Then again, the IAB make a board decision about allowing membership rather than the qualification alone granting automatic exemption so they do have safegaurds in place and my concern about the exemption is likely misplaced).
Good luck getting the qualifications that you want,
All the best,
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.
Hi, I did B190, loved it, found it really interesting and it definitely put me on the path to bookkeeping as a future career. I followed on to B291 which takes a bit of getting your head round because you switch from UK GAAP to IFRS terminology. The course work on this was ok, most of the students i kept in touch with were all heading for distinctions. Then we took the exam, which was an absolute killer, so trust me you cannot prepare too much for that. I passed that ,just, which was unexpected and started B292 in May. Because thats more management accounting I felt like I'd lost my way a bit, it made me realise I wanted to do bookkeeping only, so I dropped out of the course and enrolled with the ICB. Hopefully I'll have my first stage of qualifications with them by next year, and I feel its all a lot more relevant to what I actually want to do in the future. So back to you lol, I would say it is definitely do-able if you're going to study full time but do be prepared to put a lot of work in, especially revision wise with the exam, you need to know a lot of stuff and its quite time pressured. Good luck with whatever you decide Maria.
Cor thanks for the great replies a lot to think about for me. Haven't done an exam for ages (10 years?) might be biting off more than I could chew with the cert in accounting. Love to do the ICB career path but if you cant make a go of self employment your pretty much knackered. If only it gave exemptions from AAT so you could go down that route later.
If i completed the B190 and then did IAB level 4- does anyone know what exemptions that would give you from AAT, could you go in at lvl 4?
I did check with them but they always refer to you the skills check and its up to the provider shtick.
Like I say I want to be a bookkeeper with ICB but want a safety net if it goes t*ts up.
