I am new to the forum and I am in need of some guide in regards to my next step to my study towards a professional acounts qualification.
At the moment I have the following certificates.
City & Guilds Computerised Accounts Level 1 & 2
City & Guilds Busniess Finance Level 1
City & Guilds Accounts & Bookkeeping Level 1 & 2
I was looking into doing the OU S25 Professional Certificate in Accounting or either their B292 Management Accounting / B291 Financial Accounting. <-- Also these courses seem to be offered only by OU, which seems to be home study, would prefer a class room setting, as home can be some what distracting >.< Does any other institution offer these courses??
After either of these I would like to venture towards CIMA or ACCA.
Also I was reading up on the IFA and help on thios would be great. I am trying to decide and get some help on what my next step should be.
Sorry for all the questions and TIA for your kind help.
the OU course that you are thinking of is new equivalent of the old B680 course which is the introductory course that I took to get started on the road to becoming an accountant.
The course is good but quite time pressured and difficult to achieve within the suggested hours (They suggest 15 but everyone in my group was doing at leat twice that).
You meet up at a hotel or similar several times during the course to spend Saturday mornings in a classroom setting so it's not purely home learning.
The further that you get into this the more that you will find yourself spending a lot of time studying outside of class even where you are on an attendance type course.
With the OU you get access to online chat with all of the other people on the course and all of the lecturers. I was lucky enough that one of the lecturers for my year was Alan Sangster of Woods and Sangster fame so it's a well taught course.
The course is unique to the OU but the course content is basically the same as ACCA papers F2 and F3 (B680 also included ACCA paper F1 but the OU dropped that coverage!).
If you wanted to sit purely in a classroom you could do the ACCA fundamentals level of the professional qualification OR the ACCA FIA both of which should come in cheaper than the OU course and the ACCA qualifications are better recognised in industry and practice.
The above said, the OU course is an excellent introduction into this business where you feel part of a group even though you are not physically in a classroom for most of it... Then again, as your studies progress the studies will slowly take over every moment of your life anyway as this is the start of a huge learning curve.
If you need further specific information just post again.
Good luck with whatever study route that you decide upon,
kind regards,
Shaun.
p.s. welcome to the forum
p.s.2 If you intend to go into self employment then before deciding on the ACCA route think seriously about the implications of ACCA regulation 8 on your self employment prospects.
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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 There Shaun, thanks for taking the time to reply and help in regards to my query.
I have been doing quite a bit of reading and seems as if I may need to supp it up and do some studying from home possible lol because some of these papers cost a pretty penny much works some what little more economical when studied at home. Anyways I will decide and asked on that when I decide the route to take.
Okay here some more questions I have as I am not completely sure, yes I would like to become self employed / freelance as accountant / bookkeeper. I have worked as a bookkeeper for many years, I have experience up to extended trial & balance...... I was a sucker for experience and money but I need to become qualified now.
So you are saying with ACCA regulations 8 prevent members from ever becoming self employed? O.o I will be honest I am kinda leaning more towards CIMA, but my only issue with that from what I understand and I maybe wrong is that with CIMA one can not do auditing and tax so hence there is the need to register later with ACCA and do their final papers; how true is this?
I was also having a look at ACA and also at CFAB >. Sorry if I am all over the place with professional bodies, but I am doing a lot of reading and I have a full head trying to decide which path to take.
ACCA regulation 8 and self employment can co-exist quite amicably so long as you only do bookkeeping to trial balance, VAT and Payroll work.
Unfortunately that's really not what small company clients want as they see bookkeepers as cheap accountants rather than just bookkeepers so unless you can offer a full service you are really restricting your client base and in these tough times one really needs every client that one can get.
To offer Audit work you need to pass the UK variant of papers P2 and P7 and then work in audit under a CCAB qualified auditor for three years post qualification.
To be honest I would avoid Statutory Audit work anyway as if you are going to get sued for anything that really is the area.
I'm not really sure where CIMA (now CGMA) stand anymore since they left CCAB.
It used to be that many people took the CIMA route then transferred to ACCA full membership (so avoiding the nastier ACCA exams) but the ACCA now refuse to recognise the CIMA qualification for anything other than entry level exemptions.
ACCA is a very, very good route but it will place restrictions on you and you need at some stage to get two years post qualification experience in a firm run by recognised accountants in order to transfer to be able to gain a practice certificate (three years for the audit practice certificate).
I fully appreciate that it's an absolute minefield of qualifications out there. Take the wrong route and you will suffer for it later.
The advantage of ACCA of ACA is that you can do the qualification beofre finding a job whereas with ACA you need to be in a relevant role to take the qualification.
For many there is the catch 22 that you cannot get into the business because you don't have the right qualifications and you can't get the right qualifications because you are not in the right job! go figure!!!
Right, I'll post this to give you a little more to mull over and look forwards to chatting soon,
kind regards,
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.
Wowa I am going to go sleep on your reply and come back tomorrow lol But here is plan after much reading and researching and thinking lol
The AAT looks good at the moment, I think I will start off with that and from what I can see....... my previous study and my work experience looks like it will throw me into Level 3, I applied online for AAT to one of my local colleges so I await to hear from them and will surely let you know how it goes as I am going to need all the help I can get to ace the papers :). Also there is some help with it for now until next September, If I apply for both level 3 & 4 then when next September comes the new rule that kicks in that I have to apply for a loan will not affect me. So I think I will role with AAT and then..... Look into the other professional bodies afterwards.
Nevertheless, while I am studying my AAT, I will still need some help in deciding b/n the ACCA, CIMA and ACA.
So I shall speak with you in the morning Shaun and many many thanks for all your advice and kind help so far. It's very much appreciated ;).
Just an updater on my AAT level 3 progress, did my first exam (AP1) last night at the college and pass. I am so excited, hard work. it worth it and encourages me to carry unto the the other papers.
looking forwards to hearing lots more success stories from you going forwards,
kind regards,
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.
@Neil@Shamus, Aww thank you gentlemen for the congrats. I am so excited when I saw 'competent' when i logged for my results. I will keep you all posted on my progress. I have AP2 & cost & revenue next.
