ICB training providers - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

South Jess · Member

ICB training providers

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Amanda,

welocome to the forum.

I've only spoken wiuth two of the usual recomendations so I'll jump straight in and throw :

Training Link

and

Premier Training

Into the ring.

Ideal Schools is normally the thiord recomendation but I've never spoken with them directly myself so I'll leave that recomendation to someone else to fill in the missing blanks.

kind regards,

Shaun.

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

Hi Amanda

Welcome to the forum which I am sure you will find to be very helpful and friendly.

There are lots of old posts on here with regards who to train with when looking for ICB supported qualifications. You are correct inasmuch the variance of price from provider to provider. Training Providers can charge what they want for their training services; we are not regulated by the ICB or any other body for that matter when it comes to cost. As a consumer you will be aware that normally what you pay for is what you get but distance learning is somewhat different as there is no regulation where fees are concerned. Regardless of this all ICB Training Providers have to submit training materials to ICB before being able to provide the qualification and all adhere to ICB curriculums.

Other things need to be taken into consideration, such as quality of course materials, availability of tutors, speed of marking, software options when learning computerised levels 2 and 3 and Payroll Management, aftercare once training is completed. The adage perception is reality comes to mind but generally not many would have used 2 or 3 different training providers so can only go by their own experiences. I have provided a link for you below which will give you a list of the ICB training providers. It is always wise to shop around. Some providers will offer you a free trial so you can see how their training is formatted. I hope you will find this to be of use. Regardless of whom you decide to study with may I wish you the best of luck for the future? It may also be of benefit to consider attending the ICB Conference which is being held at Londons Savoy Place on November 7th. Networking is always worth the effort and you would get to meet people in the same situation as yourself as well as picking up some great does and donts, in fact I believe Business Start-up is one of the topics which will be covered at this years conference. Be good to see you there.

ICB Training Providers
http://www.bookkeepers.org.uk/where_to_study/distance_learning

ICB Conference
http://www.bookkeepers.org.uk/Bookkeepers%20Summit

Good Luck
Dave

South Jess · Member

Thank you to both of you I will have a look at the providers you have suggested. I have had a look back at previous posts which has been helpful as one close to the top of my list had a reputation for not being very quick marking papers. Dave, I will look at the links and look into the conference and thank you for your kind wishes. I can't wait to get started!

Thanks again

Amanda

South Jess · Member

Hello I said I was new to this! I have had four emails saying that people had posted on here but when I look there are no further replies, why is this?

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hello Amanda,

sorry for any confussion. This one is quite a unique scenario.

There was helpful post made on the site yesterday which receieved follow up comments from a couple of posters inluding myself.

However, late last night the content of the original post was deleted by the poster making the follow ups make little sense (the replies were in reply to the post rather than yourself).

I have just finished speaking with the other poster whose post I deleted to ensure that they understood the reasoning for removal was nothing that they had written.

Also there was absolutely nothing wrong with the excellent original post that was deleted by the poster.

The reasoning behind it's removal by the poster is something that is being discussed in the background at the moment.

Rest assured though that the removed posts were not spam and were not in any way insulting or defamatory but did seem to result in a misunderstanding that is not yet fully resolved.

kindest regards,

Shaun.

South Jess · Member

Thank you very much for explaining this I am now intrigued!

Spamkebab · Expert

Oh aye, i love a good mystery i do!

Curiouser and curiouser

Addenuff · Member

Hi SouthJess

Like you I'm quite new to the whole forum thing. I tend to just have a read of what's going on but don't actually post anything. I probably wouldn't be submitting this post had someone got in there before me but no one has so wanted to give a big shout for Ideal Schools. They aren't a big training provider as in number of staff but there commitment to students is brilliant. I did all of my studying with them and they are just the nicest, helpful people. More importantly I guess is that their study material in my humble opinion is excellent, the pass marks/rates even better and their prices more than reasonable - too be honest I thought there was a catch when I first spoke to them! They should definitely be up there in your consideration and well worth a call.

I hope that helps, best of luck with your studies.

smile

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

Hello Brian

Hope you are well. Amanda has had a free trial and my post here is in relation to that and an idea we feel will be of benefit to the BKN forum, but rest assured we will be asking permission from BKN as I always do before I make a post which may be deemed as marketing? Enjoyed your post by the way!!! We all look forward to seeing you at the conference in November.

Dave

-- Edited by TRAINING LINK on Wednesday 29th of August 2012 08:29:07 PM

Brian McVean · Senior Member

Hi South Jess,

I have been following this thread with interest and I hope you dont mind me getting involved re your post about assignment marking times. I suspect that this may have been relating to comments made re Ideal Schools, within this forum, in a thread from two years ago.

That year we won the ICB Training Provider of the Year award, which was based on a combination of factors including exam results and student satisfaction. Knowing at that stage that our internal systems were not perfect we have restructured the way assignments are received, corrected and returned, reducing the average turnaround times to two-three days, often quicker.

This shows a vast improvement from times when a percentage of students still posted their assignments, where turnaround times also relied on the swiftness of Royal Mail.

You are doing what I would recommend to anyone seeking a suitable provider by shopping around and I would urge you to call your selected providers feel for how they operate, if you dont already get this from their prospective websites.

Good luck with your search.

South Jess · Member

Thanks for this Ideal Schools is on my shortlist. It is good to hear that you had a great experience.

South Jess · Member

Thank you Brian, for clearing that matter up. I had realised it was some time ago. I have to say I was very impressed when I rang your company the advice I was goven was very thorough and clear.

South Jess · Member

Ok I am going to make a decision during the next couple of days but just have two questions remaining. One company have offered me a training version of Sage to use during the course but will then give me a substantial amount of money back to put towards the version I want to buy when I have completed the course. As far as I can see this gives me the benefit of being able to purchase the most up to date version and time to discover my precise requirements moving forward. However I will still have to part with more cash at the end of the course. Others have offered me a full working version, either Sage Instant or Sage 50 (I appreciate that I will be able to upgrade these versions and that I will need to purchase further add ons for Sage 50) Any suggestions or thoughts on the benefits/downfalls of either of these options?

Secondly, I was going to buy the whole package (all courses and payroll) in one as I am committed to this and it is cheaper. However, I am wondering if it might be more sensible to book and pay for level one only so that I can make sure the training provider works for my individual needs. Any thoughts?

Thanks to everyone taking the time to read this!

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Amanda,

personally I would take the full version of Sage line 50... However, that raises another issue.

If you are going to be using Sage in the real world you end up with the Sage tax in that the price goes up for the number of clients that you have. It's not simply a one off purchase which is why my practice doesn't use any Sage products (I can accept one licence per PC but not the Sage licencing policy of client bands where you pay more to use the same software for the same length of time if you have more clients).

If your intention is to use Sage at a client site using their software but to keep a version on your own PC then why not simply take the free line 50.

Also worth checking with the Sage course what levels the course does. There are three levels of Sage certification so just make sure that you know what you are actually getting from the training provider before signing on the dotted line.

Also worth noting is that Sage and Sage Payroll are seperate products and if you have one it does not necessitate that you need the other. Personally I would go with 12pay or Moneysoft payroll over Sage Payroll not least as they are a fraction of the cost for what has to be basically the same functionality.

Note also that Sage changes every year but that doesn't mean that you need to have the latest version of their software to use the product for clients. You only need to have a version that is as late or later than the version that the client has.... Doesn't help of course the banks giving away free copies of the latest versions of the software to new businesses but I'm managing to convince clients that free can sometimes mean really, really expensive in the long term.

Just making the world a better place one ex Sage user at a time...

On the buy everything up front or in parts. That's a more difficult question as there are some substantial savings to be made by buying everything together.

Remember also that no matter what a training provider tells you, you are learning a subject to pass an exam. You are not learning their training materials which are intended to guide you without the guarantee of answer to every exam question being buried in the materials.

I would advise everyone to have additional study material to those provided by the training providers no matter how good the training providers materials are.

So really it comes down to how good the tutors are and how fast they handle queries.

Training Link have excellent tutors including the BKN tutor of the year 2011 and they generally come back within the same day but I believe pretty much guarantee a response within 24 hours at the outside. I'm sure that Brian will be happy to fill in the response time and knoweldge base for Ideal schools.

Are they the two that it is now down to Amanda? Two excellent and well respected options and sure that you will be happy with your choice no matter which way that you go.

Good luck in your choice and your studies,

kind regards,

Shaun.

South Jess · Member

Thank you Shaun for your detailed response, I am really glad that I posted on here you have been a huge help!

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

Hello Amanda

Been an interesting thread which I have been watching. I have forwarded this feed to our free trial tutor who will be contacting you shortly with a proposition which will also I hope be of benefit to the BKN forum. Please let me know what you decide and again good luck.

Dave

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Why does this feel as though I've accidentally stumbled into the forum in ancient Rome. lol.

Love the Machievelian wranglings of business.

Hope that they check you boys for daggers and poisoned wine (think that's how the Borgia's got rid of most of their competitors) before letting you into the conference. wink

For those who missed it here's a pic of one of the Training companies arriving at the 2011 ICB bash.

p.s Sorry, just yoshin fella's. I'll delete the post after you've both had a laugh at the truths buried in the humour in the morning.

-- Edited by Shamus on Thursday 30th of August 2012 12:26:04 AM

Brian McVean · Senior Member

Sorry folks , and I don't mean to just jump on Dave's post , but most providers will offer some form of free trial if you enquire directly.

Brian McVean · Senior Member

I'm good thanks, Dave. Watching the opening of the Paralympics and it's another fine spectacle.

When I read your post I presumed you were letting Amanda aware of your free trial, which I have absolutely no problem with, and I felt it appropriate to let it be known that other colleges do offer similar opportunities. If I misread this, then I apologise.

In recent times we have had enquiries from prospective students who have let it known that other colleges (not directed at you) have pointed them in the direction of certain forum posts, presumably in an attempt to sway them away from Ideal Schools. I'm not suggesting that this was the case with Amanda but, as I was unaware that she'd already contacted one of our team, I thought it only fair that I bring her up to date with how we now operate.

Regards to All and, yes, looking forward to November already.

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

Lol Shaun, you cant delete this it is hilarious, nothing can make me laugh at 0645 and this just did. I am sure other members will feel the same, you know me and my sense of humour and if you cant laugh at yourself, brilliant.

Brian, watched all olympic games ever since I can remember and London 2012 has been easily the best, the Paralympic games will be as good I hope but will certainly make a few of us humbled by these brilliant atheletes, hope you have your tartan hanky ready lol

I do advise both students and potential students to join BKN and to read old posts, new posts, ask questions and make use of the BKN forum which for me is an unbiased Forum with unbiased replies but more importantly can have a laugh at the same time. Take me for example I have made over 120 posts and I would suggest that over a third of my posts are not work related at all and those that are probably will be going over old ground replying to a question that has been asked many times?

All The Best
Dave

Edited for spelling mistakes

-- Edited by TRAINING LINK on Thursday 30th of August 2012 06:58:13 AM

Brian McVean · Senior Member

Morning Chaps,

Shaun, I like your style. Would I be wrong in assuming the tank in front is Ideal? Ha-ha biggrin .

Dave, Im in complete agreement that, in life in general, we should not treat everything with too much seriousness and I always enjoy following the posts on here. I would like to get involved more in these but Im too busy trying to drive our assignment turnaround times down smile .

As I mentioned, my point was not aimed at you and I have no issues with enquirers being encourage to view forums, etc. Our own policy has always been to encourage students to shop around to ensure they get a package that suits them. What I was referring to were instances where people were directed to specific posts, where the information included is either out of date or where the postee (is this a word?) may have a different agenda.

Anyway, healthy competition is good for students as it keep us colleges on our toes.

I bid you all a good day.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Morning Fella's,

ok, I'll leave it then. biggrin

I could be wrong but I think that this pic was Ideal turning up...

armoured cars.jpg

Boy, I bet James and Gary from the ICB really need to think carefully about all possible options before announcing changes to the ICB syllabus!

ICBUK · Guru

Haha, where is the like button? biggrin

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

The lengths some providers will go to to get their hands on an ICB Luca lol but you get get to see the real ones by attending the ICB Dinner on the 6th November at the Savoy in London, be good to see BKN members attend as well as at the conference itself on November 7th. Dave

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

OMG, the Luca's are Sadam effigies! I'm now seeing the ICB in a whole new light!

Actually, if you want a Luca award, no questions asked, just bring me a photo... I know this guy in Thailand... Luca, Oscar, Blue Peter Badge... nudge, nudge, wink wink, nods and good as a wink to a blind bat and all that wink

... Does of course mean that there may be a dozen or more ICB training providers of the year 2012 but we don't want to worry about little things like that. biggrin

TRAINING LINK · Senior Member

Hi Shaun

Thats what I love about forums you can always find someone who knows someone who is the cousin of a cousin who has a nephew whose aunt can get you anything you want. Could you ask your man in Thailand if he could provide a genuine certificate of genuis authenticated with signitures of Stephen Hawkins and Einstien? I lost mine the other week and replacements can be so hard to find? As well you know? lol