I'm thinking about a career change, and considering accountancy/auditing maybe, not sure. Basically, i'm looking for a profession that I can train in whilst working, and has a career path and a future. I've been reading around and it seems like aiming to become a chartered accountant might a path worth persuing.
Anyway, my background is I persued art based subjects at a-level and uni, and have been working in the games industry for about 4 years now as a 3d animator. The works all computer based, pretty complex software and skills and i've enjoyed it (the work itself), but the industry seems to be getting more unstable than ever, and largely moving abroad to countries with tax breaks. I found my last job incredibly depressing, living in shared accomodation that was worse than when i was at uni, away from my family and friends, and basically miserable (as you can guess the pay aint great). Whilst I went into the industry with my eyes open to alot of these things, at the time there was at least alot of companies, projects, and options, but from talking to older colleagues most of them are either effectively living in bedsits/as lodgers away from their families, or end up having to relocate for the work regularly, and that's basically as good as it gets nowadays it seems, which doesn't appeal.
I have a good set of GCSE's, mostly A's and A in maths and english. My A levels are bad tbh, B-Art, B-Design, Maths-E (i know, it's bad - i'm actually quite good at maths, i just honestly didn't try at all during A-levels and got my B's through sheer talent than any actual hard work. Having grown up alot I regret it immensely). After that i did a foundation art course at local college, and ended up getting a 1st in BA (hons) Animation.
So my questions is, what might be my best path to get onto the AAT/ACA/ACCA path if i was to go for it? Or do i have no chance? I think i technically have the minimum requirements for the ACA trainee jobs, but have read about people with better and more relevant qualifications struggling to get those roles, so maybe AAT would be the best starting point? Am i likely to be able to do some early AAT training and get an AAT trainee type job? Is it possible to do the AAT qualification and progress onto ACA after, or apply for the ACA trainee roles once i've done the AAT? I'm pretty good at self-studying and used to working long hours of unpaid overtime for basically no benefit anyway, and am happy to start lower down the ladder if there's the opportunities to climb up over time. If i could just get onto a career path where i knew what i was aiming to achieve and that alot of hard work will eventually pay off, then I could make my private life abit more stable and where i want it, rather than living in grim houseshares with a bleak future of regular relocation. Or am i just barking up the wrong tree? Unsure at the moment on where to start, and after reading the threads here thought you good people might have some advice for me :)
The difference between those is that ACA requires for you to be in a training contract in order to achieve the qualification.
ACCA and AAT require experience but this can be gained after the qualification is gained.
ACA is the top of the tree, ACCA next level down and AAT below that.
You may need to do AAT in order to get a firm interested enough to employ you in order for you to study towards ACA.
Note however that it's a buyers market when it comes to taking on trainee accountants. You are not helped by the fact that people cannot get the letters or a practice certificate until they have the experience so basically people are willing to work for any money (or even no money if it wasn't illegal) just in order to get that experience in order to make the money later.
There are close links between AAT and ACA but your best approach may be to go AAT then ACCA (or direct to ACCA) taking temp jobs in accountancy and bookkeeping until you can find a practice willing to give you a chance.
That may not be a practice that can count towards your experience with the ACCA but the experience that you gain will make you of interest to practices that can sign off your experience.
Its really not an easy business to get into and there's going to be a lot of luck involved in your CV being in the right place at the right time,
ensure that you have a head for this before investing too much money in courses.
A good book to read before doing any courses would be business accounts for bookkeeping and financial accounting courses by David Cox. If you cannot get through that then think long and hard before investing a substantial chunk of your life in accountancy studies (AAT would take about 2 years, ACCA would take 5+ years but coming to this fresh plan for around 8 years of basically studying every waking hour with no social life.... And ACA is the same),
Hope that helps and it's not too negative,
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.
Sounds like it would be tough. I've read endless amount of forum posts online, and it does seem like a difficult field to make a start in.
Whilst the studying sounds hard, and saps your social life I could cope with it if it allowed me to live in one area for a while, and meant that afterwards I'd have a shot at a reasonably decent career with relatively stable work. I know there's no guarantee but at the moment I guess I'm just kind of figuring out my options.
One other question, how difficult would self studying AAT level 2 be? Obviously, it depends on the person doing the studying, but just in comparison to say GCSE, A-level, NVQ etc? Or is it not really comparable?
Thanks for the book recommendation, will see if i can pick up a copy.
I did the AAT/ACA fast track route and i dont regret it, but like Shaun says, it is a large part of your life taken up for a lot of years. Personally i dont think there is that much of a difference between the ACA and ACCA now. But you do have to be on a training contract with ICAEW so you cant jump ship. I remember being jealous of my ACCA friends who could pass an exam and justify a pay rise or go else where chasing the money, where as as an ACA trainee you cant really leave untill you are qualified.
Personally i would suggest the AAT initially, so you can get the basics right, and get a recognised qualification after a year or two, and then assess what your next options are. And then start the next long slog, be it ACA or ACCA.
Once you have got the AAT and then ACA or ACCA the sky really is the limit, and whilst it was hard work it was rewarding and definitely worth the effort.
And you dont have just to be a traditional accountant/auditor, with a professional qualifiaction you can go into all manner of fields.
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
And you dont have just to be a traditional accountant/auditor, with a professional qualifiaction you can go into all manner of fields.
Hi Nick,
as you know I come from a background in analysis in banking operations and I started along this route as the people that I worked with were all either CIMA or ACCA and it seemed to me that I was disadvantaged when it came to promotions compared to the others working at the same level.
I know that many people who study ACCA end up in industry rather than practice and it's very common to find the people at the top of successful companies have a background in accountancy training at that level.
I actually started with the OU Certificate in Accounting and then went straight into ACCA but took the first three papers even though I had exemptions from them. I only mention this as to my mind the OU Certificate is pretty much the equivalent of doing the full AAT qualification but in a one year intensive course. That said, in hindsight I think that I realy should have started out with AAT as B680 was incredibly expensive and is not so well recognised or regarded.
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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.
You could just buy the ACCA Foundation course texts, and start reading up to see if you are interested. Then if this is the way you want to go, register with ACCA as a student, and you have already started studying for their exams. No need to go though training providers for courses just self study and pay for exams when you are ready. F1-3 you can take anytime, F4-F9, P1-5, you can take in June or December.
eg. http://kaplan-publishing.kaplan.co.uk/acca-books/f3/pages/complete-text.aspx you can get it on amazon a little cheaper, but with this link you can look inside the first chapter.
then use exam kits, and online free resources for past exams, as many as you need.
Some things to keep in mind with ACCA:
You need 36 months relevant work experience to complete your ACCA training and become a fully qualified chartered accountant.
You have 10 years to complete all the exams and work experience from when you first register as an ACCA student
There are strict self employed practise restrictions on you as an ACCA student, in particualr you are not permitted to file final accounts, so if you were to setup as a self employed bookkeeper this could be a problem. Maybe there are workarounds for this, like find a chartered accountant friend who is willingly to check and sign of your final accounts, so you can still offer a complete accounting service to small businesses.. but I'm not sure about this.
You can get a Diploma in Accounting and Business after completing F1-3.
You can get a BSc degree in Applied Accounting after studying F1-9 and completing a research module with Oxford Brookes University.
Lecel 2 qualications are supposed to be equivent to GCSE
Level 3 qualifications are supposed to be equivent to A level's
Level 4 qualifications are supposed to be equivent to foundation degrees
Level 5 qualifications are supposed to be equivent to degrees
Level 7 qualifications are supposed to be equivent to MBA's
Of course this only counts if the qualification etc you are doing have been mapped and recognised to confirm it is equivilent by a recognised government educational body.
My assistant got a first in her Maths degree last year, and is doing the IAB manual book-keeping courses to ensure she has a good understanding of the basics, learn the terminology etc and working full-time for me. She is finding it easy, but still doing it becuase it is filling in a few gaps and of course she can use the qualifications for exemptions if she wants towards becoming a qualified accountant later.
-- Edited by YLB-HO on Saturday 12th of January 2013 12:59:26 PM
