Today I have eventually decided that the time is right to go and start studying towards an ICB qualifaction. I am planning on doing the first couple of levels on my own and then the remainder by join a home study course.
I had discussed this a while ago on here but things took a bad turn and now I am back on my feet it feels right to get started.
The support of this site has been amazing up to now even if I hidr in the shadows alot. No doubt the questions will start soon.
It is possible to do most of the studying for the exams without a training provider.
Level 1 & 2 manual bookkeeping exams- 'Frank Woods Bookkeeping & Accounts' Amazon around £15.00 should be enough and a few past exam papers with the ICB (approx £5.00 each but you can get these for free from other forum members)
Level 3 manual bookkeeping exam - Level 3 bookkeeping textbook and level 3 revision book from ICB (online shop) £30 and £15 each and also ICB's past exam papers and answers (£5.00 each) and there is also a practice online exam you can do with ICB I think this is £10.00
Level 2 & 3 Computerised Bookkeeping - you can probably buy somebody's old course/textbooks from here to study for the exams - ICB also have past exam papers for this too. You will need some kind of accounts software for this too, you can get old Sage accounts software from ebay or amazon for really cheap
Payroll Management - you can probably find away around studying for this without using a training provider but I would advise doing a course for this, I used Training Link as they were the cheapest and turned out to be excellent! and you can get it done quickly with them too.
Self-Assessment Tax Returns- ICB have a study book which I think is around £50 for ICB students or you could buy an old copy of somebody on here.
Thankyou for taking your time to put all that in writing. It has been very helpful. It has given me a boast that someone can take they time to help out a new starter.
I think I may follow some of your suggestions and see how far I am able to get my new before signing to a training provider.
Hi Adam,
I would agree that getting a few good books and reading through them is a great way go as there will be things that are sometimes covered more in depth in the books than they are in the course material . I did My ICB with a training provider but bought some books as well . The frank woods book is a good book I am sure if you look through the forum you will find other recommendations for books to help you along the way.
