I'm currently in the public sector working 4 days on an off, as I don't have any commitments I have a lot of time to myself and would like to prepare a back-up career or part time work.
I graduated with a 2.2 in business information systems with accounting in 2009 (I enjoyed the accounting/numbers side more)
I've decided to give bookeeping a go or would like to learn basic accounts, taxes etc
There was a deal on group op that I was going to purchase, do you think it's worth it and I'm going down the right path in learning? Or what qualifications do you think? (Acca, Cima etc might be quite intense and expensive for me)
I don't think that you would get any exemptions and even if you can I do not think that you should take them.
To keep the option of permanent employment / move to accountancy open whilst starting with the basic look at AAT.
ICB is great for those going self employed with no intention of employment but that does not sound like the route that you are looking to go.
The course that you pointed to is not bookkeeping or accouints, it's just a Sage course which should teach you how to use the software (although seems very short) but it will not teach you the manual side of things and you need to understand that before deciding what software you want to train in.
Before deciding to go down this path and spending a lot of money. First look at whether its the right path for you as many start down this road but never really take to it as they don't generally appreciate that it takes over your life and changes the way that you think.
A good book to start with is Business Accounts for bookkeeping and accountancy students by David Cox (Osbourn books). Its a sound introduction that you will continue to use as a refence throughout your career (I still refer to it occassionally now and I'm fully qualified ACCA).
It will set you back under £20 (very cheap for an accountancy book) and will pay for itself either many times over as you progress or right at the start when you realise how much accountancy covers and how huge and complex the subject matter is.
Good luck with your career and welcome to the forum,
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.
Thank you so much for your advice shaun, I hope to contribute and stay around the forum much more.
I'm glad you mention osbourne books as I just went to my attic to fetch : "AS accounting for AQA" by David Cox and Michael Fardon (I used this whilst at college (AS and A2 levels) and found it very helpful and simple to understand)
I was going to start the book over again, can I use this or you would recommend I start from scratch with Business Accounts for bookeeping and accounting student?
Afraid that I don't have the book that you mention in my library so I cannot comment on it. I do however have a copy of advanced accounting for A2 by Ian Harrison and flicking through that it does seem to cover much of the basics so I would say that book you already have would be good to brush up on.
The issue with older financial accounting books at the moment (unlike bookkeeping or management accounting ones) is that they go out of date quite quickly as we are going through a transition period where UK GAAP is being phased out and replaced with an adaptation of International Financial reporting standards. This will see all of the existing UK standards disappear in January 2015 to be replaced with either FRSSE or FRS102 dependant upon the size of company that one is working with.
To just get back on the horse though I think that you should be fine going through the book that you have to get you back into the swing of things before moving forwards.
On the ACCA front be careful as ACCA regulation 8 prevents you from offering any services beyond trial balance regardless of other qualifications or prior experience. CIMA, ACA and AAT are all far move flexible than ACCA.
Also, over the exemptions. ACCA is a very good example of just because you can doesn't mean that you should.
When I started down that path it was following completion of the Open University Certificate in Accountancy (back when it was still semi affordable). Several of us that completed the course moved to ACCA and all of us had exemptions from the first three papers.
The others took the exemptions (which you have to pay for as though you took the exam and it takes the form of a guaranteed pass without turning up at the exam hall).
I actually sat the papers even though I had exemptions and it very much got me into the ACCA examiners mindset where questions often have twists embedded within them.
Few of the others made it past the fourth paper and nobody except myself made it past the fifth. I was no brighter than the others. The only difference was that I had taken one step back in order to move forwards where the others had assumed that they would get ahead faster by taking the exemptions.
The ONLY time that I believe that taking the ACCA exemptions is acceptable is where one has completed AAT within the last 18 months. And it seems that the ACCA concur with that as AAT is (I believe) the one lower level qualification where transfer to ACCA gives exemptions from the first three that you don't have to pay for.
Think of the ACCA exemptions this way. If you believe that you can pass them then you are paying for the exam anyway and it puts you in a better position to move forwards. If you are taking the exemptions because you do not feel that with your current knowledge level you could them then you should not be taking the exemptions anyway. Therefore, with the limited AAT exception I would say that one should not take ACCA exemptions even where such are offered.
Its not often I make the right decisions for no apparent reason but I velieve that taking those exams was definitely one of my better decisions.
Another possible route that you may not have considered would be IAB to IFA (Institute of Financial Accountants, not Independant Financial Advisors). IAB would teach you all of the basics of bookkeeping and then IFA is a legitimate accountancy qualification (although lower down the tree than ACA and ACCA) which is recognised by IFAC.
IAB was around before the ICB, in fact, ICB was formed by one of their break away managers. Those two organisations play in a siilar market place with ICB being the more accessible but IAB giving an easier move accross to Accountancy being recognised by the IFA (which for a while shared management with the IAB).
Of course, that advice gets away from tyour original remit that you want to keep the door into employment open and for that it really has to be AAT or PQ status (Part qualified ACCA, ACA or CIMA).
kind regards,
Shaun.
p.s. I keep bandying the acronym ACA about which may be throwing you as to what that is. Its a catch all term for chartered accountants (ICAEW, ICAS and ICAI). It isn't actually a qualification in itself unlike ACCA, AAT or CIMA.
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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.
