I was wondering if anyone knows if I can take level 4 AAT exams without having taken level 3 exams? I've been home studying level 3 & some level 4, finances are limited and it would be easier just to take level 4. Would this be a problem when I try and enrol as a student member on the AAT website. Do they specify which level you start at or which level(s) you need to have officially passed before you can progress to the next? Also I think I need to buy the ICAS project as a distance learning module from a provider, does this require enrolling with them or can i just buy it? If I need to enrol do they insist I have to have passed level 3 exams before I can buy the level 4 module?
you would need to find a training provider that you could convince that you were ready to start at that level.
Last thing that you want is to cost yourself money and confidence with soul destroying resit after resit if you try to skip too much.
Try talking with Nick or Neil at Premier training or Sonya and Eagle education to get their feel for your situation.
Of course, a different approach might be to do ACCA that doesn't require any training provider then if you still want ATT claim full exemption (will also require an accountant reference and evidence of work experience).
You could get from ACCA to AAT with
F1 Accountant in Business. F2 Management Accounting. F3 Financial Accounting.
Plus at least two of the following units:
F6 Taxation. F8 Audit and Assurance F9 Financial management.
Its more difficult than AAT, requires a lot of dedication but becoming a PQ is a route to full AAT without studying AAT.
You could also do it via CIMA which would be :
P1 Performance Operations F1 Financial Operations F2 Financial Management
Again, both routes require an accountant reference and work experience.
Of course the alternative in taking the above routes would be to skill AAT all together and sell yourself on your PQ status.
for ACCA even though you do not need a training provider budget about £150 per exam for training materials and the exam entry fee. There are free opentuition lectures but you would need to bolster that with the BPP I-Learn course on a cd (£20), the Kaplan study text (£35) and either the BPP or Kaplan exam kit (£18).
ACCA study is second to non, after the first three papers it's at a higher level that AAT so whilst perhaps a cheaper and better route its also a more difficult one.
Just a few outside the box suggestions to cnsider before you commit yourself to a given path.
Good luck with whichever route you go down.
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.
I get asked this a lot and generally my default answer is no. Level 4 is a large step up from level 3 and i have seen a lot of people struggle and give up. However, your situation is slightly different in that you have actually studied level 3 but just not taken the exams. If you had passed the accounts preperation exams and costs and revenues exams it would make the step up to level 4 less of an unknown certainty. If you want to go onto the member is practice scheme after qaulification there is an ethics skills check so you need to have studied ethics.
But if you have done accounts preperation, costs and revenues and ethics you are only 2 units off the full level 3. Have you thought about the 24+ loan? It costs more in the long run but you only pay it back when you are earning, or maybe a career development loan?
Nick
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
From memory I'm sure you need level 3 for MAAT status, as you'd not have completed ethics.
I'm sure you also need both level 3 and 4 to gain the three exemptions from ACCA.
Out of interest does AAT level 4 carry any UCAS points? I see that level 3 offers 160 points.
__________________
Johnny - Owner of an overly-active keyboard.
A man who can read, yet doesn't, is in no way wiser than a man who can't.
I was talking about using ACCA to gain exemptions from AAT rather than the more common way around. I only mentioned it due to the voiced concern in relation to training costs.
The reality is that one is more likely to repeatedly Fail ACCA making the lower costs a false economy... Almost like buying a top of the line BMW with no wheels on it as it was the cheaper option.
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.
Hi Shaun.
Yes that's fair enough: )
I would have thought though, in my humble opinion, that ethics would be a prerequisition needed for full membership to the AAT.
Thanks
__________________
Johnny - Owner of an overly-active keyboard.
A man who can read, yet doesn't, is in no way wiser than a man who can't.
Ethics is embedded in every ACCA paper unlike AAT where its currently been seperated out.
At the skills level its really noticable with ACCA at papers F3, F4, F7 and F8 but generally there's always an exam twist putting one in a what would you do in this ethical dilema sort of situation.
At the professional level (P1 through P7) its evident in every paper.
Reading Tania Hayes editorial in this months PQ I feel that AAT will be going the same way of embedding a lot more ethical dilema's across the syllabus rather than concenrating such on a seperate paper.
Note that whilst ethics is embedded with ACCA one must still pass an ethics module before being granted full membership, although due to such being a repeat of existing knowledge it is merely a pre membership refresher with an online exam (that you must pass) rather than a stand alone course with an attended exam.
__________________
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.
Hey
Ok my friend.
I think getting to know the in's and out's of various qualifications, exemptions and codes of conducts is up there with tax computations he he
Thanks
__________________
Johnny - Owner of an overly-active keyboard.
A man who can read, yet doesn't, is in no way wiser than a man who can't.
I keep trying but every time that I think that I've got the routes through the qualifications maze worked out they go and change everything (except ACCA regulation 8 which is something that really needs changing).
The bad thing of course is that we try to give the best possible advice on this site but it needs to be regarded along with a timestamp as whilst valid when written referring back to it even weeks later it could be completely the wrong advice at that time.
So basically, yep, it's just like trying to learn tax!
__________________
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.
Yes, the ICAEW give 5% of marks available for ethics in every paper, and it keeps you on your toes. I do feel that students have a tendancy under the AAT to learn them for the exam and then forget them, which isnt ideal.
I was at a meeting with Tania on Friday, and the are AAT are really shining lights when it comes to ethics, they even have their own ethics microsite, but i didnt get the impression that ethics were coming into each unit, which is a shame.
The tax units are screaming out for some ethics in them.
For anyone who is interested:
http://www.aat-ethics.org.uk/
Nick
__________________
Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
