Hi - I have been working as Head of Finance, based in London, for over 10 years. Prior to this my background was banking. I have moved jobs several times over this period and each time, when applying for a role, I have been informed that the prospective employer is only looking for qualified accountants/management accountants. It is only when I get to the interview that I am able to demonstrate the qualities I will bring and this, along with my experience and, dare I say, lateral thinking approach, that I have won the interviewer over and been successful. I am in my mid-forties now though and appreciate that it will get harder into the future so I would like to attain the necessary qualifications. Given this and given my experience, I am keen for any suggestions as to the quickest route to take. If anyone has any advice as to the best way to approach this, I'd be most grateful. Many thanks. B
the quickest way to a recognised accounting qualification would be the AAT, which can be done very, very quickly. I have a student who has done levels 2, 3 and 4 in just over 5 months.
However, i think you should be aiming at ACCA for your level, which even with some exams on demand, a couple exams at each sitting, and quarterly exams it will take you a couple of years.
Kind regards
Nick
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Nick
Nick Craggs FMAAT ACA AAT Distance Learning Manager
I know that I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here as this is your bread and butter but at two exams at each sitting with no exemptions would it not currently take a minimum of 3.5 years to pass ACCA is you passed every paper first time? (14 papers to sit in total).
Not that many people can do it in that sort of time frame.
I know that there are changes afoot with the move to four sittings a year but does not the restriction on being able to take no more than four papers (including on demand papers) in a six month period remains so whilst at 8 papers a year is hypathetically possible I've yet to hear of anyone who has managed that achievement that.
On the bright side they have now removed the ten year restriction between signing up and passing your final paper.
Its been replaced with removing all time limits on the first nine but the moment that you pass the last of those you have seven years to pass the final five.
The core papers at the higher level (including the beast (P2)) are hard but at least fair and doable.
The options papers seem to remain at around a 30ish percent pass rate and one should consider one to two years for the final two papers alone.
The above said I am in total agreement over sentiment even if disagreeing a little over timing and ACCA is the option that I would go for in this scenario... Even though it will totally consume every waking moment of one's life (and also reduce the time that one is wasting being asleep when you could be studying!).
All the best,
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.
I concur with Nick's advice in respect of the AAT, but I will edit the second part of his response slightly,
"However, i think you should be aiming at CIMA for your level, which even with some exams on demand, a couple exams at each sitting, and quarterly exams it will take you a couple of years."
CIMA is specifically focussed on providing qualified financial managers for business, the public sector and the charity sector. I am assuming that you work in one of these sectors rather than in practice.
CIMA is specifically focussed on providing qualified financial managers for business, the public sector and the charity sector.
You mean just like ACCA is David.
Nothing against CIMA, great qualification but for Public Sector and Charities people would they not surely choose Cipfa which is a qualification geared towards those sectors.
For business we could debate all day as to which is better out of ACCA and CIMA (think that we know which side our respective votes fall).
So, do you really think that you can do CIMA in two years? (In amending Nicks post you appear to concur with its time estimate).
After pondering this I would go further than I went earlier and state that you cannot do ACCA in two years. Yes you could take 16 papers in that time which would cover the required 14 units but with that lead time per paper I'm pretty certain that one would fail the bulk of them.
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.
To be honest (apologies to the OP), I had not gone into it far enough to work out the minimum possible time, so my amended version of Nick's post in respect of the timescale may be inaccurate.
In respect of the public sector I can only speak with regard to the NHS. I believe that the NHS is the biggest employer of CIMA accountants. In the NHS organisations I worked in I think about 90% of the qualified accounting staff were CIMA. The large regional social housing organisation (quasi public sector) I currently work in is similarly predominantly CIMA. Perhaps councils are more of a CIPFA stronghold?
In respect of the charity sector, I currently work in a charity and I have just today been approached by an agency in respect of a role in another charity. Just for the benefit of readers who don't know, I am CIMA part qualified.
Prior to working in the NHS I worked in commerce for fifteen years, I could be wrong about this, but I am pretty sure that most of the accountants that I reported to were CIMA.
My memory could be getting hazy in my old age, but I am fairly sure that I have only worked with a handful of chartered accountants over the last twenty five years, and a bit more of a handful of chartered certifieds.
Of course, all accounting qualifications are business focussed. It would be a bit pointless if they weren't!
banking, pensions, insurance and high finance tends to be a mixed bag but unsurprisingly with (I feel) more coming down on the side of ACCA qualified.
One of the reasons for that is that big four firms favour ACCA (#1) and corporate tends to favour those trained by the big four.
I did have an interview last year for a role in the accounts department of a mobile phone company (one that no longer exists) and all of their people were CIMA... I didn't get the job as apparently I was deemed over qualified with the ACCA qualification!
However, before you jump to CIMA's defence I think that their rejection was in fact merely an excuse with the reality being that they felt that my age didn't fit with their workforce demographic but of course, they're not allowed to say that.
kind regards,
Shaun.
#1 actually, it actually fluctuates between ACCA and ICAEW.
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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.
