I am a French bookkeeper and I want to move to the UK next summer and find a job as a bookkeeper. The problem is that I have a French bookkeeping degree (2 years undergraduate) which is not recognised in the UK so I am afraid it will not be easy to be recruited.
How can I have my skills and knowledge recognized in the UK ? What about online courses? AAT or ICB certifications or qualifications ?
If you're looking for employment, then I would recommend the AAT course, as the ICB course is geared towards self employment rather than employment.
AAT do some introductory bookkeeping, both manual and computerised, but I'm guessing you will be more advanced given your french bookkeeping degree. In which case you could start level 2 on the accountancy course to familiarise yourself with english bookkeeping/accountancy.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
whilst it is quite difficult to find bookkeeping work in the UK you have the advantage of language skills that you would be able to use to leverage a role with companies who deal a lot with France so you already have a key advantage over many existing UK bookkeepers in that respect.
AAT is recognised by employers, ICB is not.
AAT will take a little longer than ICB to achieve (I would say 18 months to 2 years).
AAT has more exams, most of which need to be sat at a centre.
Make sure that you do the full AAT qualification rather than the entry level one which with a degree in the subject you will already be well beyond.
Good people to speak to would be either Nick or Neil at First Intuition who specialise in AAT (and they are also both semi regular contributors to this site) who should be able to help advise whether there are centre's in France where you are able to sit your exams.
As an aside, you will find the UK tax system very different to the system in France. There are Business and Personal tax modules with AAT in level IV but you may want to start looking at those right from the start to aclimatise yourself to the UK system.
A good book for learning UK tax is "Taxation" by Alan Melville. If you buy a copy make sure that its FA15 which is the version likely to be applicable when you get to the tax exams.
Good luck with your further studies,
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.
think thats pretty much a snap there (even if I do waffle on a bit more than you, lol).
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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.
