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.
Sorry, last nights response was very short. I'd just finished a load of work and it was a quick scan of the site before bed.
Whilst I concur with Joanne that AS level is aimed at 17-18 year olds, there is another education qualification that you should consider and thats A levels as whenever you go for a job employers are always keen to know what A levels you have acquired.
I cannot remember if you said that you had a degree or not Rafal. If not then it may be worth doing GCSE Maths and English at nightschool as those are often recquired minimum entry points for most jobs (I am not saying that there is anything wrong with your maths and English, just that those two are really important qualifications for both the workplace, to be allowed to enrole for any A level and to be able to enrole with the more serious accountancy qualifications).
AS levels are not particularly well considered qualifations as they are in reality often simply an intermediate qualification for passing the first year of an A level (A level being broken down into AS and A2).
A level accounting (not AS alone) is taught by the following examining bodies
As far as I can see Edexcel don't do A level accounting.
Other A levels that you might consider would be Economics (very well considered) and Business Studies (a good qualification but considered by many the weakest of the three suggestions here).
As mentioned above though. You need at least GCSE maths and English in order to be allowed to study A level subjects with any education body.
As touched upon above, you are likely to find thats also true of some professional bodies who will demand that you have GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above in order to be allowed to study their qualification.
The alternate that I suggested last night to AS/A levels is the ACCA-X qualification which was brought out by the ACCA last year as an introductory qualification. Its free to study (use their online resources) but you have to pay to take exams.
You could not set up as a bookkeeper following ACCA-X as it doesn't come with a practice certificate (not that sort of qualification). What it does do though is put you in a position to take the exams of any other professional body so you could study ACCA-X then take (say) AAT level II exams (actually, you should be able to sail through the skillscheck for AAT to start at level III if you have done ACCA-X).
Actually, just scanning that thread you may find the whole thing interesting reading.
ACCA-X has been mentioned in other threads and although I remember having something of a technical debate with a training provider (who may be worried about people knowing about ACCA-X) in one thread I am currently unable to locate that one.
Have a read of my post in that thread at 10:51 on April the 17th which covers the detail of the syllabus for all four ACCA-X papers.
Hope that helps Rafal,
kind regards,
Shaun.
p.s. I don't know the current figures but back in April within 6 months of opening its doors the ACCA-X qualification had gained over 38,000 students. I suspect that many of those use ACCA-X as a stepping stone to other qualifications.
__________________
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.
From memory, the ACCA-X qualification can ultimately lead to the ACCA Certified Accounting Technician qualification which in itself is a good one to have, not sure of the comparisons between AAT and ACCA CAT but i would have thought ACCA CAT was comparable.
it is, but where AAT can lead to a practice certificate CAT doesn't, plus if you go CAT you are bound by ACCA regulation 8 preventing you offering services beyond trial balance.
These qualifications are a veritable minefield aren't they.
I think that the bulk of people who do ACCA-X will either use it as a stepping stone to ACCA (particularly where they are in, or are looking for, employment) or abandon it after completion in order to be able to work in a self employed capacity with a different professional body. (Even ACCA-X comes with regulation 8 attached).
As a stepping stone to something else though how much better than a free qualification (except exam fee's) with a top drawer professional body can one get?
__________________
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.
