CTA horror stories!

Hi,

I'm due to start Indirect Tax at Ernst & Young in August and am going to be studying towards the ATT and then the CTA. I have always been interested specifically in a career in Tax, which is why I was quite adamant on doing the CTA instead of the ACA. Also, I have never really been keen on audit etc, which drove me away from ACA.

However, I've heard a lot of horror stories after doing a bit of googling which has really scared me! CTA seems to have a 30% pass rate and is supposedly 40 times more difficult than the ACA!!

Studying has never really been a problem.. I have a first class degree and am a very hard worker, but I understand that these exams are on another level.

I was just wondering what my options are if I do fail the CTA (touch wood I won't!). Would I be able to switch to ACA or would I just get the sack?? I will discuss this with someone at EY but just wanted to hear from others who have actually done or are working towards the CTA?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Kemik

KPMG have now abandoned these exams due to the amount of people failing them!

I thought with EY it was a case of doing ACA first then having the option to do CTA? I might be wrong...

The exams, especially OMB, have been highly cut down this year after they realised the pass rate forced KPMG to leave so it shouldn't be as bad. The worst thing about it was probably the mystery of what the questions might be. People revise the entire folders given to them by Kaplan or Tolleys (remembering there isn't a syllabus really) but one 20 mark question might be on one paragraph in the whole thick, A4 folder.

Good luck! I done VAT, IHT, Corp tax at Awareness, OMB and Individuals at Advisory.

Reply 2

tangoe_07

Thanks Kemik. I guess I'm just going to have to soldier on and try my best! :smile:

You're right - most people in tax EY do the ICAS exams and then have the option to do the CTA. But in Indirect Tax they require us to do the CTA.

Reply 3

Illusionary

Original post by tangoe_07

Thanks Kemik. I guess I'm just going to have to soldier on and try my best! :smile:

You're right - most people in tax EY do the ICAS exams and then have the option to do the CTA. But in Indirect Tax they require us to do the CTA.

The exams are very hard, yes (particularly at Advisory level), but it's certainly possible to pass. You can see pass rates for latest sitting: http://www.tax.org.uk/students_qualifications/Currentctastudents/ctaexamresults/November+2011 (the top link on that page) - for Advisory, they range from 37% to 66%. I passed all of my CTA papers back in May 2011, as did the one other person at my office doing the exams with me; in November last year, again everyone from my office passed all papers (there were four or five sitting them that time). EY now use Tolley for most CA training, and my experience with them was very good throughout and there's a good variety of study methods that you can use - including the hard copy study manuals, online PDFs, interaction online modules and downloadable MP3 equivalents. The key, as with all professional exams but even more so at CTA, is to be ready for a very significant time investment (you pretty much need to dedicate yourself just to studying, especially in the final revision stages) and focus on question practice.

While I'm not completely familiar with the qualification route that you're taking, if CTA is an integral part of your training contract then if you failed any exams you'd likely be allowed one resit attempt (self-funded) so long as you passed a good number of papers at the first attempt, but any further fails would lead to you having to leave. However, if it's optional (as with the CA -> CTA route) then I'd expect that that wouldn't be likely. There should be specifics in your training contract when you get it.

I'm in corporate tax myself (or, as you're with EY, you'll recognise Business Tax Services as a service line), so went the CA -> CTA route, and my CTA options were VAT, IHTTE and Individuals at Awareness level, OMB and Advanced Corporate Tax at Advisory. The ICAS CA allows a credit for the Application paper, so I didn't have to sit though - though, I think you will if you're coming from the ATT route.

Out of interest, which EY office will you be at?

Reply 4

tangoe_07

Thanks Illusionary. That breakdown of results makes it sound a lot more passable! Hearing that everyone from your office has been passing has eased my nerves a little! Some of these forums I've been looking at make CTA sound absolutely impossible to pass!

Yes I have heard a lot of great stuff about Tolley, and I know I will work hard and be dedicated to studying to ensure I pass. I have read somewhere though that two resits are allowed – not that I will be needing them (positive mental attitude!). I do think CTA is an integral part of my training as I wasn’t given an option of studying for CA. Not too sure about the details but I’m meeting some EY people next week so I will discuss this.

I will be based in the London office. Who do you work for out of interest?

Thanks again for the response :smile:

Also.. does anyone know if there is a way to get an email notification when someone reply’s to my posts on here??

Reply 5

Illusionary

Original post by tangoe_07

Also.. does anyone know if there is a way to get an email notification when someone reply’s to my posts on here??

My location field should give a clue of where I'm based :tongue:

I'm in Manchester. :smile:

To get email notification of new posts in a thread, you can choose to "watch"/"subscribe" to it - there's an option under "Thread Tools" at the top of the page when viewing the thread.

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