I'm halfway through an ACA training contract at a smallish firm; AMA

DarkSenrine

😀😀

How big is your firm in terms of employees? How many exams have you done? What service line do you work in? :smile:

Reply 2

Akamega

13

I've heard that at smaller firms they tend to give trainees more responsibility earlier than trainees in bigger firms, what's your experience with this? Most interesting thing you've done to date as a trainee? What are your plans after you complete your training contract?

Reply 3

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by Kre

How big is your firm in terms of employees? How many exams have you done? What service line do you work in? :smile:

30 employees, 6 partners

10/15 exams

Accounts prep and audit

Reply 4

Kre

18

Original post by DarkSenrine

30 employees, 6 partners

10/15 exams

Accounts prep and audit

Are there any other grads in your intake? How are you finding the work? Is there scope for progression or does your firm expect you to leave post qualification?

Reply 5

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by Akamega

I've heard that at smaller firms they tend to give trainees more responsibility earlier than trainees in bigger firms, what's your experience with this? Most interesting thing you've done to date as a trainee? What are your plans after you complete your training contract?

In my experience, no more responsibility - they give me all the boring jobs that they know they are going to generate a lot of fee income from.

Best experience is going home after a two week audit.

Plans after finishing: get out while I still can.

Reply 6

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by Kre

Are there any other grads in your intake? How are you finding the work? Is there scope for progression or does your firm expect you to leave post qualification?

They take on one grad a year.

There is certainly scope for progression but there's a certain pecking order based on how long they've been there and how in they are with the partners. One guy got made a partner within five years of joining (starting from just being part of their grad intake).

They expect you to leave but have offered most people permanent positions. I expect I'll be asked to leave once I qualify as the office is getting cramped.

Reply 7

Akamega

13

Original post by DarkSenrine

In my experience, no more responsibility - they give me all the boring jobs that they know they are going to generate a lot of fee income from.

Best experience is going home after a two week audit.

Plans after finishing: get out while I still can.

This is kind of depressing considering I want to go into accounting after my degree. Reps for truth though.

Reply 8

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by Akamega

This is kind of depressing considering I want to go into accounting after my degree. Reps for truth though.

I would say it depends on what kind of person you are. Despite having a maths degree, I've never been interested in playing around with figures but went into this as it seemed like the next logical step after graduating.

Don't want to put you off as some people I know really enjoy it and some can earn a lot of money from it.

I think you can only truly be happy in your job if it fits at least two of the following criteria:

(1) Self-employed: not being under someone else's thumb and having complete control over the decision making and what direction you want the business to follow. Maybe set up your own practice post qualification? That's what I plan on doing.
(2) Stimulating - not the same thing day in, day out. The chance to learn new things and meet new people with different takes on things.
(3) Belief in the cause: self-explanatory. I could get this through working for some charity, but probably not saving rich people inheritance tax.

I am hopeful for the future but I do admit that a training contract is tough. Not just because of the exams; I question my motivation behind doing it every day.

But almost every job is boring, with rare exceptions (author, artist, musician, athlete...), and so you might well as do something with scope for high wages.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

grassntai

14

Original post by DarkSenrine

😀😀

What university did you go to and what a levels did you get?

How difficult are the exams and do you think someone with a non-mathematical/business background will struggle?

What do you enjoy most?

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Reply 10

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by grassntai

What university did you go to and what a levels did you get?

How difficult are the exams and do you think someone with a non-mathematical/business background will struggle?

What do you enjoy most?

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University of York - Mathematics

A-Levels: A*A*B (Maths, Economics, Chemistry).

But you need a lot less than this. My colleagues go to the likes of ex-polies with mediocre A-Levels.

The exams are harder than anything else I have ever seen - conceptually very easy, but you need to be able to write everything down astoundingly quickly and memorise lots of different rules and apply them to diverse scenarios. Even though the pass mark is 55, I've found these papers harder than third year Maths exams.

Re struggling, it's a common misconception, but accountancy requires no mathematics at all. A lot of accountants know nothing more than how to add figures up and take percentages. You will not need to know business jargon either and will learn everything on the job.

There are so many areas that you are tested on that you will need to learn more about from your tuition provider (accounting - group and singular entity, corporate and personal tax, audit, tax planning, investment appraisal, law, business strategy (lots of jargon), economic theory) and will be structured in courses corresponding to the fifteen exams.

If you work hard, you will pass. I find it difficult to sit down and do it as I find it so dry.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 11

grassntai

14

Original post by DarkSenrine

University of York - Mathematics

A-Levels: A*A*B (Maths, Economics, Chemistry).

But you need a lot less than this. My colleagues go to the likes of ex-polies with mediocre A-Levels.

The exams are harder than anything else I have ever seen - conceptually very easy, but you need to be able to write everything down astoundingly quickly and memorise lots of different rules and apply them to diverse scenarios. Even though the pass mark is 55, I've found these papers harder than third year Maths exams.

Re struggling, it's a common misconception, but accountancy requires no mathematics at all. A lot of accountants know nothing more than how to add figures up and take percentages. You will not need to know business jargon either and will learn everything on the job.

There are so many areas that you are tested on that you will need to learn more about from your tuition provider (accounting - group and singular entity, corporate and personal tax, audit, tax planning, investment appraisal, law, business strategy (lots of jargon), economic theory) and will be structured in courses corresponding to the fifteen exams.

If you work hard, you will pass. I find it difficult to sit down and do it as I find it so dry.

Thank you for the response!

How come you didn't apply for a big 4 firm or did you not get in?

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Reply 12

DarkSenrine

OP

14

Original post by grassntai

Thank you for the response!

How come you didn't apply for a big 4 firm or did you not get in?

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No problem.

I only applied for jobs from the September after graduating and didn't want to wait for a whole year to start work.

Looking back on it, I'm quite pleased I didn't join Big 4 as trainees work very long hours and the firms aren't very lenient with exam fails. Having said that, I would not have been thrown out with my current record.

Obviously Big 4 is great for prestige and will set you up well for the future but I really value my free time and am not hugely ambitious when it comes to promotion for the moment so they weren't really for me.

The main perk of working for a small firm is leaving on time, getting in on time, and taking a full break with no disapproval.

Reply 13

what is thisMkII

1

Original post by DarkSenrine

No problem.

I only applied for jobs from the September after graduating and didn't want to wait for a whole year to start work.

Looking back on it, I'm quite pleased I didn't join Big 4 as trainees work very long hours and the firms aren't very lenient with exam fails. Having said that, I would not have been thrown out with my current record.

Obviously Big 4 is great for prestige and will set you up well for the future but I really value my free time and am not hugely ambitious when it comes to promotion for the moment so they weren't really for me.

The main perk of working for a small firm is leaving on time, getting in on time, and taking a full break with no disapproval.

How does one go about applying to these smaller firms? Do they advertise online about their schemes, or is it more of a cold email/call thing if you search up a firm online? Thanks.

Reply 14

grassntai

14

Original post by DarkSenrine

No problem.

I only applied for jobs from the September after graduating and didn't want to wait for a whole year to start work.

Looking back on it, I'm quite pleased I didn't join Big 4 as trainees work very long hours and the firms aren't very lenient with exam fails. Having said that, I would not have been thrown out with my current record.

Obviously Big 4 is great for prestige and will set you up well for the future but I really value my free time and am not hugely ambitious when it comes to promotion for the moment so they weren't really for me.

The main perk of working for a small firm is leaving on time, getting in on time, and taking a full break with no disapproval.

You went to York, is there careers department good? Did you get any internships/work experience opportunities from them?

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Reply 15

MGOOD

Original post by DarkSenrine

University of York - Mathematics

A-Levels: A*A*B (Maths, Economics, Chemistry).

But you need a lot less than this. My colleagues go to the likes of ex-polies with mediocre A-Levels.

The exams are harder than anything else I have ever seen - conceptually very easy, but you need to be able to write everything down astoundingly quickly and memorise lots of different rules and apply them to diverse scenarios. Even though the pass mark is 55, I've found these papers harder than third year Maths exams.

Re struggling, it's a common misconception, but accountancy requires no mathematics at all. A lot of accountants know nothing more than how to add figures up and take percentages. You will not need to know business jargon either and will learn everything on the job.

There are so many areas that you are tested on that you will need to learn more about from your tuition provider (accounting - group and singular entity, corporate and personal tax, audit, tax planning, investment appraisal, law, business strategy (lots of jargon), economic theory) and will be structured in courses corresponding to the fifteen exams.

If you work hard, you will pass. I find it difficult to sit down and do it as I find it so dry.

Hi,
I agree with all the above comments and wanted to add that it's worth sticking with it and gaining the prestigious ACA qualification which does open many career doors not just within accountancy. I too found the exams extremely boring and not at all related to maths apart from the basics of GCSE. They require a vast amount of memorising lists and lists of rules to be applied in extremely time pressured exams especially at the final stage. Success is not so related to how intelligent you are, although intelligence is needed, it's far more to do with the ability and commitment to memorise vast amounts of rules and apply them, staying motivated in what is quite a boring subject in the way it is taught and examined. Caveat, some people genuinely find the whole ACA exam process interesting, so I don't want to brush aside their views. Each to their own.