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Accountancy Qualifications

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Reply 60
You know, it's not all about what qualification you have that determines whether you get to the top. There are apparently 3 types of accountants. Finders, Minders and Grinders.

Which are you? For an explanation .... http://www.bringonretirement.co.uk/Home/News/Finder-Minder-Grinder.aspx

I am sorry to say that I am probably a Grinder. I cant play that political game that seems to elevate people up the ladder. But hey ! I have my integrity !

Which are you?....and are there any other categories......?
Reply 61
by request
TheBrightShadow
this should go in the sticky if its not there aready
ok this is how it works

acca - you can do all the exams yourself and become an acca affiliate - however to become an acca member you also need 3 years work experience with a company
cima - basically same thing except they don't have affiliate status in the new syllabus - so it has no formal title for when you have passed all the exams
aca - you can do all the exams except the case study by yourself - need sponsorship to do final exam and 3 years work exp.
aat - you can do all the exams yourself aswell but you need 1 years sponsership to become MAAT, more work experience to become FMAAT

to be completely honest - most managers and partners in firms trained many years ago when you couldn't do it without sponsorship - so they do tend to give wrong info sometimes

also places like kaplan have some admin staff who don't have a clue and give wrong info too
In addition to this:

The Ernst & Young Degree combines the best of student life with challenging and practical opportunities in the workplace, helping you to move onto a career that uses your distinctive abilities to the full. The degree in Accounting, Auditing and Finance is available in partnership with Lancaster University Management School (LUMS), a world-ranked international management school, and The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), the world’s first professional body of accountants.
As well as earning an internationally recognised BSc Honours qualification, you will complete 18 months of paid work experience and potential exemptions from a number of ICAS exams. And if you get a 2.1, pass your professional exams and excel during your work placements, you will receive a graduate job offer from one of the most prestigious professional services firms in the world something that in the current economic climate is becoming increasingly harder for today’s graduates.
We are looking for students with a diverse range of personal and academic skills; qualities we can help them build on. Students with enthusiasm, ambition and energy, who are excited by business and want to achieve their personal and professional potential. If this sounds like you, and you have the academic results to back it up (A/AS levels: AAA), we would love to hear from you. Find out more about the Ernst & Young Degree, download our latest brochure or be put in touch with a current degree student, on our website: www.ey.com/uk/eyfasttracks .
If you have any questions please add them to the thread or private message me!
Steve
Reply 63
complete Chartered Accountant can be batter one.
Reply 64
Hi, my name is Laura and I am the 'Official Representative' for ACCA, the leading global accountancy body. If you have any questions about the ACCA Qualification, please don't hesitate to ask me! Thanks
Reply 65
Check out this thread - its got all the answers as to why certain ones are "better"

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1662731
Reply 66
Hi,

Im a third year computer science student at UCL. I was supposed to graduate this year but I failed some of my exams and therefore will have to resit them may 2012. I would like to study for my acca once I graduate and would like to know whats the best way of doing this considereing my my degree. Also what grade would I require?

thanks in advance for any help.
I can work around with numbers quite easily. My math teacher used to hate me for that :wink: I have started studying for my AAT qualifications with the Home Learning College from this year and want to complete them before 2 years. Hopefully, I will be able to pass the exams! Does any one have any idea about jumping the AAT levels? What i mean is: If I complete my AAT level 1 or level 2 with good scores, then can i start level 3 or level directly?
My question is this:

How much of a benefit is it when studying towards an accountancy qualification when you come from a relevant degree background and having finance related work experience as opposed to someone coming from a completely different background (because I know a lot of people get into with degrees such as Geography or History)? Does it mean that the modules are a bit easier and you can get away with studying a bit less than someone who has never had any theoretical or practical experience with finance? (not that I'd go about thinking that "oh that geography guy studied for 6 hours so I can get away with 3)
Original post by snakesnake
My question is this:

How much of a benefit is it when studying towards an accountancy qualification when you come from a relevant degree background and having finance related work experience as opposed to someone coming from a completely different background (because I know a lot of people get into with degrees such as Geography or History)? Does it mean that the modules are a bit easier and you can get away with studying a bit less than someone who has never had any theoretical or practical experience with finance? (not that I'd go about thinking that "oh that geography guy studied for 6 hours so I can get away with 3)


It's always going to be hard to get a clear perspective on this as any one person will only have experience of one side or the other.

I'd comment that from my intake year there didn't seem to be any significant trend of better performance from those with a 'relevant' degree. I did an unrelated subject and didn't feel disadvantaged; the training assumes no prior knowledge and arguably having an unrelated degree is good in that it's less likely to lead to complacency.
Hi guys can anyone tell me what is the best accounting qualification?

I think its between ACCA and ACA but i dont know if they are the same thing?
Reply 71
What is my best option with a degree in Biomedical Science? I received a 2.1, and I studied from KCL. Honestly, I feel quite clueless as to what to do with this degree. I also have AABa in my A-levels, if that is any help.
Original post by DarthVader
Hmmmm CIPFA seem to have been forgotten about in this thread too I see.


The NCS has more info about the CIPFA PQ and other requirements (http://bit.ly/ZQr55I. I was thinking about getting my ACCA even though my background is in business management and not accounting. The site was helpful because I wasn't sure what the requirements are and what training is required.
Reply 73
Something else to add, the ICAS ITP qualification which is a new tax qualification since 2012, whose content is similar to and on the same level as CTA. It consists of the principles of taxation, taxation of individuals, taxation of companies and indirect tax.

There is very little information on the new ITP ICAS tax qualification so I thought that it would be useful to post about this, and in particular the difference between ITP and CTA. The ITP is the ICAS equivalent of the CTA, and is less well known due to its relatively recent introduction in 2011, but its content is largely similar and hopefully will be recognised in the wider world as an equivalent to the CTA. I have not taken the CTA myself, but only know about it from others’ experiences and the comments from tax tutors, so it would be useful for somebody who sat the CTA to chip in with input if necessary. However, I have attempted every ITP exam that has been set so far (as it’s only been two years) two intakes as practice, as well as the most recent intake which was my actual exam.

Broadly, the content of ITP is technically similar to the CTA. It’s just as dense, and most of the syllabus is similar, although there may be certain things in the ITP not in the CTA and vice versa. For example, the element of more than one restriction in restricted securities which is in ITP but not in CTA. In ITP it is mandatory to cover all elements of tax so this includes Taxation of Individuals, Companies and Indirect Taxation, for the advanced tax exams. As far as I know, this is not necessary for CTA, where certain exams can be chosen, and indirect tax is multiple choice in CTA whereas it's a full-blown exam in ITP. The ITP is focused on more practical, scenario based questions, rather than the theoretical emphasis in CTA. So whereas in CTA from my "second-hand" experiences, one may get a question asking you to talk about the Section 16ZA TCGA 1992 election, an ITP exam would probably set up a scenario, and could prompt you to write a largely similar answer, but only by inference from circumstances in the scenario. Often while learning the theory in ITP isn’t ridiculously complex for the most part (although there are certain areas that can be), the density of information to be learned in a relatively short amount of time makes its difficulty on a par with CTA exams, although pass rates are marginally higher (at least at KPMG) than they were for CTA exams. The presentation of questions in a scenario form can also lead to confusion over what the question actually requires, particularly for the written sections some elements appear clear, but there may be large areas missed without even realising that it was relevant.

The CTA is notorious for testing obscure sections of the syllabus at length in exams, which can often lead to good students failing the ITP was expected not to be as bad in this respect, and is probably not quite as mean as the CTA in this respect. However, in all the exams I have attempted, there have been significant portions of the paper testing relatively obscure areas of the notes, and of which there were no practice questions provided, as the sections appear to be irrelevant. It also isn’t as simple as memorising the notes, often success in questions derives from logical deductions in a particular scenario, and won’t necessarily be reached as a conclusion from simply knowing the notes by rote, unless a full understanding is gained. As an example, in the 2013 Individuals paper, personal service companies (a small section which most tutors did not consider highly examinable) appeared as a 20 mark question, and seemingly insignificant payments on account formed 12 marks of a 20 mark question on the 2013 Indirect Taxation paper.

Overall, ITP tax provides comprehensive coverage of the tax syllabus (although only scratches the surface of tax itself in reality) although the exams themselves are on a par with CTA in terms of the level of difficulty. CTA exams are probably still a bit harder to pass due to the fact that ITP exams probably examine the content more fairly in relative terms, but even the ITP exams (unlike the CA exams) do not necessarily go for coverage over depth they tend to test about a third of the syllabus of each type of tax in their respective exams, sometimes in quite some detail. So whereas in the TPS CA exams, you could gain a good knowledge of the core areas in each topic and still pass if you didn't know all the small obscure details for the extra marks, in ITP tax, it may not be the case depending on what you are dealt in the exam - you may well have to deal with areas that aren't considered "core" but could form a significant part of the exam. Of course, certain core areas will be tested as well.

To give you an idea of pass rates these are the pass rates for KPMG (which are similar to the national pass rates as only 40 or so more people take these exams on top of KPMG’s intake)
2012 Pass rates

Individuals 57%
Companies 63%
Indirect 66%

2013 Pass rates

Individuals 59%
Companies 74%
Indirect 54%
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 74
Does the ATT not have levels like AAT does. What level does the ATT come on the qualifications curriculum framework?

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