Independantly Studying the ACA

Hello All,

I hope you are well. I am 25 and graduated from university with an Accounting and Finance degree. I started out with a graduate scheme and now in a permanent role.

I work in banking (one of big UK banks) and I don't really want to spend my whole career at a bank and would like to study for the ACA to keep my options open in the future.

There are people at my bank who are studying for the ACA so I believe my bank is an authorized to sign-off for the time qualifications but I have a few questions with regards to the registering with the ICAEW.

1. When I register what actually happens.
2. I don't plan to take funding from my employer (so no classes from Kaplan for the knowledge etc. until I really need it i.e. the professional stages) because I am thinking about leaving my employer in the next year or so and don't want to pay back the expensive fees. I have friends who are studying for the ACA so I have access to the Kaplan material
3. Is purchasing the books compulsory as they are £30 each and my friend who has just started the ACA has given me their material.

I just had a look on their website, as mentioned above I believe that my bank is an Authorized Trainer but how do I find out who the right person to contact is within my bank?

My questions for the lovely people of this forum are:

- would it be possible to study independently for the knowledge exams and would I need a mentor in the bank to sign-off my time qualification?
- How challenging are the exams and how much time would I realistically need for each module for knowledge?

Thanks guys - looking forward to starting this long journey

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it :-).

After working for over two years now I just really dislike the job and think that doing the ACA will give me flexibility to move to more roles. I think it would quite nice to move over to Corporate as I think the culture would be nicer. What's your background, are you working at an accounting firm?

Wrt to the exemptions I have had a look and I didn't do too well for ac100 so can't get the exemptions which is a major bitch but I guess its my fault so can't complain.

Hello All,

I hope you are well. I am 25 and graduated from university with an Accounting and Finance degree. I started out with a graduate scheme and now in a permanent role.

I work in banking (one of big UK banks) and I don't really want to spend my whole career at a bank and would like to study for the ACA to keep my options open in the future.

There are people at my bank who are studying for the ACA so I believe my bank is an authorized to sign-off for the time qualifications but I have a few questions with regards to the registering with the ICAEW.

1. When I register what actually happens.
2. I don't plan to take funding from my employer (so no classes from Kaplan for the knowledge etc. until I really need it i.e. the professional stages) because I am thinking about leaving my employer in the next year or so and don't want to pay back the expensive fees. I have friends who are studying for the ACA so I have access to the Kaplan material
3. Is purchasing the books compulsory as they are £30 each and my friend who has just started the ACA has given me their material.

I just had a look on their website, as mentioned above I believe that my bank is an Authorized Trainer but how do I find out who the right person to contact is within my bank?

My questions for the lovely people of this forum are:

- would it be possible to study independently for the knowledge exams and would I need a mentor in the bank to sign-off my time qualification?
- How challenging are the exams and how much time would I realistically need for each module for knowledge?

Thanks guys - looking forward to starting this long journey

Hi Bleached, I was working in a bank but in a department completely non-related to finance/ accounting. I do not have any background in accountancy, but started studying independently full-time towards the ACA since two months ago. I have now passed two modules. It is not difficult to pass if you work through the ICAEW study manual and question bank, and it probably will only take you a month to prepare each Knowledge module since you are not new to the subject. Hope this helps.

Hey Guys, I just wanted to know what you all thought would be the "best combination" of modules for the knowledge modules would be.

I have just about going through the Kaplan file for Accounting and did plan to do MI but they are rumoured to be both of the toughest and not sure it would be wise to do both at the same time.

anybody have any thoughts on combinations?

Have you considered the ACCA? I did Accounting and Finance at university too, and I managed to get some exemptions from all but two of the papers - Tax and Audit - in the Fundamentals module. If you did the said modules at uni, I would guess you'll be exempt from them too and so would just leave you with the Professional papers to do (no exemptions are given here).

Thanks for your response. But I think it would have to be ACA or cima tbh, the only thing that worries me is that because i would have so many exemptions I'm worried I would struggle in that I graduated a few years ago
And if you asked me to take the exams I'm exempt from I would probably struggle..

Is anybody able to comment on the difficulty of the application modules relative to the knowledge?

Thanks for your response. But I think it would have to be ACA or cima tbh, the only thing that worries me is that because i would have so many exemptions I'm worried I would struggle in that I graduated a few years ago
And if you asked me to take the exams I'm exempt from I would probably struggle..

Is anybody able to comment on the difficulty of the application modules relative to the knowledge?

Do you mind me asking why you're just looking into ACA or CIMA?

I am in a similar position as yourself to be honest. I only finished with a third at uni, and this was in 2011. I've spoken to a number of people, and most of them have advised me to take the exemptions anyway and just refresh my knowledge in them in my own time. It's totally up to you of course, but it does make sense from a time, stress, and, most importantly as you are looking into self-funding, financial perspective.

Since you've already had a couple of years' experience working in a fairly similar environment with a lot of transferable skills, how about looking into getting a training contract into a company that'll be willing to fund your studies?

Hi Bleached

Just wanted to add a comment on the difficulty of the application modules vs knowledge.

There are new technical areas to learn and these are covered in the comprehensive learning materials, but they are not necessarily more difficult.

The application module exams require a different skill set: they are scenario based questions - so you would need to apply your knowledge rather than just regurgitate information.

But, our learning materials have extensive question practise to help you prepare for these exams, so we do all we can to get you through them!

Louise

Thanks for your response. But I think it would have to be ACA or cima tbh, the only thing that worries me is that because i would have so many exemptions I'm worried I would struggle in that I graduated a few years ago
And if you asked me to take the exams I'm exempt from I would probably struggle..

Is anybody able to comment on the difficulty of the application modules relative to the knowledge?