ACA Student - Desirong to Move from industry to Practice

Hi,

I have been working as an Accounts Assistant within the industry for 3 years. I am now going to study for a professional qulification. I get 4 Exemptions for ACCA and 8 exemptions for ACA due to my degree.
I am going to enrol on a ACA-CTA course, as I would like to attain a position within a ACA-Practice to learn the ropes, so I can hopefully work for myself in the future.
As I do not have prior practice experience, I am worried that i will not be able to attain my desired position.
I am also thinking about using my annual leave to work voluntarily for a practice, to gain some experience.

Any suggestions and advise people?

Reply 1

ajj2000

20

Original post by Mokha

Hi,

I have been working as an Accounts Assistant within the industry for 3 years. I am now going to study for a professional qulification. I get 4 Exemptions for ACCA and 8 exemptions for ACA due to my degree.
I am going to enrol on a ACA-CTA course, as I would like to attain a position within a ACA-Practice to learn the ropes, so I can hopefully work for myself in the future.
As I do not have prior practice experience, I am worried that i will not be able to attain my desired position.
I am also thinking about using my annual leave to work voluntarily for a practice, to gain some experience.

Any suggestions and advise people?

Seems very strange? Which country are you in? In the UK you would apply for a job in an ACA practice who would pay for your courses. You would have 3 years more experience than almost all their recruits.

Don't pay for the courses yourself - you can't qualify without a training contract.

Reply 2

Mokha

OP

1

I am from the UK.
ACA only takes into accounting experience gained whilst working for a ACA approved employer.
I am able to claim back the study costs from HMRC or they are added on to my tax allowance. So basically the taxman is paying for my studies.
The job market is pretty unstable due to Covid. Which is why I am planning on doing some exams alongside attaining practice work experience and continue to apply for practice jobs is well.

Reply 3

ajj2000

20

Original post by Mokha

I am from the UK.
ACA only takes into accounting experience gained whilst working for a ACA approved employer.
I am able to claim back the study costs from HMRC or they are added on to my tax allowance. So basically the taxman is paying for my studies.
The job market is pretty unstable due to Covid. Which is why I am planning on doing some exams alongside attaining practice work experience and continue to apply for practice jobs is well.

I am able to claim back the study costs from HMRC or they are added on to my tax allowance. So basically the taxman is paying for my studies.

I'm very dubious about this. At best you would need some fairly complicated tax planning to achieve this outcome.

Which is why I am planning on doing some exams alongside attaining practice work experience and continue to apply for practice jobs is well.

What type of practice are you hoping to work for? In general no-one recommends the route you are looking to take, as it is a pretty bad idea:

- you can't qualify as ACA with approved experience. You could sink a lot of time and money into the exams and never get to qualify if you cant find suitable work

- some firms won't accept people who have ever started professional qualifications. Other won't accept you if you have ever failed a professional exam prior to taking on a training contract. This is a significant risk.

- By studying exams in advance you are 'out of sync' with their intake - this might be off putting to a major employer.

- It looks like an ill advised decision - why pay for something when the only employers who can get you the qualification would pay anyway.

TLDR: Its generally a bad idea to self study for ACA exams. ACCA or CIMA is a different matter.

Reply 4

Mokha

OP

1

My colleague has used the link below to claim back her fees :
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/professional-fees-and-subscriptions

This is one of my worries i think i am going to gain experience within a practice then move on to find a job within an ACCA approved employer.

Reply 5

ajj2000

20

Original post by Mokha

My colleague has used the link below to claim back her fees :
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/professional-fees-and-subscriptions

This is one of my worries i think i am going to gain experience within a practice then move on to find a job within an ACCA approved employer.

That’s for membership fees - not course fees and additional costs.

Why not just apply for some training contracts and see what happens? They really are not looking for much if any experience.

ACA Student - Desirong to Move from industry to Practice

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