Hi,
I currently work as a Local Government Officer (Housing/Benefits for my sins) but with the world of local government and especially welfare benefits changing and becoming increasingly volatile, I'm likely to get made redundant in the next 12 months or so.
I'm thinking of planning for this in advance by doing some extra qualifications at college in the evenings. A mate of mine is doing the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Level 2 Certificate.
Given that I work in a financial climate that has links to accountancy I'm thinking of taking the plunge and doing this course.
Does anyone else know anything about this course? I'm really interested in whether it's actually work doing and whether it is respected by employers.
Any guidance of thoughts would be really useful!
Thanks,
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Comments
In the Private sector it's like any qualification.
If you have it it means nowt if you don't have it it's regarded as the most important thing since sliced bread!
A full AAT qualification indicates a certain theoretical level of ability so is marketable at a junior level but, in my experience anyway, employers tend to be more impressed by people studying towards a full professional qualification particularly if they can get away without incurring any training costs!
If you've got a degree, jump straight to CIMA or ACCA
If you are looking for something a little more advanced then you need to be thinking about a professional qualification really - but this would definitely have to be done as part of a work placement.
Why not do an internet search for the sort of jobs you're looking for and see what qualifications they require?
I am a gradutate but I did a BSc degree in Geography so not really related to the field that I work in at the moment. I probably should have had an idea about what sort of work I wanted to do before going to Uni, but how do you know when you chose A Levels at 16!!!
TBH going into a junior position would probably be a bit annoying, but compared to being redundant it would seem like a godsend. Basically, the government's welfare reforms mean that all of the specific knowledge and professional courses that I have done over the past 10 years will probably become obsolete. At least in a junior position I'd be able to afford a pint a Charlton every other game!!!
If you are interested in a career in accountancy I would recommend having a look around at what's available, and maybe look for a scheme that will allow you to train on the job as ACA or ACCA. Most of the big firms are still recruiting, although some graduate schemes will only accept recent graduates unfortunately. Good luck!
Did AAT a few years back. Would recommend it as a starting point if you have no experience or knowledge in the field. Took 3 years then though which is far too long in my opinion.
I'm now studying ACCA with 4 exams to go. Its hard going esp when you're not naturally gifted at maths as in my case.
It's not cheap either (£500-600 per course and £80-100 per exam, plus subs etc) so helps if your employer funds it.
Good luck.
If it does then it might be worth considering doing it both as a foot on the ladder to a professional qualification and a consolation qualification if for any reason you cannot complete your professional exams.
As The Organiser says it's expensive to fund yourself and sometimes other things get in the way.
May be worth a bit of AAT to check you are really interested in the industry before embarking on a career in accountancy. I imagine you get some exemptions if you transfer.
Experience is what you need though unfortunately.
Things may have changed since I last had to think about it.
Time to decide what you want to do fella'. You'll need to convince any potential employer of your intent so need to be clear yourself.
Would advise it fatt matt if you are prepared to put the work in it will be worth it. If you are considering AAT maybe look at ACCA as will maybe give more variety jobwise and gives you a good understanding of finance etc.
If you can get sponsored by a company to do it i would recomend it. Good luck
I believe AAT gives you exemptions for CIMA and ACCA, it's well worth pursuing the main accountancy qualifications if you want any sort of career in this field. It needs to go hand in hand with a relevant job though.
On the back of that, now in commerce, I have encouraged unqualified members of my teams to study AAT as a decent grounding in accounting. While I rate it as a qualification in its own right, I do think it is undervalued by the market generally, and as an employer you dont seem to have to pay much of a premium for AAT qualifieds. That said, it does give you exemptions from CIMA/ACCA if you want to take your studying further, though you'd have to check to what extent as I havent been that involved with it recently. It's a big commitment in time and effort, but if it suits you I wish you good luck with it.
Although, if I had my time again, I'd run away to sea.
Basically, thinking about this a bit more, if you are committed to become a fully qualified accountant (i.e. ACA, ACCA, CIMA, etc.), I don't really see any advantage to doing AAT first. As a graduate you should be able to get direct entry onto a 3 year scheme and, from experience, I don't think having an AAT already would give you much of an advantage in the application process.
If, however, you don't want to make that commitment, or you're not sure, then AAT might be a good way to find out if accountancy is for you. Just expect it to take a little longer if you do decide to go the whole hog later on. As an example, in my old firm we took graduates straight onto a 3 year ACA course, whilst school leavers went onto a 2 year AAT followed by 2 year ACA conversion, so basically it took an extra year.
I thought that the thread title would put people off reading further. I have been pleasantly surprised!
http://www.legalsupportnetwork.co.uk/general/ask-the-experts/advice-accountancy-courses-anyone
All the best, Tel
I wonder why Millwall call us 'trainspotters'.