CIMA vs. ACCA

BCD

I've been looking at the CIMA and ACCA professional accounts courses at my local college.

If I did one of them, I would need to start from the foundation/Certificate levels.

Can you tell me:

-Which one is more respected by employers?

-Is it worth doing? I have no relevant work experience, so I'm worried that I won't be able to get a job when part/fully qualified.

Any advice?

Lavendyr

What do you want to do - do you want to become a management accountant (i.e. work in industry, focusing on providing management accounts for the directors to make business decisions) or do you want to be a practising accountant (e.g. work in audit)?

Personally I would feel that the ACA or ACCA offer wider opportunities than the CIMA qualification since with ACA and ACCA your options are wider. But if you want to focus on management accounting, CIMA is probably pretty good as well. It depends on where you want your career to lead.

fredsnail

ACCA is now seen as the wider qualification - take a look at the websites and see if you can see how wide the coverage is of both qualifications.

You will not find it too difficult to get work once part qualified which ever route you choose as most employers understand that they are similar qualifications.

fs

cazziebo

I work with one of each. They would each argue their own qualification is the best.

Probably of no relevance but the ACCA is the MD, the CIMA Financial Controller.

aw4428

CIMA is a globally respected accounting qualification, but you can't work in an accountancy practice with it usually, only in industry/finance dep'ts. It's more focused on strategy and forward-thinking, and is seen as a general business qualification.

ACA is the most respected of them all; ACCA I'm less sure about, but I think it would be more focused on the pedantics of financial reporting than CIMA. CIMA equips you well for internal reporting, whereas ACCA would have a greater emphasis on external reporting I think.

Checkout their websites and visit BPP.

fifelass_2

Hi BDC,

I work in a large finance department and would pretty much agree with the previous comments that you'll do as well with either one and the focus should be on where you want to go with it.

I know jobs in finance are not that easy to come by at the moment but I would strongly recomend trying to get in somewhere on the ground floor at the very start of your exams. There are a num,ber of benefits to this:

• Many larger organisations will support you through your training, paying for courses and / or giving study leave.
• The course work itself will be much easier if you have some hands on experience of what they are talking about.
• You will have ready access to others who have done the exams before who can give you plenty of advice and help with areas you are struggling with.
• You may be able to get a work place mentor who could help both with the exams and how to take your career forward.

Mummy_to_Lily

I would say ACCA is better, but then I'm biased being 2 weeks away from finding out whether I'm fully qualified or not! :-)

ACCA is no longer seen as just for those in practice, I have never worked in practice and don't really intend on doing so - I have worked in industry for 14 years. I also think the 2 qualifications are slowly growing closer and there is alot of cross-over between the two.

ACCA is recognised worldwide so if you fancy working abroad at some point in the future this would be the best one to go for.

I would also definitely recommend trying to get a trainee position where they support you financially and mentor you. You will gain valuable 'building block' experience and to be honest anyone can learn from a text book but good solid practical experience along side studying will help your studies and also help you progress careerwise.

jessicamb

I would say CIMA is better but then I thats my qualification

CIMA is better if you are considering a move into general management/helping to run the business/influence strategy. If you want to do financial accounts/technical accounting/statutory reporting then ACCA is probably the better qualification.

BCD

Thanks for all the replies and the info'.

Which is the better way to study it? I have seen local companies offering tuition (such as BPP, FBT and Kaplan), but I find it very hard to believe that I would be ready to take an exam after just 5 days tuition....? Especially as I'm starting from scratch?

The other option is to spread the foundation papers over one year and study it at a local college or uni'.

Which would you recommend?

It's very expensive, either way! Would a local college offer fee reductions of any sort?

I'd love to get some kind of accounts job, but I'm finding it difficult because I have no accounts skills. If I finish the ACCA/CIMA before I manage to get any relevant employment, will I still be able to get a job?

mandyc

If you study at a local college/uni and you have not already got a degree it may be possible to get help towards your fees via your local education authority. You have to complete a form PTG1.

Link here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/FinanceForNewStudents/DG_10034863

At our local Uni both CIMA and ACCA courses are £225 per paper. This is for tuition only. You have to pay for membership of the professional body, buy the course text (aboutn £30/40 I think) and pay your exam fees but I think it compare very favourably to the prices charged by the private providers.

Ring your local college and ask them for advice as to which is best to study in your situation taking into consideration what you want to do eventually.

Goodl luck.

jessicamb

The usual approach is to work your way through an accounting qualification whilst working in an accounts related job. Luckily a lot of people doing that are also able to get their employers to pay for the training which as you have discovered is quite expensive. In either case you will not be able to become fully qualified without three years relevant work experience - and I dont think that employers would be overly keen on hiring an accountant that has academic strength but no relevant experience.

Are you able to get any job in an accounts department or an administrative role that has an accounting element? A year of purchase ledger processing or similar would put you in a better position to move into an accounts role.

If you post briefly what experience/jobs you have done previously I might be able to make some suggestions about possible roles that would help.