ACCA or ACA

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jumbojuice wrote: »

ACA still remains a much more prestigious qualification than the ACCA - and i think the costs of doing so differ massively.

Their is a comparison pdf somewhere on the ICAEW website and the costs of registering, sitting the exams, tuition is roughly the same. Though as people usually do ACA in weekdays and ACCA on weekends etc. I think maybe it costs the companies more to do ACA?

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

Hey there,

I don't normally come on this board, but saw the thread title and thought I would chip in. I'm an ACA qualified accountant, qualified in practice and then moved out in to an FC role.

To do the ACA you must work for an "approved training organisation" and do a minimum of 450 days of accountancy related work before you qualify, again with an "approved training organisation".

Really that limits it to practice and a few large employers.

It would depend on your background, but the big 4 firms do take on older staff and people who want a change of career. I worked with a couple of people in practice who were 30 plus and doing their training contract.

You still go through the same recruitment process and my guess is the process is probably even harder at the moment than when I joined (and it was tough then).

If you can't get a job with an ACA approved organisation then it is ACCA, CIMA or AAT to choose from. The AAT is more of a first step, but if you want to jump in at the deep end, then go straight for the CIMA or ACCA, many people do, but it would be a steeper learning curve.

If you are paying for it out of your own pocket I would be tempted to do the first couple of exams for the AAT, see if it is really for you.

Good luck with it!

I know a 28 year old who has just started an ACA training contract with a big4. However competition is tougher than ever - and also I would say that looking at job ads more are for ACCA/CIMA study than ACA atm.

Quenastoise wrote: »

Back in 1994, I was offered a training contract with a firm of chartered accountants under ACA. At the time, the ACA was the best qualification you could have. I found it however tough as you had to sit all 5 papers in one sitting. I consistently struggled with one particular paper, which cast doubt on my ability to qualify and I lost that training contract.

I then transferred my credits to the ACCA, passed one paper at a time, started a family, got promoted and went back to my ACCA studies

ACCA's flexibility for me has made all the difference and that flexibility may work in respect of various needs (family, employment situation, costs, etc.)

I would recommend the AAT route because it would give a flavour for working in accountancy and studying the material. Passes at AAT count as credits in the ACCA exams.

You don't have to sit 5 exams at a time for ICAEW/ACA - are you confusing it with ICAS/CA? Infact I think you are only allowed to sit max 4 exams in one sitting for ACA/ACCA.

I do agree that people prefer ACCA for its flexibility. Is it a straightforward process to transfer from ACA to ACCA?

Quenastoise

You are probably right about having to take 4 papers instead of 5 in one sitting, like I said it was a long time ago that I took ACA papers and it wasn't for me.

Don't worry about what qualifications the job market likes best, try to find the qualification that suits your particular circumstances best. In my time, chartered contracts were only offered by the Big 4s to the brightest graduates and anyone who did not fit the standard profile (older, 2nd class degree, you name it) got rejected so the choice was either to apply to smaller approved training offices or go for another institute.

I would recommend thinking about why you want to go into accountancy in the first place and what you like about it - it is being in practice giving advice and being a slave to timesheets or do you prefer to work in industry and see how the monthly figures relate to the production process for instance, in which case CIMA would be more suitable perhaps.


Transferring the credits was no problem.

Good luck with your choice and future career

me-shelly

I agree with the above. you never used to be able to do ACA if you didn't work for a chartered accountants.

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Quenastoise wrote: »

You are probably right about having to take 4 papers instead of 5 in one sitting, like I said it was a long time ago that I took ACA papers and it wasn't for me.

Don't worry about what qualifications the job market likes best, try to find the qualification that suits your particular circumstances best. In my time, chartered contracts were only offered by the Big 4s to the brightest graduates and anyone who did not fit the standard profile (older, 2nd class degree, you name it) got rejected so the choice was either to apply to smaller approved training offices or go for another institute.

You don't have to take 4 - 4 is the maximum allowed - you can do 1 exam per sitting if you want.

I sort of disagree because whether you want a job with study support or you want to do the exams yourself and then get your work experience signed off you will need to find someone approved - and even though you can do ACA outside of practice - there does appear to be more ACCA places because pretty much any firm with a finance department can sign off work experience for ACCA

me-shelly wrote: »

I agree with the above. you never used to be able to do ACA if you didn't work for a chartered accountants.

Well actually I recently read that it was about 18 years ago when they first allowed non-chartered firms to offer ACA - however it has never really caught on in Industry - probably due to the more stringent requirements the ICAEW impose

Procrastinator333

Historically it may have been a bit of a closed club, but nothing could be further from that now.

I started my ACA 4 and a bit years ago. The group I trained with were incredibly diverse, yes strong academics were required, but in truth, the academics were a tick box. If yes, you then had to demonstrate personal / life skills. Being able to demonstrate you had people skills and were an interesting person were in my opinion what they looked for. So in some ways a mature student had an advantage, typically they had several more years from which to draw these type of skills from.

After that, again imo, it truly was a meritocracy. If you wanted it more than the rest and worked harder, you moved up faster than the rest.

If you are sure you want a crak at accountancy, then you may as well apply to the accountancy firms, you have nothing to loose. There are a lot of them out there:

http://www.accountancyage.com/resources/top50

Not_a_Newbie

Just wanted to add that you don't specifically need to do CIMA to work in industry. I have always worked in industry - most of my roles have been management accounting based - some employers like the added benefit that ACCA includes auditing and account preparation.

Good luck to you too, yorkshire laura, wish we didn't have to wait until February for the results though!

phildo_2

You do also need to have relevant practical experience in order to qualify with CIMA, it is based on submitting an extended CV to demonstrate that have have the right experience, this is assessed by CIMA after you have completed all of the exams and the case study paper.
As various people have mentioned, CIMA is focussed on management accounting, but you still do cover tax and financial reporting, the only thing you can't do with CIMA is external audit work. I would say that CIMA is more of a accountancy/business qualification.

SmallEnglish

I took the jump in 2007 into starting my accountancy training. I decided to do AAT first, which I know a lot of people look down their noses at but I really didn't want to bite off more than I could chew! Plus it meant I could see what areas of accountancy I preferred before deciding what qualification to go on to. I originally wanted to do CIMA but since starting studying I've changed my mind and now am aiming to move onto ACCA.

My manager did ACA and she said in her day you had to get a training contract and it used to be pretty tough competition, but no idea what it's like now. That said, she is working in an industry role so I think it shows that all the qualifications are pretty flexible really...

I think it's a good idea to have a look at AAT, just so you can get a feel for what areas of accountancy you prefer before taking the big leap!

Oh, just to add, I'm studying via distance learning. For me, it's just more convenient and flexible as it means I can still work full-time. If it was an option though, I would prefer classroom tuition as with distance learning it can be tough to stay motivated and you do have to be quite self-disciplined!

phildo_2

I did the CIMA course via distance learning over 4 years whilst working full time (40-50 hrs/wk most weeks) as a trainee management accountant in industry...and you are not wrong when you say you need to stay motivated and disciplined!! but it is well worth it afterwards :beer:

The OP doesn't say what other qualifications/experience they have, this is perhaps the starting point.. if you have a relevant degree you will perhaps get some exemptions from early CIMA papers whereas if you have not previously studied then AAT could well be a suitable option.

pcyam

Thank you everyone for all the good advice

phildo wrote: »

I did the CIMA course via distance learning over 4 years whilst working full time (40-50 hrs/wk most weeks) as a trainee management accountant in industry...and you are not wrong when you say you need to stay motivated and disciplined!! but it is well worth it afterwards :beer:

The OP doesn't say what other qualifications/experience they have, this is perhaps the starting point.. if you have a relevant degree you will perhaps get some exemptions from early CIMA papers whereas if you have not previously studied then AAT could well be a suitable option.

Phildo- I have a marketing degree, and did a GNVQ advanced course in business studies previous to that. I have some work experience working in accountants firm, and did book-keeping preparation for VAT for my parents. I think I want to do more into this area than business management/strategy etc etc.

I was planning on doing AAT few years ago and recently but was suggested not to do this and just go for ACCA, but from the advice on MSE I may concider it depending if I can do self-study or local college??.

But if I dont decide to do AAT, I was wondering ACCA and ACA are they more multiple choice or are they essay style exams??

TIA