ACCA or ACA

jessicamb

pcyam wrote: »

Thank you everyone for all the good advice



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

In both there will be a lot of essay and computational questions. Some of the lower level papers, certainly at AAT, no idea on ACA, may have a proportion of multiple choice. The syllabus will be on their websites. In any accounting qual you will write a lot of essays and reports whilst studying. Worth noting they are all exams too - no coursework element applies for academic studies (though there is the work experience requirement)

456789

pcyam wrote: »

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

Your degree and GNVQ are unlikely to get you exemptions from ACA/ACCA

Though your work experience in an accounting firm will probably mean you are exempt from level 1 of the aat see: http://www.aatskillcheck.org/

The advantage of you doing AAT is that you get a qualification and get to see if accounting is really for you without the massive expense of a professional qualification.

For both ACA and ACCA the first few exams are computer based and multiple choice. They aren't all theory though you have to work out calculations etc. aswell. After that you have written essay type exams.

If you feel confident enough going straight into ACCA go for it you could also do CAT which is a qualification from the ACCA which is similar to AAT - http://www.accaglobal.com/students/cat/

You will have more self-study options with CAT/AAT/ACCA than with ACA

jessicamb wrote: »

Worth noting they are all exams too - no coursework element applies for academic studies (though there is the work experience requirement)

In AAT you also need to do a sort of portfolio

pcyam

My cousin did the AAT so I am going to look through his work and see if I understand and the same as what I know already, otherwise this maybe a possible starting point.

I am trying to work out my UCA points but the system has changed on UCAS since I did my college course do I still convert the grade to points as it was in 1997 or as it is now as i am only now going to join?? Also, I only just missed out on a 2.1 so will I be accepted to do either ACA/ACCA as it says on their site that a minimum of 2.1 is needed, do they look as students on a case by case status or its a general rule??

456789

ACCA - you can enter as mature student so degree doesn't matter: http://www.accaglobal.com/learningproviders/tuition_provider/faq/general#1
ACA - yes they will take you with a 2:2 - what they are referring to is that most training schemes with employers ask for 2:1 - http://www.icaew.com/index.cfm/route/159083/icaew_ga/en/Qualifications/Train_for_the_ACA/Entry_routes/University_to_ACA

I think you need to list UCAS in new points not old

barginboyrob

I do ACA, so I guess I'm biased by saying you should do ACA

first 6 out of 15 exams in ACA are multiple choice,

456789

do you work in practice Rob?

Pauper_Princess

AAT definitely the best place to start I think. That will lead you onto any of the other courses but also gives you a really solid grounding in ALL the basics. I did ACA after AAT and was worried that

a) I would be the oldest person on the course (I was but soon learned to think like a young un :rotfl:)

and

b) I'd be far behind all the clever uni folk and the only AAT bod on the course. There were 5 of us AATers out of about 30 in the class, and we all kept up well enough

Been qualified 7 years now and earn a decent enough salary!!

PP

pcyam

I'm in 2 minda about what to do now. I was told that I had missed the deadline to register for the June exams and if registered after 31 dec 09 the next exams would be in Nov 2010, which gave me time to do more in depth research into what to do. I logged into my email just now and was told that I can still register for June 2010 exam as long as I register before 8 jan 2010 (tomorrow). I havent had time to get my cousins notes as he is all the way in birmingham and i am nowhere near him???

I have no idea what to do now. I was wondering if i register for ACCA now, and decide to do the exam in june 2010 do i need to let them know straighaway which exam or can i register and then ring a college (if i decide to do this at college) or ring ACCA to tell them which exam to do say next week?? Or if i register now can i still do AAT first and then complete ACCA later?? So confused now, did try to ring local university today which the ACCA is taught there but they were closed due to snow.

sorry for the long post. tia

456789

I am not familiar with the ACCA exam dates and deadlines

But once you sign upto ACCA you have 10 years to do the exams (it resets sometimes when they change the syllabus) so if you were registered and did AAT instead then you would be wasting some of that time

I think you should keep researching and not hurry it

edit: btw I think for the computer based exams you can sit them anytime - it's only the paper based ones you need to sit at the specified times

annas1974

I am studying Acca, I have passed 5 papers.
there are 9 fundamental papers
F1, F2, F3 can be computer based, and it is multiple choice.
An then you need to take 5 professional papers.
At the moment I am doing home study (I buy my books in amazon that is cheaper than BPP or kaplan), but i think I will join a local college because always I leave everything for the last moment.
the most difficult for me is that english is no my first languaje and sometimes I cant explain things like in my own languaje.
And I dont have any luck in finding jobs, because I dont have any previous experience and maybe my age (35) but I will continue to study and doing my part-time job.