acca starter

sweety_1

Hello all,
I just started acca and did my f 1.I am preparing for f 2 and f 3 at the moment and going to finish them by june.I am going to be made redundant somewhere in may.My current job is admin asst.Because I am losing my job I would prefer getting my first step in accountancy.I would like some of ur advice on this please and where is the best place to start?I called up few firms locally,left my details for any voluntary work.Any ideas would be helpful.
TIA,
Sweety 1.

sweety_1

someone should be acca or aat here...pls guide me...

heretolearn_2

Hard to say really as you are so early on in your training to put it bluntly you aren't going to be a lot of use even as a freebie. I don't mean to sound horrible, but in our accounting firm we get constant requests from people to come and do work experience, even from those who are far more qualified that you are. We rarely do so - and when we do they aren't working on clients accounts, that simply isn't possible, they work in our admin/marketing/office areas. Nor are we going to tie up our accountants time providing free training to people. so while work experience with an accountancy firm can be a good way to see how the industry works and so on, I don't know any firm that lets work exp. people loose on actual accounting work.

It might be better to try and get some experience in a job in-house in accounts departments, there are trainee/entry level jobs that you don't need particular qualifications for, for example purchase ledger clerk, credit controller etc, and it gets you into the accounts environment while you continue your studies.

If you are a graduate you could try to get into an accounting graduate training scheme.

sweety_1

Thanks heretolearn for ur reply.I ll stop calling the firms then.I ll concentrate on my papers and try to get a basic role.I am a graduate but dont know if it would make any difference since it has been 10yrs and its from India.

somethingcorporate

Usually there is a limit on getting a place on a graduate training scheme -3 to 5 years or so.

At a larger accounting firm I would expect there is likely to be some admin / basic finance roles that would give you good experience, some of the smaller ones may be too small to take roles with such blurred lines.

Good luck, working in finance can be very rewarding.

LALON1983

This is a good accountancy thread with lots of good advice :
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2406529

sweety_1

Thankyou for ur suggestions.Something corporate,I am looking for a small role (purchase ledger),some entry level jobs but everyone is asking for experience.I guess I hv to try harder.
LALON1983:That was a really interesting thread.Thanks 4 posting it.

londonTiger

may not be right i graduated from a univeristy accountancy course in 2007 and left the field.

but the AAT route could be better, you get exemptions from f1 f2 and f3, and the AAT qualifications allow you to do bookkeeping as a sole trader.

you have MAAT after your name, and you have a recognised qualification to pick up private book keeping clients on the side, or even exclusively as your sole job.

i'm not sure if you can do this with a foundation in acca.

also double check and triple check that acca is what you want to do, there are other financial accounting and management account bodies out there, you want to go for the right one because it's a 5+ year commitment. with little room to switch over.

londonTiger

sweety_1 wrote: »

Thankyou for ur suggestions.Something corporate,I am looking for a small role (purchase ledger),some entry level jobs but everyone is asking for experience.I guess I hv to try harder.
LALON1983:That was a really interesting thread.Thanks 4 posting it.

dont worry, there is always vacancies for purchase ledger and sales ledger roles. everyone asks for experience, but dont let that bother you. In an ideal world the employer wants people with experience, but realisitcly they'll consider people without experience, and if there aren't people with experience, they'll hire someone new.

With someone with enough knowlege, ledger work is a doddle, they just don't want to hire someone whose clueless and might even mess up the ledgers, you can lay these concerns to rest by showing competancy with similar roles, other clerical roles, working with spreadsheets, dealing with budgets & finances etc

dizzyrascal

If you are applying for lower level roles then I would make a lot of your self-study in your application forms to help cover for your lack of experience.
Point out how motivated you are, how organised you are doing this study alongside your current job. How you recognised a gap in your skills and have taken steps to work towards a recognised qualification.

Companies should see the potential. They will be able to see the benefits of your doing this and may see a trainee role for you in the future.
They like ambitious people with drive and enthusiasm so I would use your self-study to demonstrate this strength.
Tell them that you are looking for a company that will help you expand and develop your career. So starting at a lower level initially will not be an issue for you.

sweety_1

Thanku London Tiger that was really encouraging..

dizzyrascal: Thanku 4 ur suggestion.I am going to project my cv in a different way.