Finance Courses

sweetdaisy

I am thinking about doing a training course in Finance, but have no idea where to start.

I currently work full-time in a different sector and am not able to finish work or reduce my days to study. However would do evening classes or preferably e-learning.

I have been interested in Finance for a while and have had a look at some courses and my local college offers a part-time Association of Accounting Technicians – Level 2 Certificate in Accounting - however doesn't offer Level 1.

Could anyone advise me of which qualifications I need as a starting point to work in Finance and do you need to attend college or are there e-learning courses available?

Thanks in advance

golum81

Hi,

AAT would be a good place to start. It starts at Level 2 (never known why) and goes to Level 4 - technician.

I started with a 6 wk introductory course so that I could get a taste of what would be involved before having to outlay for AAT.

Personally, I attended evening classes at my local college as I didn't have the discipline to do home study on its own.

I found AAT gave me a very good grounding and thorough base knowledge for accounts work before progressing my studies to ACCA.

When I started I didn't work in Finance but changed job within 12 mths, and found the practical experience helped with my studies.

Also, you need to decide if you want to work in industry or practice, because if you leave it until you are better qualified you may find if difficult to move between the two without taking a pay cut as the experience is not very transferable.

Good Luck!

double_mummy

AAT starts at level 1 but most places dont offer it but you can do it as distance learning

AAT Level 1 Access is a new flexible home study accounting qualification launched in January 2011. Accredited under the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), it is designed to help less experienced adults and young students (16 – 19) gain the skills and confidence to build a career in business or accountancy. It will also help students who are not ready for the AAT Level 2 – this may be because they:

Lack confidence
Speak English as a second language
Prefer more support or a stepped approach to grasp the accounting concepts

personally I did level 1,2,3 book keeping (in 12 weeks at evening classes) and skipped straight to level 3 AAT - i also did evening classes for this

gives a great framework and can take you in lots of different directions so is a good point to make a decision about where you want to go from there

sweetdaisy

double_mummy wrote: »

AAT Level 1 Access is a new flexible home study accounting qualification launched in January 2011. Accredited under the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), it is designed to help less experienced adults and young students (16 – 19) gain the skills and confidence to build a career in business or accountancy.

Can you recommend a good site to access this course?

sweetdaisy

golum81 wrote: »

Hi,

Personally, I attended evening classes at my local college as I didn't have the discipline to do home study on its own.

Hi golum81

I have popped into my local college and have applied for the ATT Level 2 part-time course (they don't offer Level 1), which is two evenings a week. Will have to wait until May for an interview with the course Tutor to see if I'll be accepted.

golum81 wrote: »

Also, you need to decide if you want to work in industry or practice, because if you leave it until you are better qualified you may find if difficult to move between the two without taking a pay cut as the experience is not very transferable.

Good Luck!

I have had a think about it and I am realistic in that I am going to have a to take a very large paycut if I want to change career/direction. I think the only option is for me to try and get an entry level job whilst studying, rather than wait until I am more qualified as this is the only way I could get the practical experience I need. Also, I think I would get more out of the course if I had a job in the same sector.

Any advice to guide me in the right direction would be appreciated, as this is a new area for me .

saintjammyswine

Level 1 is very, very basic and most people are fine to start at Level 2, sometimes even Level 3.

I would speak to your local College about starting on Level 2.

double_mummy

sweetdaisy wrote: »

Can you recommend a good site to access this course?

sorry i wouldnt i only heard of it through work so i have never done it personally but level 2 seems the best place to start with no book keeping knowledge it can be completed quite easily

AP007

Get an account here first and do the questions to see what understanding you have of accounts first
http://www.aatskillcheck.org/home.aspx

It will tell you the level they recomend you start at

Also here

http://financial.kaplan.co.uk/TrainingandQuals/Accountancy/AAT/Pages/default.aspx

for the AAT itself

And if you are under the age of 24 in a finance job you can possibly get the study free
https://www.aat.org.uk/qualifications/funding

sweetdaisy

AP007 wrote: »

Get an account here first and do the questions to see what understanding you have of accounts first
http://www.aatskillcheck.org/home.aspx

It will tell you the level they recomend you start at

Thanks for the link. I completed the questionnaire and it recommend that I start on Level 2 . Got quite excited doing to questionnaire as I have surprised myself with how much I didn't realise that I already know and felt that I want to know more (which can only be a good thing).

AP007 wrote: »

And if you are under the age of 24 in a finance job you can possibly get the study free
https://www.aat.org.uk/qualifications/funding

Unfortunately, I am in my mid 30's so don't qualify for this. Think I am having a Career mid life crisis and whilst I know that I am probably on the wrong side of 30 years old to be thinking about changing direction, I feel that if I don't do it now, I may never do it at all.

AP007

sweetdaisy wrote: »

Thanks for the link. I completed the questionnaire and it recommend that I start on Level 2 . Got quite excited doing to questionnaire as I have surprised myself with how much I didn't realise that I already know and felt that I want to know more (which can only be a good thing).



Unfortunately, I am in my mid 30's so don't qualify for this. Think I am having a Career mid life crisis and whilst I know that I am probably on the wrong side of 30 years old to be thinking about changing direction, I feel that if I don't do it now, I may never do it at all.

That's good for starters and even without the AAT you have some knowledge that you never realised you had

If I was you and looking for the start point in accounts you want maybe an all round job where you do sales ledger, purchase, journals, vat returns etc and maybe some payroll.

In a cover letter to the employer state you are willing to start the AAT Level 2.

Lots of junior or minimum level roles out there.

sweetdaisy

Thanks for the advice. I am going to buy a copy of the 'Financial Accounting for Dummies' book / Bookkeeping for Dummies' so at least I can start getting my head around the terminology. Besides, I think that my interview with the course Tutor will at least be more constructive if I do some reading beforehand.