AAT Technician or ACCA

Marie

Hi,

I'm seeking some advice.

I have spoken with ACCA & although I did my degree a while back they say I can still get exemptions.

I'm now trying to decide whether to do the AAT Technician, start ACCA at intermediate or start the ACCA at level one & not take the exemptions?

peugeot

It would all depend on how quickly you want to qualify (most people want to qualify ASAP) but put themselves under immense pressure that way.

I did the AAT/ACCA route and I would always recommend doing it that way. The ACCA exams assume a lot of knowledge and can be quite daunting for those who go straight onto it. The AAT is designed as a feeder course and (I feel) the AAT syllabus runs in tangent with the ACCA in terms of training a student on how to deal with papers at relatively differing levels of complexity. For example if you consider the financial accounting papers at AAT, PLB at foundation, FRA at intermediate and DFS at technician is more or less the same design as ACCA (i.e. one at foundation, another more difficult one at intermediate and a monster one at the professional level!!). The ACCA papers "step up" a few gears at each level.

The knowledge you gain by doing AAT will definitely help you cope with the papers at ACCA level as the ACCA qualification builds on this (already assumed) knowledge.

Best wishes
Steve

NeilH

Hi

You might also want to consider your current career position. Do you work in an accounts environment? Are you formally a trainee getting direct training from your employer or are you working in a general accounts roles gaining experience as you go?

Neil

Charlieclarke

I am in the same boat, should be completing intermediate this june, and not sure whether to go onto tech and get exemptions from acca, or start acca from scratch. What have you decided to do??

Bluewednesday

If I were you I would finish my AAT and take the exemptions.

If for any reason you don't finish ACCA you still have a good qualification behind you.

Also technician covers a bit more than the exemptions you get - especially if you do the 2 tax papers as options. I have always found that AAT qualifieds in my classes have an easier time than those who come in after intermediate.

Charlieclarke

thanks, guess that makes sense!!