ACA questions

Cortez

I'll be finishing my AAT this summer with a bit of luck and need to think about what to do afterwards. I always had a slight preference for ACCA as I've always been told that it's aimed at both industry and practice whereas ACA was more aimed at practice.

But what I want to know is, is that really the case? I think I'd prefer to be ACA qualified but if that gets rid of the option of entering industry then I probably wouldn't do it and do ACCA instead.

Also, there is some kinda training contract with ACA, can anyone briefly explain what it's all about? I don't think ACCA has a training contract does it?

Anything else I should know about the two to help with my decision?

Thanks for any advice!

NeilH

Hi

I work with two ACA's who qualified in practice and made the move to industry and it does happen quite a bit.

To do ACA you will need to be in a training contract which will mean working for an approved organisation - virtually all of these are accounting practices but there are some public sector organisations and a few industry/commerce firms. ACCA doesn't stipulate an approved organisation but they do exist and some will offer training under a training contract.

You dont say where you work at present. Generally its easier to move from practice to industry than industry to practice.

Neil

Cortez

Hi

Thanks for the reply. I currently work in practice. I'm not sure I like the sound of the training contract though really because it would pretty much mean I had to work in practice for the next 3 years wouldn't it?

NeilH

Cortez wrote: »

Hi

I'm not sure I like the sound of the training contract though really because it would pretty much mean I had to work in practice for the next 3 years wouldn't it?

It is possible to transfer training contracts (I believe) but outside practice they are few and far between.

deanshepherd

Transferring a training contract mid-way through is perfectly feasible, although some employers can cause you grief over this and may try and get you to repay training fees incurred to date - check your contract terms carefully. As Neil says, you are likely to stay in practice until you are qualified if you do ACA, but I studied with people in industry who were doing ACA.

Studying for the ACCA qualification is much more relaxed in terms of transferability.

By the time you are post-qualified and looking for a new position in industry then your potential employers are going to want to know what relevant experience you have and what you can offer the company. Whether you have ACA or ACCA after your name is not going to make much difference.

Poodle

Hi,

I stopped ACCA after level 2 as I have my own practice and the ACCA are really strict on students with this.

AAT gave me full exemption from level 1. Level 2 overlapped with AAT in many areas with AAT technician level that made the level much easier to cope with.

The ACCA has however recently changed it's sylabus and made some of level 2 much harder by bringing down elements from level 3 particularly module F9 the management accounting module. I understood from my teacher the reason for this was that this would be the last module directed at industry with level 3 aiming more at practice.

With ACCA once you finish level 2 you also have the oportunity to gain an Oxford Brookes degree by writing a project.

Hope this is of some help.

Poodle