ATT or AAT qualification ?

John

Having looked at the courses the ATT looks more of interest to me than the AAT. However, on a self employed basis would there be any demand for someone with tax knowledge, rather than general acounting skills ?

DaveP

In my opinion, you can't do one without the other (skills I mean, not having to do both qualifications).

But remember, for self-employed purposes, it is pretty irrelevant which letters you choose to have after your name - it is your experience that counts.

So make sure you get a broad range of experience from your employer throughout your training.

Monsoon

I would definitely advise doing AAT before ATT.
ATT is a natural progression from the tax modules in AAT, and the accounting knowledge you gain in AAT is helpful in the accounting principles part of the ATT.

BIG WAL

No question in my mind you need to understand accounts fully first, as a lot of the work for a small practice will surely involve producing accounts.

With ATT only I would have thought this being useful more in a pretty big practice, where you would be doing the tax work while others deal with the accounts.

It's a long time since I did AAT, but doesn't it now include a taxation ? Probably not as comprehensively as ATT, but enough to be able to do basic stuff. ATT is excellent, so no doubt well worth doing eventually.

Monsoon

BIG WAL wrote: »

It's a long time since I did AAT, but doesn't it now include a taxation ? Probably not as comprehensively as ATT, but enough to be able to do basic stuff. ATT is excellent, so no doubt well worth doing eventually.

The tax modules in AAT are optional but are an excellent grounding, and enough to work in practice. ATT goes into more detail and builds on what you've already learned in AAT.

Dean

Here is a copy and paste of a reply I gave to someone on another forum asking the same question!

I would say that being ATT qualified on it’s own wouldn’t bring the 'bread and butter' work your way. Most individuals want ‘accountants’ to prepare their ‘tax returns!’. Being ATT qualified is specialised to tax and without the underlying accounting knowledge I wouldn’t see anyone working to well with the public. You could however offer your services to ‘accountants’ that need specialised tax work doing.

I guess it depends on your long-term goals?

Hope this helps.

Regards

Dean