typical duties of a junior trainee in practice ?

safrica

Hi !

I am at intermediate stage and considering gaining experience in a practice.....What could I expect to do as a junior trainee ?? I would like to do ACA after technician. Do I have to work in practice to do ACA ?
Last but not least...do you know why the salaries are so low as a junior in a practice....?:ohmy:??
Thanks !

Gem7321

Hi safrica
I started as a junior in practice and my responsibilities included preparing 'sections' of an accounts file - mainly bank reconciliations, before moving on to completing whole files and producing accounts for unincorporated businesses. I also did VAT returns.

I also did boring jobs like filing and typing!

Generally salaries are lower in practice than in industry, but you must remember that if your employer pays for your training they will be investing in you and this probably won't show until you're qualified.

You don't have to work in practice to do ACA, but ACA is more suited to practice.

Good luck with everything!

Sonny_L

You'll likely learn the ropes with simple reconciliations and VAT returns before moving on to prepare full accounts and tax computations. If it's a very small practice, expect plenty of tea making and possibly hoovering too.

Firms pay their juniors crap money because they can, market forces at work.

You really need a prof. qualification to get anywhere fast in accounting & finance, and you need work experience to get said prof. qualification. So your employers, who know this, have you by the balls.

It is possible to get an ACA training contract in industry, but the vast majority of ICAEW registered training firms are accountancy practices. However once you qualify your ACA will be in high demand in both practice and industry. As a google search for 'newly qualified ACA vacancies' shows.