Advice appreciated on which level to start at

mge

Hi. I've had a look at the 'skillcheck questionnaire', but would also appreciate some advice from members of this forum on which level of the Accounting Qualification to begin in September.

I started studying book-keeping last September, and by June I will have:
- OCN Computerised Accounts (Sage) - Level 2
- IAB Level 2 Certificate in Book-keeping (manual)
- IAB Level 3 Diploma in Accounting and Advanced Book-keeping (manual)

- I also have a science degree
- I have no experience yet in a book-keeping/accounting job, but hope to get some soon.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

sammyd22

mge wrote: »

Hi. I've had a look at the 'skillcheck questionnaire', but would also appreciate some advice from members of this forum on which level of the Accounting Qualification to begin in September.

I started studying book-keeping last September, and by June I will have:
- OCN Computerised Accounts (Sage) - Level 2
- IAB Level 2 Certificate in Book-keeping (manual)
- IAB Level 3 Diploma in Accounting and Advanced Book-keeping (manual)

- I also have a science degree
- I have no experience yet in a book-keeping/accounting job, but hope to get some soon.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Im not sure what your L3 covers exactly. If it covers Marginal, absorption costing etc and Extended Trial Balance, Balance sheet & P&L lay out then you may be entitled to exemptions with AAT upto Techician stage (L4).

Then you could be qualified in 1 yr and entitled to reasonable Exemptions on Chartership.

Hope this helps.

blobbyh

If you can, try and borrow a foundation level tutorial and see what you can already do with maybe just a little brushing up but I'd say start at Intermediate level (or whatever the diploma equivalent is).

Jan

How quickly did you/have you picked up double entry? That is probaby the stumbling block for those without any experience at all.

I started at Intermediate. My tutor thought that as I had experience in a bank as well as a little in accounts I would soon be bored at Foundation and it would be too big a jump up once the course was a few weeks in t change. If you are thinking of starting in Sept I presume you are doing the college route, in which case you may need to go for an interview (I did). It may also be possible to start intermediate and then if you find it too difficult to change to Foundation.

Much of Foundation will be covered in your IAB level 3, so you'd only be repeating what you've already learnt. If you are funding yourself it will save you money as well as time.

SandyHood

The job you hope to get is very important.

My advice is to focus on getting the job, practical accounting application is very important for both your understanding and being able to apply what you learn to your job.

Once you've got a job, ask a friendly forumite to download and send you the exam that foundation students will have had to pass to start intermediate.

mge

Many thanks for your replies. They are very useful indeed.

From your replies, I feel that Intermediate AAT is probably the place to start. I've done no Costing, but am fairly competent with the book-keeping side of things including end of year adjustments, Extended Trial Balance, P&L and BS (including putting these together from incomplete records), and also some accounting for Partnerships.

I'll try to have a look more closely at what is covered in each level before I make a final decision, but I think this is probably the way to go.

Many thanks for your reply SandyHood. I appreciate that getting some practical experience is extremely important, and that my main focus should be on this. However, I enjoy the studying, and if it's possible I would also like to be doing this as well.