AAT - Pay rise?

mi|kshake

Hi,

I was wondering what sort of pay to expect as I have now achieved my AAT qualification.

I haven't yet applied for full membership as I've only received the form the other day. I'm currently on £11,400 a year (I've been at my job for 7 years and work in personal tax).

I've been told I'm getting a £300 bonus and have queried within the HR department the level of pay rise I'm to get and was told again that I'm getting a £300 bonus. So I was wondering....ummmm is that it? (I think I have had an increase in pay in previous years due to passing exams - at least I remember being told one year that that pay rise was due to passing exams)

Is there anyone here who has qualified and what sort of salary increases did you receive?

Thanks

mi|kshake~

rachy1975

mi|kshake wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering what sort of pay to expect as I have now achieved my AAT qualification.

I haven't yet applied for full membership as I've only received the form the other day. I'm currently on £11,400 a year (I've been at my job for 7 years and work in personal tax).

I've been told I'm getting a £300 bonus and have queried within the HR department the level of pay rise I'm to get and was told again that I'm getting a £300 bonus. So I was wondering....ummmm is that it? (I think I have had an increase in pay in previous years due to passing exams - at least I remember being told one year that that pay rise was due to passing exams)

Is there anyone here who has qualified and what sort of salary increases did you receive?

Thanks

mi|kshake~

Just out of curiosity....do you work part time??

crispy

Hello,

I don't know your location, or what hours you work but to me that looks extremely low - bearing in mind both your qualification and experience. When I completed AAT I believe my salary was £ 21,000pa (In Hampshire Full time - 39 hour week) that had risen from about £ 14,000 when I did not have any real accounting qualification and was working in Purchase/Sales ledger.

Maybe have a look at similar roles in your region and compare ?

rachy1975

crispy wrote: »

Hello,

I don't know your location, or what hours you work but to me that looks extremely low - bearing in mind both your qualification and experience. When I completed AAT I believe my salary was £ 21,000pa (In Hampshire Full time - 39 hour week) that had risen from about £ 14,000 when I did not have any real accounting qualification and was working in Purchase/Sales ledger.

Maybe have a look at similar roles in your region and compare ?

Thats why i asked if it was part time..... ive been in my job for 1 month with no previous experience and only foundation and intermediate passed and im on £16,000.

beaneygirl

crispy wrote: »

Hello,

I don't know your location, or what hours you work but to me that looks extremely low - bearing in mind both your qualification and experience. When I completed AAT I believe my salary was £ 21,000pa (In Hampshire Full time - 39 hour week) that had risen from about £ 14,000 when I did not have any real accounting qualification and was working in Purchase/Sales ledger.

Maybe have a look at similar roles in your region and compare ?

Hi crispy.
I work in a pretty low paid area compared to a lot and I'm on around £14,000 gross. I work as a bookkeeper for a small (and I mean tiny) firm made up of a Husband and Wife team and have done for just over 3 years. They call themselves accountants but haven't really got the relevant quallies (never did AAt or similar), however they do seem to know their stuff and can sign off accounts. The main problem for me is that their 2 sons who are both in their 20's are granted a salary although they do nothing. In fact the eldest (mid 20's) gets up in the middle of the afternoon every day when Daddy makes his lunch-even puts petrol in his car and pays for it for him!
Every day almost I seem to be told what the company can't afford (for obvious reasons). My probs are that they've paid for me to do AAT but I find it really hard going working all day when I can hear the Son next door watching TV laughing (and getting paid) and that I'd love to go ahead and progress to ACCA but the company could never afford to sponsor me to do it. Don't see me getting much of a pay rise either if I qualify but they've paid for me for the last 3 years and I'm not the type of person to say 'cheers for that but I'm off now'. It's an impossible situation.

mi|kshake

^ Don't envy you! That sounds so frustrating!

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I work up in Scotland (Highlands to be more exact) and I do work full time (36 hours). I also worked in accounts (preparing accounts from client records, doing VAT and maintaining a bank account for a client) for 5 years and have been in tax for the last 2.

No one got a pay rise last year and I have passed two exams since the last pay rise (does the project count as an exam? I assume skills tests don't count) so I'm hoping that the general pay rise plus extra for passing these exams will make a difference. I'm 25 and can't stay on this salary forever!

I guess my problem is I don't know how much of my studying makes up my previous rises and how much is the standard increase. But just getting a £300 bonus at the end is a bit demoralising. Felt like crying when I got the e-mail!

But I like routine so I'm not one to change jobs often - or at all - and of course if I did leave now I would have to pay back the study costs.

mi|kshake~

beaneygirl

mi|kshake wrote: »

^ Don't envy you! That sounds so frustrating!

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I work up in Scotland (Highlands to be more exact) and I do work full time (36 hours). I also worked in accounts (preparing accounts from client records, doing VAT and maintaining a bank account for a client) for 5 years and have been in tax for the last 2.

No one got a pay rise last year and I have passed two exams since the last pay rise (does the project count as an exam? I assume skills tests don't count) so I'm hoping that the general pay rise plus extra for passing these exams will make a difference. I'm 25 and can't stay on this salary forever!

I guess my problem is I don't know how much of my studying makes up my previous rises and how much is the standard increase. But just getting a £300 bonus at the end is a bit demoralising. Felt like crying when I got the e-mail!

But I like routine so I'm not one to change jobs often - or at all - and of course if I did leave now I would have to pay back the study costs.

mi|kshake~

The worst part is that they don't seem to think that it's f****d up at all!

crispy

Hello,

To beaneygirl - just ignore the son's actions - if they want to waste time by spending their working day watching tv then just let them. The problem is for this type is when they actually have to go to work for someone else, they will find it very difficult to cope. I would much rather spend my time working/learning and trying to progress rather then have these things all handed to you on a plate.

beaneygirl

crispy wrote: »

Hello,

To beaneygirl - just ignore the son's actions - if they want to waste time by spending their working day watching tv then just let them. The problem is for this type is when they actually have to go to work for someone else, they will find it very difficult to cope. I would much rather spend my time working/learning and trying to progress rather then have these things all handed to you on a plate.

Crispy.
Thanks for that but I'm still working to pay their salary. I don't ever think that they'll ever have to work for someone else in a normal job because they're just too precious to. These people called in a builder to replace their broken cat flap with the SAME model cat flap because the screws issued with it were a couple of mm too short!
I'm proud to be working class, independent (from a young age) ...you can see why it gripes I hope x?

Rinske

beaneygirl wrote: »

Crispy.
Thanks for that but I'm still working to pay their salary. I don't ever think that they'll ever have to work for someone else in a normal job because they're just too precious to. These people called in a builder to replace their broken cat flap with the SAME model cat flap because the screws issued with it were a couple of mm too short!
I'm proud to be working class, independent (from a young age) ...you can see why it gripes I hope x?

Yes, better to be at work and having a chance to progress at some point, then having everything handed to you on a silver platter and then find out that real life working is really hard when you are older.

Also you achieve something and they haven't achieved anything for a long time, however small, but every day work is an achievement and next to that passing AAT is a big achievement. When you get older (don't get me wrong, I don't mean 80 years old) you can say, I did it, on my own, with a little help. While they end up being all down/ depressed/ getting a horrible midlife crisis, as they have nothing to look back to and able to say they achieved it.

Sounds stupid, but it's true.

Monsoon

Beaney, it sounds frustrating but I think you have 2 choices - accept it, and don't let it get to you, or leave. If you stay, but let it frustrate you and eat at you, that's not healthy.

Milkshake, I don't know what average salaries are where you are but £11k is very low. Once you make MAAT I would be expecting to pay, for your level of experience, £18-20k. At the very least I would expect £15k.

Remember you've earned £11k plus the cost of the tuition, which would be about £1000 a year, so you've probably earned about £12k (not that that's a lot better!)

Just a £300 bonus does sound quite rude actually.

Can you research jobs in your local area and look at similar job roles and see what the salaries are there, and take your findings to your boss? At the end of the day, if the company simply can't afford to give payrises, then it can't, but if you don't ask you don't get. As long as you phrase it well (as in, not simply "I want" but "I can do this for you, and that for you, and I'm saving you money here. As such, would it be possible to have a chat about my salary now I'm a MAAT?") then I don't think it can hurt.

Remember, if you want something from someone, you need to ask them in a way that makes them want to do it - Dale Carnegie

AK002

I got an 8% COL rise and will be getting 2 more rises in August, £600 for 2 exams passes and then a discretionary amount for finishing AAT.

mi|kshake

Thanks for the input Monsoon! Think researching might be an idea. I would be thrilled if I were given £15k a year even, but I ain't gonna get my hopes up!

mi|kshake~