ACCA Industry - set up own practice after?

AmyRichardson

Hi All

I plan to study ACCA after AAT (currently on last level) I am in industry at the moment but would eventually want to set up own practice.

I have worked in practice before but nowhere near enough exp to set up as an MIP.

Just wondering if id have to work in an accountancy practice if i wanted to set my own practice up after ACCA???

RAS

Loads of similar posts, but if you go on to do ACCA you will need to have a ACCA Practising Certificate if you want to carry out practice work. You will need 3 years sufficient practice experience, 2 of which will be post qualification (unless rules have now changed).

Monsoon

The ACCA practising rules are VERY strict.
If your ultimate goal is your own practice, I recommend ATT not ACCA - when running your own practice, being chartered doesn't make much difference at all in terms of what clients want. Chartered only makes more of a difference if you want to be employed as the earning potential is higher.

if you don't get work in an approved ACCA practice they will never grant you a PC (as I understand it) and without one, you can't do anything past trial balance without being in violation of their rules.

You need to do some serious thinking.

NeilH

Hi

To follow on from what has been said, you will need to obtain ACCA's practice certificate.

It is possible to gain the certificate working for an approved employer in industry/commerce, not necessarily practice, providing you can meet the certificates experience requirements. However, you will need to work in an auditing firm if you want to also gain the audit qualification.

Practising without the certificate used to be the most commonest reason for ACCA members and students to be "struck off".

Neil

AmyRichardson

Ok, think some serious thinking is needed. May be worth trying to get into practise then for acca and qualify that way. then i will have experience in both practice and industry

thanks all for advice

paulstafford

Hi Amy

1. Your experience in industry, providing it reaches the prescribed requirements of the ACCA, will enable you to obtain a practising certificate.

2. There is no requirement for you to have gained work experience in an accountancy practice unless you are after the audit certificate.

3. There is no need for your employer to be registered as an 'Approved Employer' , provided you can get your experience authenticated by a member of one of the chartered bodies.

4. There is a lot of form filling - I think my application ran to the best part of 80 pages !

Regards

Paul

Monsoon

paulstafford wrote: »

Hi Amy

1. Your experience in industry, providing it reaches the prescribed requirements of the ACCA, will enable you to obtain a practising certificate.

2. There is no requirement for you to have gained work experience in an accountancy practice unless you are after the audit certificate.

3. There is no need for your employer to be registered as an 'Approved Employer' , provided you can get your experience authenticated by a member of one of the chartered bodies.

4. There is a lot of form filling - I think my application ran to the best part of 80 pages !

Regards

Paul

Thanks for this Paul. Out of interest, what is the 'approved employer' thing about then? Have the rules changed or was this something totally different?

NeilH

Monsoon wrote: »

Thanks for this Paul. Out of interest, what is the 'approved employer' thing about then? Have the rules changed or was this something totally different?

Without stealing Paul's thunder...

I believe for the purposes of a general practising certificate, ACCA will allow you to count experience gained with a non-approved employer providing there is a CCAB body accountant to sign the record and the experience covers the requirements. I don't believe that this is the case if you want the practising certificate with audit qaulification.

Neil

Monsoon

Ahhh. That explains it. Thanks Neil

paulstafford

I agree with Neil

Michael56J

NeilH wrote: »

Practising without the certificate used to be the most commonest reason for ACCA members and students to be "struck off".

Neil

How does this reconcile with the ACCA's rule that you may practice if you are covered by a certificate from another approved body? Does this include AAT? Does it mean that as long as you do not hold yourself out as a chartered accountant you can do what the AAT authorises you to do even without an ACCA certificate?

Dcollins

Michael56J wrote: »

How does this reconcile with the ACCA's rule that you may practice if you are covered by a certificate from another approved body? Does this include AAT? Does it mean that as long as you do not hold yourself out as a chartered accountant you can do what the AAT authorises you to do even without an ACCA certificate?

I've been looking into this since I read PaulStafford's post, as it's relevant to my circumstances, and I've been in touch with ACCA.

I asked them that very question, and their answer was that the AAT licence is not an equivalent practising certificate (AAT is an associate of IFAC, not a member). Even if you hold a practising certificate with an IFAC member you would still need to apply for an ACCA certificate if you became a practising ACCA member.

Any member, student or affiliate of ACCA practising without a licence is subject to their disciplinary procedures and fines (unless you stick to bookkeeping, payroll and VAT).