Hi Everyone!

Melody87

Hi all,

I just thought I would give a little introduction as I have been snooping about on this forum for a couple of months and never posted!

I'm studying level 4 and only have my two tax unit's left, I worked my way up from level two and have been working in finance for the past couple of years.

My intention is to start up on my own once I have completed my final exams and gained the required experience to become a full member.
The only problem I have is that where I work there are far too many accounts assistants and the work is spread so thin I find myself dealing more and more with fleet and traffic fines (I work for a car hire company) and not nearly enough finance to please the AAT. It's looking more and more like I will have to move jobs to get the required experience, this is a real shame as the people I work with are great and I would love to stay!

With regards to experience of being a freelance accountant I hopefully have some lined up, my partner's sister has just started out as a self employed artist and she has asked me for help with her accounts which I will be doing for free until I set up properly myself.

So that's me, any ideas on the gaining experience side of things would be very welcome.

Mel

babiekel

Hi Mel,

Welcome to the forum, peopla are ever so friendly on here, a great help!
I can't help with your question but i thought i would just say hello )

I'm doing Level 2 at the moment.

Kelly x

Daz1865

Hi Melody,

So is the problem satistfying the AAT with your work experience? Or are you worried that you won't have enough experience for when it comes to working on your own?

If you've worked for a few years as an accounts assistant, then I don't imagine you would have any problem with fulfilling the experience, even if it slightly dilluted. According to the AAT website, it might only be a problem if you work for less than 33% on the time on finance tasks... even if you spend 1 day a week on finance, then perhaps you could fudge it slightly :001_tongue: Perhaps highlight your finance tasks on your application and run it by your line manager (who would need to verify it)

I have my work experience approved already and thought it was quite straight forward to do. They give room for supporting documentation, so perhaps if your Job Description is available, then you could submit that.

If you are worried that you won't have enough experience for when you start working... well, you have to start somewhere. If you are helping your sister out then thats a good start! I suppose volunteering or temping might be a good place to learn some new skills too.

mrb82

Hi Melody87!

I'm exactly the same as you. I work as an accounts assistant (there are 10 of us doing various aspects of finance) but I'm limited in what I do (I work in a car hire company too, dealing with the client VAT side ) and I'm worried I'm just not getting the experience needed to succeed when I progress futher down the line.

Melody87

Thanks for all the kind responses, I have actually been doing a diary since the new year to work out what the percentage is and it appears it is more than I expected and I should have enough to satisfy AAT which is good When it's a large company you seem to only end up seeing a tiny piece of the puzzle so it's not so good if you want to go freelance.

In respect of working on my own I don't feel my experience is that relevant but my mum is also self employed and said I could do her tax return for her too so it's a step in the right direction at least.

I think I am going to try and get some voulentry work at an accountancy firm if I can, to top up on relevant experience. I have put a post up here but so far no responses but I'll have a walk round the local ones too and fingers crossed they will want a bit of free help