What now after AAT

Darron24

Hi,

Firstly apologies if this thread is in the wrong section.

I have this week found out my ICAS is competent and so i have completed level 4. I have worked 2 and a half years for this and weirdly even though after every successful exam pass i got such a buzz i now feel pretty empty now it's over when in theory i should be at my most happiest.

The reason for this i think is that i now have to make a massive decision which way to go - and i have no idea what i am going to do. The background is that i am 27, have 2 young kids and am in a job which has virtually no accounting tasks, mostly administration. I am hoping to meet the owner soon to discuss things but its very unlikely he can give me accounting tasks theres just no space in the company for that. (i think he wants me to do project management). This makes ACCA/CIMA/ACA very difficult to do, as i would not gain the necessary work experience to properly qualify. I do not want to stop my studying here as I do not feel well qualified enough to go it alone, and most of the job adverts i see need prior accounting office experience so i stand no chance (plus it would be a drop in salary of which disposable income is at a minimum anyway).

Sorry for the long story but i guess someone else hopefully has been in a partly similiar situation before.

Just to reiterate i dont mind hard work with studying, but realistically it will have to be home study i choose, and again I will not be doing the practical stuff day to day.

PS I like tax (did both level 4 units)

This should be such a happy time lol!

Thanks for reading

Darron

janwal

Hi Darron

Congratulations on completing level 4.

If you enjoyed Tax have you looked at doing ATT. Not sure what the criteria is but sure someone else will know.

Good luck in whatever you decide

Jan

Simmyluvsu

I've just finished ATT and you need 2 years of tax experienece as well as passing the exams - so this might not be the best choice unless you're willing to change jobs

Becky V

Simmyluvsu wrote: »

I've just finished ATT and you need 2 years of tax experienece as well as passing the exams - so this might not be the best choice unless you're willing to change jobs

Hi i am interested in doing ATT how did you find it? I work for an accountant so have some experience with tax retuns etc.

Simmyluvsu

Hi Becky
If you work in an accounting practice and enjoy tax then I would totally recommend ATT - I loved it!
The main papers (personal and business tax) are more in depth than AAT but you'll find the knowledge you already have really helps
Plus there's only 3 papers and 2 e-assessments so it's possible to do in a year. Plus if you've passed AAT business tax you can apply for an exemption from the ATT business tax paper!

Becky V

Thank you, i will look into doing this course

SashaDella

Truth is if you want a career using your AAT you need to find an accounting related job. It could be a step down pay wise, but after you have gained a years experience you will find doors are open and if you start the ACCA (possibly paid by employer) you shall find your salary increasing!

Alternative, stay at your full time employment and find part time/ free work in accounts.

Sasha

Darron24

hi,

thankyou sasha for the response, when you mention an accounting related job do you mean for example purchase ledger clerk or is that not 'accounting' enough? as i have seen a few jobs recently which are PL clerks and wondered if that would get me in the right direction or if it would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire

SashaDella

Depending on the nature of the business and the size accounts departments you would gain different experience. In a large organization the accounts would usually be split into sectors.

A purchase ledger clerk would therefore be a small part of the accounts department and only work with suppliers (i think). Invoicing/payments. Now this is an ideal accounts role as would give you work experience in an accounts environment, computer accounting experience and general practical experience (and confidence)

HOWEVER... you may get bored and find that there aren't many opportunities to expand/learn and grow. (I am unsure what doors this opens)

Personally I would apply for the role and enquirer whether you could have 3 months in purchase, 3 months in sales etc and have training in all the different areas over a year. Then you would have a years experience in all areas of accounts. Many companies do this and this would be the best experience for you. (NHS have this training scheme)

Accounts assistant jobs in small businesses may offer you similar experience because only a few people would have to deal with all aspects of accounting (this is what I do) So I would apply for both and try and get a good employer!

However to answer your question ... purchase ledger clerk would be a good place to start and its very easy to pick up as long as your accurate and thorough.

Perhaps someone else could post an opinion?

Darron24

thankyou very much. excellent reply.

i have to collate information to present to my boss (the owner) to send him an email on monday to inform him of my success (payrise please hint hint) but mainly to see if it is at all possible that he can give me some accounts experience as there is no point studying acca/cima etc without it. getting him to fund something may be the easy part but without the experience its not worth it really. if it doesnt go well then any sort of accounting job will be better than what im doing now.

janwal

Hi Darron

To answer your question is 'PLC accounting enough' I have worked in PLC for the last 10 years, it depends what you make it and also what the company offers. In our dept, we deal with a lot of different things like the study budget, we also do all monthend accounting ready for Management Accounts. This puts us in good stead to be able to progress to Management Acoounting if desired. Contray to the coment made by Sasha I have yet to get bored, yes some of it cna be repetative but it can be in all jobs.

The NHS (which is where I work) do run such a scheme but it's not run by the hospital's it is a Graduate Scheme you apply for and if accepted it's not always the choice you want (not guarenteed Finance) you could get HR or Business Management. It is a 3 year placement and you don't get to choose the hospital. Also there is no guarentee of a job in the 10 yrs I've worked for NHS only 3 Graduates have been employed by our hospital and we have one every year.

If the job was with a smaller organisation I am sure they would be able to accomodate the idea of switching depts to get experience, I would love to be able to do that. Or the alternative would be to work in an accounts situation where they do all the accounts in 1 office, in my first job I did Credit Control and Purchase Ledger.

Good Luck

Jan

Evie

With ACCA you have 10 years starting from when you register to provide the 3 years work experience to become fully qualified so if you do start the course you dont have to give this straight away. Another thing, the AAT does give your exemption from 5 papers so this is already a head start to finishing quicker.

I hope this helps you make a decision and good luck

Simmyluvsu

I'm pretty sure that AAT only gives you exemptions from the first 3 computer based exams?

aaron0121

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's 3 f1,f2 and f3 - are the ACCA exams computer based? I thought the exams was
paper based or do you get the option to choose?

Simmyluvsu

The first 3 (F1, F2 and F3) are computer based and can be sat at any time. The rest are paper based and the sittings are something like June and December