Next step after AAT?

aj7861

Hi guys and girls, hope all your studies are going well.

I am in need of some quality advice and what better place than AAT forums. I aint been on here for some time unfortuantely.

My situation currently is that i passed the AAT Diploma in may 2011, managed to get first time passes even though i have never worked in a financial environment. I still have not been able to get any sort of financial experience so i have the AAT qualification but no experience. My current job has nothing to do with accounts.

The advice that I need is what should I do next, am thinking of continuing my studies and starting ACCA. I am happy to pay the costs myself but I am unsure as to where to study it.

Kaplan and BPP are obvious choices but BPP Milton Keynes has not the best feedback from former students. Another option is to study it on a part-time basis with the University of Bedfordshire. I want to learn in a classroom based environment.

So my questions are:
1) Is it a good time to undertake ACCA after a gap of nearly 2years?
2) Where is it best to study, A uni or a learning provider such as BPP, Kaplan..etc

Your advice would be highly appreciated..Thanks for reading :001_smile:

Rozzi Rainbow

aj7861 wrote: »

1) Is it a good time to undertake ACCA after a gap of nearly 2years?

If you want to study ACCA, I wouldn't let a two year gap stop you. It is a step us from AAT though, and papers F4-9 do assume knowledge from papers F1-3 which you will be exempt from. How much can you remember from studying AAT? You might want to go over your AAT books again before you start ACCA, or see if you can get hold of the F1-3 books to have a quick look through. To become a full member of the ACCA you do need three years work experience, which is something you may want to keep in mind, especially if you don't currently work in finance.

aj7861 wrote: »

2) Where is it best to study, A uni or a learning provider such as BPP, Kaplan..etc

Personally I would say a uni or college. I studied F4 at BPP and found the tuition was excellent, but we covered the whole syllabus in just three days, which was very rushed with little time for clarification or recap. At college we had lessons one afternoon each week (and in the morning for another module) for six months or a year, including revision (BPP do additional revision courses) and I much preferred this pace. It meant each week we could recap what we had done the previous week and ask questions to clarify things we couldn't quite remember. There seems to be a shortage of colleges offering these courses though, so if there is one near to you I would say make the most of it. You could always sign up for just one or two modules, and then if you don't think that's the best way for you, try Kaplan or BPP for the next couple (or vice versa) and see which you prefer.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

RAS

I think it is more important to concentrate on getting relevant experience. Appreciate not easy in the current climate, but ideally studies and exams should go hand in hand with real life work related experience. The danger is that you could carry on passing ACCA exams and still be in the same position, because you dont have any experience. Are you signed up with employment agencies?