What is the difference?

omega man

A friend of mine was asking the question.
What is the difference between an accountant and an accounting technician?

Rather than give my own opinion i thought it would be best to ask for members considered judgement in this area.

Thanks

Rozzi Rainbow

An accounting technician is qualified with the AAT - I don't believe (though may be wrong) that you can use this term without having the AAT qualification.

An accountant is not a protected term and in theory anyone can call themselves one! Likewise an accountant can be QBE with no professional qualification. I would say someone is an accountant by the nature of the work they do, e.g. preparing accounts for a large firm, or working in an accountancy practice (at a higher level than just carrying out basic bookkeeping).

I believe our MIPs (although as I am not one, if anyone wishes to disagree or clarify this point, please do!) are accountants by means of the job they do, and accounting technicians by means of their qualification.

Jo Clark

Rozzi Rainbow wrote: »

An accounting technician is qualified with the AAT - I don't believe (though may be wrong) that you can use this term without having the AAT qualification.

An accountant is not a protected term and in theory anyone can call themselves one! Likewise an accountant can be QBE with no professional qualification. I would say someone is an accountant by the nature of the work they do, e.g. preparing accounts for a large firm, or working in an accountancy practice (at a higher level than just carrying out basic bookkeeping).

I believe our MIPs (although as I am not one, if anyone wishes to disagree or clarify this point, please do!) are accountants by means of the job they do, and accounting technicians by means of their qualification.

Nicely put Rozzi and I agree

reader

omega man wrote: »

A friend of mine was asking the question.
What is the difference between an accountant and an accounting technician?

Rather than give my own opinion i thought it would be best to ask for members considered judgement in this area.

Thanks

I've worked in a couple of large practices and no one has ever referred to themselves as an accounting technician. At the places I have worked for you have either been a bookkeeper (data entry + VAT returns) or accountant (journals + tax + audit).

omega man

I think book-keeper and accounting technician are very similar, although with my studies i would say an accounting technician has more in depth knowledge than a book-keeper.

Bookworm55

reader wrote: »

I've worked in a couple of large practices and no one has ever referred to themselves as an accounting technician. At the places I have worked for you have either been a bookkeeper (data entry + VAT returns) or accountant (journals + tax + audit).

Similarly I've always worked in industry, for large and small organisations, and I've never heard "accounting technician" used as a description, even if they are AAT-qualified. Titles like "accounts assistant" and "assistant accountant" are far more common. Generally assistant accountant is 'higher' than assistant accountant, but they aren't tightly-defined terms and can almost be used interchangeably. Twice where I've worked "assistant accountant" is simply the title of the most experienced of the accounts assistants.

Londina

Bookworm55 wrote: »

Twice where I've worked "assistant accountant" is simply the title of the most experienced of the accounts assistants.

I agree, assistant accountant is higher than accounts assistant. Accounting Technician is similar to Semi Senior, in my experience