How much do you use?

James Patterson

Hi all,

Now I've gotten a proper accountancy job, I was waiting to put all I've learnt from AAT into practice.

So far I've not used, well, anything I've learnt. Whether its due to everything being business specific or simply its not the same.

I see glimpses, profit and loss statement for example, I know how to do those! Yet its fully generated by SAGE.

Does anybody find this to be the case? How much do you use and what from AAT in your day-to-day job?

PGM

I'd say I use it all the time in mine, for the most part it is behind the scenes in Sage, but when doing anything out of the ordinary, adj's, journals, any kinds of tweaks to the nominals or setting new ones up...

Gem7321

I use a lot of my AAT tax training and accounts prep as a MiP but in my FC role I use it very little. I do some variance analysis but in all honesty I wouldn't put that to AAT training as it is basic maths and I have to use my VAT knowledge but as an import/export company a lot of our VAT complications are outside the AAT syllabus.

James Patterson

I must admit the understanding of what I do is there, I think mainly due to AAT and the accountancy background, but I don't think I've undertaken any task so far which I couldn't complete with no accounting background at all.

Thanks for replying

James Patterson

Hi Gem

I did think MiP's would use it more and the tax/audit modules would be used. I just don't want to find it out to be pointless

Lucy_M

I don't think it's pointless, you wouldn't have got the job without it

I agree with PGM, it will be useful more often than you realise!

James Patterson

Well it was probably a factor as its a respected qualification, I'll spend today seeing what I use :P

CeeJaySix

Working in practice a lot of it is relevant, more on the financial side (BA, AP, FNST, FNPF, both taxes, computerised accounting and spreadsheets) - but I must admit I learned the majority through work before studying it. That said, it's good to fill in the gaps, and also to see the formal methods and rules behind what you do day to day. I see it more as a foundation to build on - you need to understand the formal practices and procedures at the basic level to develop effectively.

James Patterson

Yeah that's true, thanks for the response CeeJay

stevef

You have to look at the long haul. At the start of my career I was working on bits of financial routines, a smsll cog in a big wheel, so did not use a great deal of my training, but the qualification gets you the job and should help you understand why you are doing things and how it fits in to the bigger picture. Demonstrating that understanding is what makes you good promotion material. Syllabuses are wide, so depending on your chosen field some of your studies will always be much more relevant than others, but as you build your career up and you start becoming responsible for wider areas of work what you have learned starts to become more relevant.


I now spend most of my life signing off procedural and work flow changes, approving large items of spend, negotiating budgets, accepting grants, discussing issues with Auditors and Welsh Govt., explaining accounting and budgeting issues to Directors and Councillors and approving large journals and virements (plus hiring staff, approving leave, signing off experience evidence etc). The only real practical accounting I do is converting a trial balance and notes into a published statement of accounts. But without my training I could not do any of that, when you are sat in a room with 10 plus other people discussing a major capital project, or working out how to manage the latest round of budget cuts, and you are the only Accountant in the room, you suddenly realise how important your training was and how relevant it was. At the other extreme, when sat in a room with a group of Accountants discussing changes to accounting standards and reporting requirements you will be pleased you did all that financial reporting stuff.

In the end, its not so much being able to do the nuts and bolts work (computers and the finance team can do most of that for you), but its about understanding what things mean, how the results were arrived at, why certain things have to be done and ensuring that decisions about the future are correct and sustainable. Bits of your studies may not seem relevant now, but one day they will.

James Patterson

Thanks Steve,

Really appreciate the reply. Actually rather motivating