Is AAT worth it?

Taypen0

Hello everyone was wondering if AAT is worth it, I’ve seen varying ideas regarding that’s it hard for job opportunities? Or should I go down the route if ACCA or CIMA

amurray

Hi Taypen0,

I can honestly say that studying AAT is so worth it! - the professional knowledge and skills that you learn by studying AAT really can open up doors and new opportunities in your career. It really gives you a great foundation of accounting before commencing further chartered accounting or tax studies.

AAT is highly admirable qualification, employers are constantly looking for the skills which you learn from the AAT syllabus.

I personally wish I found AAT after I left school, it took me quite a few years after before stumbling across it, and I believe its a game changer!

Why not study AAT, achieve the letters after your name and then decide on continuing with further qualifications. This way you not only achieve the letters but you gain further professional knowledge and are then exempt from certain levels/exams on the ACCA & CIMA syllabuses.

The link below is taken from the AAT website '10 great reasons to study AAT', which may be of use:
https://www.aat.org.uk/aat-qualifications-and-courses/need-help-choosing-a-qualification/why-choose-aat/10-great-reasons-to-study-aat

Best of luck with your decision

zebra246

Does your question mean, "Will the cost, time and effort put into gaining AAT qualifications reap benefits greater than the investment in terms of increased salary and opportunities?"

If so, my experience is that AAT is almost worthless without the accompanying necessary work experience. I passed AAT levels 3 and 4 first time but no company would give me an accounting role or even an interview as I had no work experience in an accounting role.

I doubt many people on this forum have no accounting work experience so my experiences are largely irrelevant to most here. However, it does emphasise the fact that work experience is, in my opinion, far more important than the qualifications.

sjtoomer

zebra246 said:

Does your question mean, "Will the cost, time and effort put into gaining AAT qualifications reap benefits greater than the investment in terms of increased salary and opportunities?"

If so, my experience is that AAT is almost worthless without the accompanying necessary work experience. [...] It does emphasise the fact that work experience is, in my opinion, far more important than the qualifications.

It appears to be true that the AAT Qualifications teach you the varying types of administrative tasks that you do in an Accounting/Book-Keeping job (or, at least, the theory of them), but in the current climate, I agree that it is extremely difficult to get any Accounting-type job without any work experience, so at the moment (at least), it is the same old chicken-and-egg problem with respect to jobs and experience (i.e. you cannot get a job without experience and you cannot get experience without a job). I am hoping to get an Accounting-type job in a company, albeit at the bottom of the ladder, with the AAT L3 Book-Keeping Qualification. I was hoping to avoid this chicken-and-egg problem by going in to Accountancy, due to me thinking that far less people choose to go in to it than other areas/subjects and due to there always being a demand for Accountants/Book-Keepers; but, perhaps there are more Accountancy-qualified people out there than I previously thought. In the current climate, employers seem to have their pick of the employees, so they can demand both a relatively higher level of qualification and several years of experience for even a relatively low wage/low-level position. I can only hope that the job market will balance-up a bit, when things return a bit more back to normal, after the Corona-Virus Pandemic, and after me applying for (God knows how many) jobs, some company will be willing to take me on. Even if I don't get a start in an Accountancy/Book-Keeping job with a company, I still have the AAT Qualifications as an extra string to my bow (so to speak), because I always wanted to learn it; but, I am doing the AAT Qualifications with the intention of them helping me get my foot in the door (so to speak) of a company, so that I can change my career. Naturally, the AAT cannot guarantee that anybody will get a job with any of their Qualifications, although their marketing does seem to give the opposite impression, in terms of being able to get an Accountancy-type job and of the wage being offered to AAT Qualified people when you have one of their Qualifications; but, I have to admit that it currently is quite dis-heartening for people who are attempting to enter the field/sector who are just qualified only, which naturally is not the AAT's fault, but rather employment market forces.

danadunca

I did my AAT qualification and I am very proud, I also have Bachelor's degree and Master degree in accounting, I work at an accountancy practice but I am responsible mainly with payroll administration, bookkeeping and consultancy for tax matters. I tried to apply for another roles more accounting concerned but without success. Now I am studying for CIMA, I will stay where I am and when I feel that is appropriate I will do my own practice. When I finished my AAT Level 3, I went for ACCA as I received 4 exemptions based on my degrees but I failed the first exam and then decided to finish AAT Level 4. Now I think that I am more prepared for CIMA and I'll go forward. In my opinion no qualification is worthless.