Are CCAB making Accounting elitist

fifegirl

I'm perplexed by the snobbery over the term "Chartered Accountant" l did my Level 3 with the AAT in 2013, l then decided to go back to Uni at the age of 39 to do a degree in Accounting with Finance which l got an 2:1, however I decided I'd had enough with studying and decided that I didn't want to undertake the professional qualifications with ACCA or CIMA, though I did get my exemptions with CIMA as l wanted to work in industry rather than an accounting firm.

Now fast forward 6 yrs and I'm now in a nightmare. I started as an Accounts & Administration assistant with a start up company and over the last 6yrs I've gained a vast amount of knowledge in respect off all areas of Management accounting with the help of the external Auditor etc and by the end l was doing everything including preparing Statutory accounts for sign off by the external Auditor. However due to a restructure l have been made redundant and I'm now coming up against this barrier of Qualified/ Chartered Accountants when applying for jobs. I'm not applying for positions where my experience doesn't meet what is set out in the job description but I'm getting told, sorry you're not qualified 😤😤 These aren't even for roles where I'm undertaking submission of accounts for Ltd companies or with accounting practices it's for roles like Finance Manager or Finance Business Partner or FP&A accountant it's not roles I don't have the relevant exexperience for.

So my question are employers saying that as I'm not "qualified" under CCAB or CIMA then I'm not professional and thus not able to undertake the role because my degree and 6yrs experience doesn't matter?

I'm also annoyed that l can't be classed as a qualified accountant even though I've done 4yrs at Uni with my 6yrs experience, l then need to undertake another 3yrs of study just to say I'm a qualified accountant. Even Solicitors and Dr's don't need to undertake further exams, they undertake full on hands on experience. Only time a Solicitor needs to undertake another exam is if they want to be a Barrister.

Is Chartered accountancy just a money making scheme and are employers being fooled by the term Chartered as it doesn't mean the person who is Chartered is any way more professional than someone who isn't.

Has anyone come up against this professional/Chartered brick wall and if so how did you break through it?

I'm now having to decide if l want to go down the "professional" route and I'm 90% sure that I'll undertake my Level 4 with AAT. I'm not going via CIMA as I don't have £20k and 3yrs.

That's it I'm currently hating on CCAB and CIMA at the moment as well as recruiters who are just complete and utter snobs 🤣🤣

GMc23

Not sure if it helps, but with an accounting and finance degree you only need the management and strategic levels of CIMA to get the qualification! I definitely think it would be more worth your while to do so in the long run

GMc23

You might also find a employer willing to fund your study with the academics you already have!

0mgjohn

GMc23 said:

Not sure if it helps, but with an accounting and finance degree you only need the management and strategic levels of CIMA to get the qualification! I definitely think it would be more worth your while to do so in the long run

On top of this, there is the FLP programme CIMA now offer, where you get tested in continuous small quizzes rather than the 3 exams per level. However, still have to pass a case study at each level.