ACCA, ACA, CIMA or ATT????
GinnyBee
Registered, Tutor Posts: 128 Dedicated contributor 🦉
Hi everyone,
I'd like at little bit of further study advice please!
I'm currently registered as an ACCA student and have completed 4 exams (exemptions F1-F3 and passed F4) and working in practice in a role which was accounts with a tiny bit of audit but is now nearly half tax. Hence I'm thinking of doing ATT and my manager thinks this would be a great idea.
My question therefore is whether there is any point in doing ATT if I continue with ACCA? My manager says yes because I'd have the qualification a lot sooner and it's another thing for my CV and CPD. What do people think?
Also it's a Chartered practice so she mentioned the possibility of changing over to ACA rather than ACCA. Should go with that or stick with ACCA?
To add to my confusion a colleague who is in the management accounts department has just completed CIMA and says its more relevant to small businesses and being their 'finance bod'. Help!
I'm not sure what my long term aim is but think I'd may lie to set up in practice myself in five to ten years.
Sorry for the long post which I hope is clear enough!
Thanks
I'd like at little bit of further study advice please!
I'm currently registered as an ACCA student and have completed 4 exams (exemptions F1-F3 and passed F4) and working in practice in a role which was accounts with a tiny bit of audit but is now nearly half tax. Hence I'm thinking of doing ATT and my manager thinks this would be a great idea.
My question therefore is whether there is any point in doing ATT if I continue with ACCA? My manager says yes because I'd have the qualification a lot sooner and it's another thing for my CV and CPD. What do people think?
Also it's a Chartered practice so she mentioned the possibility of changing over to ACA rather than ACCA. Should go with that or stick with ACCA?
To add to my confusion a colleague who is in the management accounts department has just completed CIMA and says its more relevant to small businesses and being their 'finance bod'. Help!
I'm not sure what my long term aim is but think I'd may lie to set up in practice myself in five to ten years.
Sorry for the long post which I hope is clear enough!
Thanks
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Comments
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Big decision!
If you want to set up in a practice yourself then you will need a practicing certificate. so, working backwards, you want to make sure whichever professional body you finally qualify with will give you one, so you need to find out what their requirements are for this. If you plan on doing it in 5-10 years then you will probably be fine with any of the bodies, but it's worth checking. I know ACCA certificates are hard to get so do make sure you look at the specifics of their requirements as I believe they are very strict.
Regarding your longer term goal, the experience you have is of equal, if not higher importance than the qualification. Therefore a MAAT ATT with 20 years experience may be 'better' than an ACCA or ACA with 10 years experience.
Regarding CIMA - does management accounts 'grab' you? You do see CIMA accountants in practice but not so much. If you think you want to end up in practice i.e. doing tax returns as opposed to offering management accounts to businesses, then CIMA might not be the one. I do believe their practising certificate is easier to get than ACCA, though.
I don't think there is much difference between ACCA and ACA in terms of qualification, salary expectation etc so if you wanted to switch then you want to look at the practical considerations as opposed to the benefits to your career. I don't know the differences between getting a practising cert with ICAEW as opposed to ACCA.
Remember - all the accountants who are already qualified will likely have an attachment to their own body which may also be a factor as to why they are encouraging you to switch to that!
I have no idea how the ACCA/ACA tax modules compare to the ATT qualification but ATT is a very well respected qualification and is well worth doing - but possibly not if the chartered tax modules are comparable and you continue with that.
I cannot stress strongly enough how important it is to go to the horses' mouth of the chartered bodies and ask what is required for their membership and practising certificate to be granted as knowing this info for the future will help you decide what to do now.
Best of luck!0 -
I really don't think theres a lot of difference between the Chartered bodies, you can usually pick the final modules you want, to specialise in the area of your choice.
How much does ATT cost to do?0 -
I'm with Monsoon on this.
If you know what you want in the long term, look at how you best can achieve that and to make sure you check with the bodies what requirements there are, so you can pick whichever would fit in best with your expectations!0 -
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4 exams @ £110 each
£50 per text book from BPP.
That's for self study, so £640 all in. There is a slight discount on exam fees if you take more than one exam per sitting.
Student membership is about £120 for 5 years.
Thanks, thats fairly reasonable then. If I did decide to do it, it'd definitely be self study. Not paying another £600 or so per module for a handfull of days training.0 -
Quick responses, thank you! I've been given lots to think about here! Good to hear not much difference between Chartered bodies, main difference for me might be funding - I'll have a chat with my manger that might just decide it for me
Thanks for the ATT costs Monsoon, looks good value.0 -
Thanks, thats fairly reasonable then. If I did decide to do it, it'd definitely be self study. Not paying another £600 or so per module for a handfull of days training.
PGM, I thought you could go onto CTA after ACCA - would this not be a higher tax qualification than ATT and be more worthwhile for you? (I haven't looked into this myself yet, this is just the impression I get from reading various posts on the forums so sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick!)
Ginny, when I was in my Technician year I researched all the Chartered Accountancy Bodies websites to see which of them I would study - as has been said already, there's not much difference between them so personally I would go for whichever one you think you would enjoy the most. After all, if you're going to be studying for the next 5 years or so you want to enjoy it! And then also consider where you would have to go to study and take the exams, and possibly also cost might be an option you or your manager needs to consider. Also for ACA I believe you need to have a training contract with an ICAEW approved employer, but this may not be a problem for you as you work in a Chartered Practice.
Good luck with whatever you decide.0 -
Rozzi Rainbow wrote: »PGM, I thought you could go onto CTA after ACCA - would this not be a higher tax qualification than ATT and be more worhtwhile for you? (I haven't looked into this myself yet, this is just the impression I get from reading various posts on the forums so sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick!).
I think you're right, but I'm not going to do any serious study for a good while now!
Only thing I'll do is work on my SQL skills, seems to be the most beneficial thing at the moment and as said on this thread you've got to think about where you want to get to...0 -
and as said on this thread you've got to think about where you want to get to...
Totally agree on this. For me for now, CIMA / communication are my main priorities, but already trying to plan out what will be next.
My plan was AAT, then CIMA or ACCA and then my masters, so far I got the AAT, started the CIMA, but I am not sure if an MBA or MA would add that much at the moment. So I'm looking into the options and it will also depend on what work I will pick up. My plan to move jobs earlier got stopped by a recession, so the progress at work is slower than I anticipated, doesn't matter much for the long term goal, but I think my time line might need adjustments.
We shall see where it ends. I might decide after CIMA to stop, I might decide CIMA isn't for me in the end, but for now, the plans stand!0 -
Totally agree on this. For me for now, CIMA / communication are my main priorities, but already trying to plan out what will be next.
My plan was AAT, then CIMA or ACCA and then my masters, so far I got the AAT, started the CIMA, but I am not sure if an MBA or MA would add that much at the moment. So I'm looking into the options and it will also depend on what work I will pick up. My plan to move jobs earlier got stopped by a recession, so the progress at work is slower than I anticipated, doesn't matter much for the long term goal, but I think my time line might need adjustments.
We shall see where it ends. I might decide after CIMA to stop, I might decide CIMA isn't for me in the end, but for now, the plans stand!
Got to look at your work/life balance, I really think I should do something other than study for a while. Is a masters really worth it on top of CIMA?
What communication would you do?0 -
My work/ life balance is fine at the moment, I have planned three evenings and Saturday for study and two evenings and the Sunday off. I got communication stuff in the morning (usually half an hour to an hour a day), go to work, come home, do some fitness/ yoga work out, start studying or have the evening off. I find it very well balanced for now, but I'm also keeping track of it, to avoid burning myself out or running into problems. There is more in life than study (and work)!Got to look at your work/life balance, I really think I should do something other than study for a while. Is a masters really worth it on top of CIMA?
What communication would you do?
But yes, keeping that in mind, I'm not sure about the masters, but for now it fits in my long term plan, so I just leave it there and decide nearer to the time. I only just started CIMA, so got a long way to go still.
The communication skill is building up some confidence in public speaking/ improving my communication skills in general (mainly by reading books, which is kind of ironic), but it all boils down to speaking with more confidence. I'm not taking any courses or anything on it at the moment, just working on it myself in the mornings before work.0 -
The communication skill is building up some confidence in public speaking/ improving my communication skills in general (mainly by reading books, which is kind of ironic), but it all boils down to speaking with more confidence. I'm not taking any courses or anything on it at the moment, just working on it myself in the mornings before work.
I need to do similar with communication, I got a book but not read it yet. Talking to a board is quite overfacing.
Now I've done acca I've decided to concentrate on gaining specific workplace experience0 -
I started with Dale Carnegie's book How to win friends and influence people, which is quite a good started for general communications. I'm planning on getting his book on self confidence and public speaking next, but my boyfriend got the book people skills, which deals with body language, assertiveness and conflict situations, so figured it might be interesting, so starting on that next. I did read some other books too, but so far found Dale Carnegie's book best for it.0
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Regarding CIMA - does management accounts 'grab' you? You do see CIMA accountants in practice but not so much. If you think you want to end up in practice i.e. doing tax returns as opposed to offering management accounts to businesses, then CIMA might not be the one. I do believe their practising certificate is easier to get than ACCA, though.
If I can pick some nits... CIMA isn't about doing the management accounts. It's about being an accountant in management - ie, being a senior finance person in industry. But you're quite right that it's not really geared towards being in practice. It's about helping run businesses.
My decision to go into CIMA study after AAT was guided by my then boss (himself an ACMA, ie full member of CIMA) who pointed out that ACCA (which I was thinking about) was more for people working in an accountancy practice; whereas CIMA skills were more applicable for working within the kind of organisations I was/ was likely to. IE - as I wasn't working in accountancy practice, ACCA wouldn't have been right for me.
Ironically, now that I'm in my CIMA Strategic Level, I'm becoming more interested in being an accountant in practice (and have my MIP with AAT). I'm getting pangs of jealousy whenever people discuss tax returns on here :-)
But as I've come this far, and I do really like CIMA, I'm not changing tack now - I might just have to tailor my CPD towards completing skills in the areas in which I'm lacking (ie, glorious tax); and in the meantime enjoying a little self-employed bean counting in my spare time!0 -
Chinless Wonder wrote: »My decision to go into CIMA study after AAT was guided by my then boss (himself an ACMA, ie full member of CIMA) who pointed out that ACCA (which I was thinking about) was more for people working in an accountancy practice
How true is the; CIMA for mgt accounts and ACCA for practice?
I went down the ACCA route, and picked the professional modules which fitted best with mgt accounts, so I definitely don't feel like I've studied to work in practice.0 -
Reading this again, really makes me wonder if I picked the right study in CIMA, but then again, I do not mind knowing how to manage a business, I'm just not sure if I would rather stick with accounts.Chinless Wonder wrote: »If I can pick some nits... CIMA isn't about doing the management accounts. It's about being an accountant in management - ie, being a senior finance person in industry. But you're quite right that it's not really geared towards being in practice. It's about helping run businesses.
My decision to go into CIMA study after AAT was guided by my then boss (himself an ACMA, ie full member of CIMA) who pointed out that ACCA (which I was thinking about) was more for people working in an accountancy practice; whereas CIMA skills were more applicable for working within the kind of organisations I was/ was likely to. IE - as I wasn't working in accountancy practice, ACCA wouldn't have been right for me.
Ironically, now that I'm in my CIMA Strategic Level, I'm becoming more interested in being an accountant in practice (and have my MIP with AAT). I'm getting pangs of jealousy whenever people discuss tax returns on here :-)
But as I've come this far, and I do really like CIMA, I'm not changing tack now - I might just have to tailor my CPD towards completing skills in the areas in which I'm lacking (ie, glorious tax); and in the meantime enjoying a little self-employed bean counting in my spare time!
O well, we shall see where I end up!0 -
PGM is correct, ACCA is not just aimed at working in practice. I am an ACCA member and an AAT member. When I started my career I wanted to work in the public sector, my career to date has always been in the public sector and I have no intention of leaving the public sector. I have no desire to work in practice, my choices were CIPFA or ACCA which are both equally relevant to my chosen field of work (but study arrangements were more flexible for ACCA).
ACCA is appropriate for all types of accountancy. While it is true thtACCA members in practice probably form the biggest group, it is also certainly true that most ACCA members do not work in practice (last time I looked it was almost an equal split between industry, public sector and practice).0
