Advice on which route to go down post level 4?!
MA86
Registered Posts: 9 Regular contributor ⭐
Hi,
I am currently studying level 2 on a F/T basis at college and have been doing voluntary work - was doing book-keeping for a Community Centre until the council closed it down; and have recently started with a charity, working on expanding the business - to gain hands on experience.
I find I am doing quite well with Accounting in general; and I know I am getting a little bit ahead of myself here... But say if I do eventually gain level 4, what routes can people advise on going down, bearing in mind I would ideally like to become a Financial Accountant and create business' as I gain experience?
As stated, the above is what I would ideally like to do but things don't always pan out as you would like! Any advice would be much appreciated, i.e; which body to use - ACCA/ICAEW etc..
Thanks in advance,
Mark.
I am currently studying level 2 on a F/T basis at college and have been doing voluntary work - was doing book-keeping for a Community Centre until the council closed it down; and have recently started with a charity, working on expanding the business - to gain hands on experience.
I find I am doing quite well with Accounting in general; and I know I am getting a little bit ahead of myself here... But say if I do eventually gain level 4, what routes can people advise on going down, bearing in mind I would ideally like to become a Financial Accountant and create business' as I gain experience?
As stated, the above is what I would ideally like to do but things don't always pan out as you would like! Any advice would be much appreciated, i.e; which body to use - ACCA/ICAEW etc..
Thanks in advance,
Mark.
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EDIT -
I've had a look into things over the weekend and the routes that interest me are:
ACCA;
ICAEW;
IFA.
As already stated, I've still got to get through to level 4 but at the rate I'm learning, I should get there...
However, I would like to know the pros and cons of the aforementioned qualification routes from anyone that has been there..?
Cheers,
Mark.0 -
Hi
Out of those menrioned, ICAEW and ACCA have more recognition than IFA - i'm not slating IFA, but plain and simple it isn't as recognised. There is of course CIMA and also CIPFA.
ICAEW will require a training contract with an approved employer (practice mainly but can be in industry/public sector), whereas ACCA wont. The are probably more similar in content to each other than either is to CIMA. It is possible to take some of the ICAEW exams without a training contract, but only experience gained duing a training contract can count towards the qualification.
With either, you could work in practice or industry but if you want to go down a financial accounting route then ICAEW or ACCA may be more relevant than CIMA. If you want to set up your own practice, ACCA do have stringent requirements, whereas (I believe) ICAEW's requirements for self employed members in practice is more fleaxible.
Neil0 -
Thanks for your help Neil, much appreciated.0
