Will accountancy be a good career move at 29?

danclancy

Hi guys, I need some advice on whether to consider accountancy as a career change.

Here's the situation I'm in: I'm 25 now and working as a production supervisor for a manufacturing firm. I have a management diploma and ACCA Diploma in Financial Management. I want to start a commerce degree with NUIG next year through distance learning. Because its by distance learning I can't take on extra accounting courses towards the end of the degree, the subjects are set in stone. Would that be an issue if applying to the Big 4?

I have just got married and finished building a house and I'll be 29 when I graduate. Would I have left it to late to start training as an accountant?

Do all trainees with Big 4 firms train in the Dublin offices or can you train outside the capital?

Lots of questions I know guys but any help will be greatly appreciated.

Newaglish

Couple of things:

1) It's not too late but your first year (and maybe second) year's wages will not be great

2) Find out from NUIG what exemptions you get from professional exams. Post up what they say and we can let you know if they're good/bad/etc.

3) You can train in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick and Belfast, depending on which company you are applying to. It's important to note however that it's (in my opinion) considerably easier to get into the Dublin practices due to the sheer volume of people taken on, particularly in Audit.

bigjohnny80

Why not qual through acca and keep current salary?
Commerce degrees are ten-a-penny these days.

Big 4 is not the only way of doing it. . check out the stickys

In fact your business background suggests CIMA may be best route for you but as you have some acca history then I'd be tempted to go through them

Gibbins123

You are a mature student so could just start ACCA now and be fully qualified in 3 years.

I'm 24 and just started ACCA. I've seen people starting ACA and ACCA in their 40s! Its never too late!

Climber

I agree with Big Johnny and Gibbins

Start ACCA NOW. Doing a full time commerce degress is a waste of time, for two reasons.

1 - You already have two diplomas, you won't have a better competitive advantage by having a commerce degree as well, not from an employers point of view anyway.

2 - Degrees (like what Bog Johnyy said ) are not worth the paper they're written on. IMHO ever since they made 3rd level education free every tom dick and harry has a degree, so, the law of economics suggests that when anything is in over supply, the value of it reduces.

So by starting ACCA now you'll be qualified in 3 years, before you're 29, and you'll be earning good money.

LoveDucati2

The best thing you can do is to sit the first 2 exams in June, register with ACCA before Dec 31st, go to classes or just get the books and start studying in March to sit exams in June. Then you can position yourself to move into a finance role and spend the next 3 years doing your exams and getting your PER. You will need 3 years of valid experience that has to be signed off by a qualified person.

betonit

Gibbins123 wrote: »

I've seen people starting ACA and ACCA in their 40s! Its never too late!

is it realistic/feasible to start from scratch at this age?
In the time of mass redundancy and the need to retrain is accountacny the way to geo baring in mind some one in their 40s? Thanks

DJDC

Anyone can be an accountant. You don't need honours maths, you dont even need a degree. All you have to do is add and subtract.

Valcin

I reckon the qualifications you have plus your management experience would give you a good competitive edge and that you should just go straight for ACCA, CIMA or the chartered accountancy. You could even stay with your job at the moment and study for them yourself by just buying the books and registering for exams. Im not working in accountancy but i have sit 3 ACCA exams and have just 5 left due to exemptions which you would probably get so it can be done. I just did a revision course the week before the exams. So you could hold on to your big salary for a while before you became a trainee.

betonit

Gibbins123 wrote: »

You are a mature student so could just start ACCA now and be fully qualified in 3 years.

Is that 3 years starting from scratch? Where are you doing the course?
I see alot of posts where people are taking exams , can you take exams any time any amount?

kluivert

Alot of the above posts are recommending that you do ACCA qual.

I would check out ACA and CIMA also.

What area of accounting to do wish to move into.

I started in practice for 2.5 years and then moved to industry. I prefer industry and dont expect to move back into practice doing audits every day.

I my ACCA qualified and I would recommend the ACCA direct route has above, go straight into doing your exams.

Ring ACCA Ireland and ask them to send you out information on how to obtain your qualfication, but it does help to find a job in an accounting department because as well as completing your professional exams you will also have to achieve work experience relevant to competencies set out by ACCA over a three year period.

I think accounting is a good career move, it gives you extra options, which is always very handy to have.

sataction

Agree with people who say do not do commerce degree.

Contact Cima about exemptions.

CIMA, in my opinion, is the best of the three possible qualifications.

Fidget

betonit wrote: »

is it realistic/feasible to start from scratch at this age?
In the time of mass redundancy and the need to retrain is accountacny the way to geo baring in mind some one in their 40s? Thanks

Yes, of course it's feasible - you've still got about 25 years of a career left til retirement age, and then of course you can work beyond that til your heart's content since you'll be able to work self employed with your accounts qualification. And the beauty of it for an employer is that at 40, you'll also be bringing your university of life degree to the workplace too, and also be less likely to get the training and experience and then jump ship to another employer like so many younger people do. 40, is a good time to be embarking on a brand new career!!

betonit

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

The best thing you can do is to sit the first 2 exams in June, register with ACCA before Dec 31st, go to classes or just get the books and start studying in March to sit exams in June. Then you can position yourself to move into a finance role and spend the next 3 years doing your exams and getting your PER. You will need 3 years of valid experience that has to be signed off by a qualified person.

I think i might give this route a go with 2 exams by myself. Then do a formal course try move into a finance roll. I tried ringing the ACCA last week but they were closed. How strict is the register date. I'll be contacting them monday for information anyway.

seven-iron

DJDC wrote: »

Anyone can be an accountant. You don't need honours maths, you dont even need a degree. All you have to do is add and subtract.

The following would disagree
Michael O Leary
Charlie McCreevy
Denis Casey
Brian Goggin
Bertie Ahern
Charlie Haughey
Sean Fitzpatrick (i know, i know but he still built up Anglo even if he is untrustworthy)
and my neighbour who has a bentley.

Kine

All I will say for having a degree, as some people seem dead set against it, is that a First Class Honours stands out quite a lot on the ould CV.

I have both a degree and a masters, and the only reason I got my current role is because of them (albeit, I started out on a graduate program, whereas you would be coming from a differnt point of entry having already gained work experience). However, I know that several friends who had not achieved as high a mark in their degree/masters never got as far as the interview stage. Things may change over the next few years, as I know some places have ceased taking on grads this year due to the current climate.

I'm now almost finished my ACCA qualification, which I'm doing part-time(ish) every semester. I work in industry (sorry, I just don't know how people can do audit!!), and before the, er, recession was pretty damned busy but still managed to get through all of the exams so far (I had 6 exeptions from 14 exams). I would recommend DBS for the classes, I find them very professional, very helpful and most of their lecturers are quite good. I can't speak for any of the other providers though (such as BPP).

betonit

I'm looking to Bpp for classes anyone any experience with them