ICAI School Leaver

madnirvana

Did anyone do Chartered accountancy from ICAI as a School leaver???

If so how is it? is it better to CA straight away as a school leaver or Do a BA degree first?

The CCAinsider

A lot of school leavers will do CAT first - the exams are straight forward and you get a qualification "Accounting Technician". The CAT dovetails in to the main ACCA exams and if you finish the foundation level you will get an honours degree, finish the final level and you have ACCA. So even if you don’t make it to the end you will have some qualification.

madnirvana

No, im talking about Joining the ICAI as a School Leaver..
Is it better to join as a School Leaver? they take school leavers on a 5 Year contract..

But if i do a 3 years of BA in accountancy and apply as a graduate the ICAI will take me on contract for 3 years....This takes me one extra year..

Im confused in how to apply..should i apply as a School leaver?? i hope it won't ruin my Career!!

madnirvana

please help

The CCAinsider

While it will take longer, I think you should do a degree first. University is great crack, you will make lots of new friends and it will give you 3 years to make up your mind on accountancy and which accounting body. You are also more employable after a degree. You should be looking at a B. Com or a degree in accounting and finance not a BA isf you want to do accountancy. Look at degrees that give good exemptions from the professional exams, almost all of the Institutes of Technology have 3 year level 8 degrees that give maximum exemptions from ACCA and the Universities have B. Com degrees with very good exemptions. You don’t say where you are but for example, GMIT has a level 8 degree that if you choose the right subjects you will have just one more year of study after the degree to finish your ACCA exams (you still need 3 years experience to become a member, but 6 months of this could be during the Summer holidays).

The_Hustler

When you say don't do a BA, I know from previous threads the OP is most likely referring to the BA in Accounting and Finance in DCU which gives maximum exemptions.
Also, I'm sure you need 3 and a half years experience after the degree.
I don't know if this is a difference between ACCA and ACA but are you sure summer work before graduating can count as part of the experience?

http://www.icai.ie/careers/how.cfm

The paragraph on direct entry also suggests you must do an Accounting Technician course too, but I know nothing about that process.

"C. School-leaver / Direct Entry Route

Students who have obtained 360 points in their Leaving Certificate and gain a distinction in the Institute of Accounting Technicians 1-year foundation course, are eligible to progress to the ICAI’s CA Proficiency 1 Examination. Students register with IATI and ICAI at the same time. "

The CCAinsider

Any relevant experience pre, during or post qualification counts with ACCA for the 3 years necessary. With ICAI a graduate needs to have a training contract for 3 ½ years with an employer, it is difficult to change employers over the 3 ½ years. With CPA, ACCA and CIMA you can change employers as often as you want.

Becoming an ICAI member is like being on a bus, you do your exams to a strict timetable, the bus will only stop for you a maximum of 3 times and after that you are not allowed on again. ACCA, CPA and CIMA are like taxi services, you decide when and where you will do the exams, and if you get a really interesting assignment at work and are really busy you can defer the exams for 6 months indeed I heard of somebody who just had the finals to do, stopped studying when she had a family and went back years later to finish the exams when her child went to school. You can take up to 10 years to finish the ACCA exams.

ACCA, CPA and CIMA have open entry, a half decent leaving cert and you can start the exams. CAT has no entry requirement and qualifying with CAT gives you automatic ability to do full ACCA.

Bren1609

Go to college and do your degree first. It looks better on your cv.

You have the next 40 years to work, go to college and do a degree.

madnirvana

help

indiewindy

madnirvana wrote: »

help

Just read the good advice from the earlier posters, your basically better getting a college qualification that gives you exemptions rather than going in straight from school.

Fruiti

No question about it! You're way better off doing a degree. And actually, if you are going to do the ACA, which is the qualification you will complete with the ICAI, and do a 3 year BA in Accounting & Finance (say in DCU or somewhere) you will sit CAP 2 in your first year of work and FAE in your second year so you will still be qualified within 5 years. And you will have a degree as well which is invaluable. Yes, you'll have to complete your training contract but your salary will pretty much double once you pass your FAEs (from what you started on). Go to college!:D

Hanley

Fruiti wrote: »

No question about it! You're way better off doing a degree. And actually, if you are going to do the ACA, which is the qualification you will complete with the ICAI, and do a 3 year BA in Accounting & Finance (say in DCU or somewhere) you will sit CAP 2 in your first year of work and FAE in your second year so you will still be qualified within 5 years. And you will have a degree as well which is invaluable. Yes, you'll have to complete your training contract but your salary will pretty much double once you pass your FAEs (from what you started on). Go to college!:D

Absolutely agree with this. I'm final year Accounting and HRM in NCI, going to BDO Simpson Xavier in October. A lot of my class mates ended up with top 6 firms. I don't think this is a realistic expectation straight out of school??

If you're prepared to work hard in college you stand a much better chance of landing a top firm when you graduate. This will probably open doors for you later on in your career too. AND you'll start on much better money. The gap between top 5 or 6 and the rest of the top 20 is huge. I'm going in on 24.5k, a few of my class mates who ended up with firms outside the top 6 are starting on 18k.

Go to college, make some friends and worry about being a grown up later would be my advice!!

Ninja Bear

The_Hustler wrote: »

Also, I'm sure you need 3 and a half years experience after the degree.
I don't know if this is a difference between ACCA and ACA but are you sure summer work before graduating can count as part of the experience?

In the ICAI this is definitely the case. The only way to shorten this is to do an M Acc which will shorten your training contract to 3 years but will require you to do an extra year in college anyway (and a pretty horrible year in college by all accounts!).

Go to college, make some friends and worry about being a grown up later would be my advice!!

Best advice on this thread imho. Nothing compares to the college experience, you'll be massively missing out if you go straight into the ICAI. It's only a year, and you won't be falling behind. I'm training with people who are 3 years older than me on the same level as me within the ICAI.

The_Hustler

Ninja Bear wrote: »

The only way to shorten this is to do an M Acc which will shorten your training contract to 3 years but will require you to do an extra year in college anyway (and a pretty horrible year in college by all accounts!).

I'm learning that the hard way at the moment!

The Bull McCabe

I think you should go to college and get a degree first. you'll have a good laugh and you'll be working for long enough. I only know one person where i work that did acca straight out of school and its obvious. Not the best social skills. I am doing the ICAI exams myself you do 3.5 years - it flys!!!

poster

I would suggest doing the IATI qualification and then going into ICAI. this will allow you to work while studying if you wish to or go fulltime into IATI. you have a qualification after 2 years and you then do Prof 2 Prof 3 and FAE.