Going to start ACCA Professionals....

Philthy

Does anyone know if you can do the exams one by one if you want? I have a lot on at the moment and want to take one of the exams.

Also, any ideas on which I should take solo?(P1 Professional Accountant, P2 Corporate Reporting, P3 Business Analysis) Do any of the exams cross over or are easier to understand is studied together?

The CCAinsider

You can do P1, P2 and P3 one at a time (this is a recent rule change). There is very little overlap, you might as well do them in sequence.

Philthy

Thanks for that.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself but any ideas which of the options are the best to take? (P4 Advanced Financial Management, P5 Advanced Performance Management, P6 Advanced Taxation, P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance) I think I'll be taking P7 anyway but all the others sound equally horrendous:eek:

The CCAinsider

They are all as bad as each other and while the international pass rates vary, all 4 get roughly the same pass rates in Ireland. P4 seems to be the hardest paper for most students. If your long term aim is practice then do tax and audit, if the aim is corporate sector the other two are more appropriate. It is useful to have audit because it means that you may be entitled to registered auditor status in the future and there is a lot of opportunities in internal audit. I know internal audit is boring, but it is generally seen as an entry point into some of the better firms and a fast track to a better job.

Philthy

Thats what I had been thinking. I know you can go back and do the auditing one if you want but there is a time limit. Plus, if I don't take it now, I might never do it.

Thanks for all your help! That has cheered up my day because trying to find anything (anything at all) on the ACCA website had been driving me slightly mad....

smcgiff

Philthy wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can do the exams one by one if you want? I have a lot on at the moment and want to take one of the exams.

Also, any ideas on which I should take solo?(P1 Professional Accountant, P2 Corporate Reporting, P3 Business Analysis) Do any of the exams cross over or are easier to understand is studied together?

Business Analysis is the one to take if you're stuck for time. Conceivably this paper can be passed by just looking at past papers - Whereas the others you'd need the guidance of the study texts. P3 without a doubt!

smcgiff

Bit late to this, but if you are stuck for time I'd go with P3 no question. You could possibly pass this by just going over past P3 and 3.5 papers (there has been some change), but the other two need considerably more study, imho.

As for the optionals. Auditing is a killer I'd avoid unless you're clear about wanting to get an auditing cert. Auditing has a very low pass rate compared to the other options. Tax has the next lowest pass rate. Other advice I've heard is that to pass auditing you have to be working in auditing (think the examiner said something similar). You could always go back (post qualified) and do auditing then.

Good luck.

Philthy

Thanks for that. It will give me something to think about over the next few weeks.
And I have a good while to think about the options while I do P1 to P3.

Lisa85

Does anyone know if I can do a post grad in something totally different like music or medicine after I qualify in acca or cpa? Are professional accountancy qualifications classed a shonours degrees?

The CCAinsider

ACCA is level 9 - the same level as a masters degree and one level higher than an honours degree. If you do ACCA you will get an honours degree for completing the foundation stage.

Lisa85

Ok thanks and what about CPA