Accounting Technician Course

Sleepymum

Hi,

I hope someone can help, I have spent ages reading about the ACCA Accounting Technician Course and the IATI Technician Course and am now confused as to which is the best one to do.

Both cost roughly the same,
Both are in centers not far away

So which is the better one?, I am right in thinking that the acca one is btter recognised internationally and the iati is more irish focused?

Which is better for someone not working in the field, who has basic understanding accounting knowledge due to other courses.

Which is the best for leading onto further qualifications?

Also how do you go about getting your time in practice, when not working in the field.

Thanks so much for your help!

Really Confused,
Sleepymum

itsonlyme

Starting off I would suggest the IATI course. You will get a good grounding with everything.

fraggle79

I would definetly recommend the IATI course as its primarily aimed for students in Ireland.
It is an intense course as with the AACA technician course.

If I was to start all over again I would probably scrap third level and go direct to IATI and then progress to CPA.

Either qualification will give you exemptions from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) and the Associtaion of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA)

Good luck!!

John Mason

i am in 2nd year IATI, and i would not recommended to anyone

i dont have anything nice to say about IATI, so i am not going to say anything:o

seven-iron

i am in 2nd year IATI, and i would not recommended to anyone

i dont have anything nice to say about IATI, so i am not going to say anything

I think you did say something!

fiona12

Hi there,

I have been with the ACCA for a while now, I have no complaints with them whatsoever.

You are right in saying that the ACCA is more internationally recognised, that's why I chose them.

ellips

I finished IATI last spring and although I had a few negative things to say about it back then I have since had reason to re-consider some of my views.

I am now in ACCA and I really appreciate some of the basics that were taught in IATI at a very good level. I think that it was more to do with very good lecturers in those subjects. I also had the opportunity to experience some of the worst lecturers ever and I get the impression that there is no quality control by IATI over how and by whom the course is taught which is quite frustrating. But i don't think its much different to other accountancy bodies.

I cannot complain about the content of the course though - for example Taxation is taught at the level of ACCA F6, however there was no exemption granted to IATI students (last year anyway). Law was more or less the same as F4, unfortunately again no exemption. If you are intending to continue with ACCA it would be no harm to start off with same, but there isn't a huge difference between them.

All in all any course is only as good as what you're willing to put into it.

Mr Clonfadda

Really its down to where you see yourself ending up. I did AAT (formally associated with ACCA) rather than IATI because i wasn't sure i would stay in Ireland. However I am Still in Ireland 21 years later never did any ACCA Exams and am no longer a member of AAT.

swanvill

Hi
I did AAT (Now ACCA Technician) & then ACCA. My main reason was flexibility, course content and where I would get the most exemptions.

I suppose the question you must answer is do I want to become a fully qualified accountant, and if the answer is yes then pick the course with the highest amount of exemptions from other professional bodies.

Best of luck in your future studies.

Regards,
Swanvill

Lizzie4711

I with you there!. I'm also in my 2nd year with just 2 exams to go. Best of luck next week!.

smcgiff

If your goal is to become an accountant I wouldn't bother with a technician course. Go straight into the real thing. ACCA, ACA, CPA or CIMA.

Otherwise you're just adding an extra year of exams.

misspiggy40

Hi all. My situation was that I was out of education for quite a while. I found the IATI course brilliant for getting me back on track with my learning head. It addressed the accounting issues from the basics. I also got two years exemption from the IPA BBS (hons) course, which meant the two years were not wasted at the IATI. On the negative side, I know they are running a business but everything was money with these guys. Tutors are very hit and miss too from what I can gather. Meanwhile they have been working on their exemptions across the board and I would say that they are pretty good.

To cut it short, if you want a course to break you back in and give you a solid basis for further study I could not fault it. I sailed through Yr 3 of my IPA course on the back of it and expect to be secure with the taxation module of year 4.

If you are out of education a while I would not dive into the professional exams though.

Finally, in Ireland I think that the IATI is more widely accepted than the ACCA's CAT and the follow on exemptions seem to be slightly better though that may be only on the ones I researched.

Best of luck with whatever you do.:D;)

misspiggy40

I work in a retail business doing all their accounts and admin. I was able to use my experience to become a member of the IATI so you don't need to be in practice for that.

By the way Sleepymum, if you are a mum, good for you!!

bulmersgal

Oh my god i was just going to put up a thread asking about this. I've enrolled to do a IATI course in Sept and reading some post here i've been a pit unsure.

I think i will go ahead with it coz i've been out of school 5 years and i like the thought of being able to skip into the 3rd year of my degree and the fact that the iati starts from basics

misspiggy40

Hey Bulmersgal. Don't hesitate to PM me if you ever have a problem on the course. A problem shared and all that. Good luck

Sleepymum

Hi Folks,

Thanks so much for all the help, I have decided that I am going to the iati. It will break back into gently.
My son is starting school this year, so I want whats best for both of us and I dont want to be a nervous wreck worrying about a course when I should be enjoying it.
Thanks again!
Sleepymum;)

misspiggy40

Well done sleepymom. PM me anytime if you want to talk about the course.....or juggling 50 jobs at once!!

dlambirl

Sleepymum wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Thanks so much for all the help, I have decided that I am going to the iati. It will break back into gently.
My son is starting school this year, so I want whats best for both of us and I dont want to be a nervous wreck worrying about a course when I should be enjoying it.
Thanks again!
Sleepymum;)

Well done, best of luck!!

xxmammamxx

Hi all,

I just qualified the 2 year IATI course. It was a good course but honestly think if I were to do it again I would go with the ACCA technician course. I do think that those who run IATI are the biggest money grabbers around. From what I can gather they will only allow me to get my completion cert if I become a full member. e170 for membership app fee and then a further e160 annual membership fee. I'm not going to pay them that as I'm going to continue w/ACCA starting end of this month and will have 3 exemptions F1 2 and 3 to start off with.

misspiggy40

Have to agree with you there. Everything was money. Even if you wanted a printout of your results later:cool:. Still, have just gotten back my year 3 BBS results and they were pretty good. The iati course is a great base for further studies.

xxmammamxx

misspiggy40 wrote: »

Have to agree with you there. Everything was money. Even if you wanted a printout of your results later:cool:. Still, have just gotten back my year 3 BBS results and they were pretty good. The iati course is a great base for further studies.

Yes have to agree that they're a great base for further studies, looking at the acca exams for tax and law - it looks like IATI covered most of the syllabus give or take.

BizTalker

IATI is a waste of time. I passed it blindfolded and wished I enrolled ACCA right away. It would have saved me 2 years,cuz you only get like 2-3 exemptions from this course towards you professional qualification.

xxmammamxx

BizTalker wrote: »

IATI is a waste of time. I passed it blindfolded and wished I enrolled ACCA right away. It would have saved me 2 years,cuz you only get like 2-3 exemptions from this course towards you professional qualification.

Are you doing ACCA now? I'm currently going to get 3 examptions from IATI. I lived abroad for many years and feel that IATI was a good intro when I returned, but think now that I too have wasted 2 years (w/ only 3 exeptions to show for it) when I could possibly have at least 6 papers of ACCA sat by now..... Humor me - was IATI at least a good base for you?

BizTalker

Well, I did have a University Degree prior to my IATI course,but done overseas,so I needed to get the taste of the basic Irish accounting system. IATI is good start of course, but as I said before if your goal is to achieve ACCA, CPA or whatever prof. qualification, going via techniciancy cource is pure waste of time for me. To answer your question, no I did not enroll ACCA eversince. I've been kinda busy working, and all this job crisis lately discouraged me from doing it. It's dificullt to come accross to a decent employer though who would sponsor you towards it. And it's a costly course for me, will postpone it a bit . I was in two minds between CPA and ACCA, but from my personal research ACCA is No1!

funnygal

I had been out of school for a while and decided to go back after i had my daughter and i did the IATI course as I was unsure about the length of time and if i would like it and as it was only two years i decided to do it. Regarding the work experience, it stands to you from before the course and the college i did the course with gave friday off for work experience and you can work during summer to build up your time... I found the Iati course a real good basis for everything, well i dunno if it was just my lecturers or not... I went on and have just completed a degree in acc and finance and am doing my masters this year...

misspiggy40

I'm with you Funnygal. Just sat the capital gains paper for the first year of Tax Ireland's Exam. Purely on the basis of my IATI last year and found it no problem. So that's two year's off my degree and three papers exempt on ITI first year with the other paper covered. Third year of the degree no big problem either with a lot of topics covered. I am very happy with both what I learned and what I got out of it after.

Good luck to everybody starting back into it in September.

Karlar

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if they have done the Accounting Technician Home Study course and if they would recommend it. Its seems to be only McKeon Murray that are running it home study option. Does anyone know the overall cost.

josiepau

I have just asked my employer whether they would be willing to pay for the IATI course... they said no problem - of course there is always a catch in there...:) anyway, English is not my native language and I am not 100% sure whether I can do it... I don't expect it is going to be easy... but asking myself for some time whether I won't make a fool of myself - especially at work... is there anyone who could advise on my dilemma???

millyvanilli

I did the IATI some years ago and there were some non-English speakers in my class and the class co-ordinator got permission for them to use a "Foreign Language" / English dictionary in the exams. Also seen electronic "translators" used at revision seminary.so go for it ..a great qualification as previous posters said

Clanket

josiepau wrote: »

I have just asked my employer whether they would be willing to pay for the IATI course... they said no problem - of course there is always a catch in there...:) anyway, English is not my native language and I am not 100% sure whether I can do it... I don't expect it is going to be easy... but asking myself for some time whether I won't make a fool of myself - especially at work... is there anyone who could advise on my dilemma???

What exactly is your dilemna? Do it or not?

If that's all it is go for it. Your english seems decent enough.

josiepau

well, my dilemma was rather whether I CAN do it... not whether to do it or not... but I've decided to go for it with the help of your kind words... so wish me luck... also, does anyone know where to find any tests from previous years from this course? thanks