HDip in Accounting in DIT

Bobon

Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody has come across this course? I'm looking to go down a different career path. I originally did Architectural Technology for my degree however with the construction industry on its knees, I figured I'd look elsewhere for work.

I kind of jumped the gun and paid my €300 acceptance fee for the course so I have committed to doing it. I suppose I thought that there would be more job prospects but having done a bit of research, maybe there is not so much as I expected.

Does anyone know if the course is any good? Also, are the job prospects that bad?

Cheers.

Mr.C Accountant

Bobon wrote: »

Hey guys, I was wondering if anybody has come across this course? I'm looking to go down a different career path. I originally did Architectural Technology for my degree however with the construction industry on its knees, I figured I'd look elsewhere for work.

I kind of jumped the gun and paid my €300 acceptance fee for the course so I have committed to doing it. I suppose I thought that there would be more job prospects but having done a bit of research, maybe there is not so much as I expected.

Does anyone know if the course is any good? Also, are the job prospects that bad?

Cheers.

Id say leave the accoutnacy profession to be honest!!! I wouldnt bother as there are no jobs availiable at all. ask yourself why accountancy, if ur looking for good wages , and a secure job u can forget it... do something u like!!

MrMatisse

Id have to agree with the above. There are very training contracts about at the moment especially at this time of year.

Coming from something creative like architecture youd probably find the work really boring too.

schumacher

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

Id say leave the accoutnacy profession to be honest!!! I wouldnt bother as there are no jobs availiable at all. ask yourself why accountancy, if ur looking for good wages , and a secure job u can forget it... do something u like!!

Is it really that bad? Im about to enter into a training contract but this forum is very depressing when it comes to accounting.

Bobon

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

Id say leave the accoutnacy profession to be honest!!! I wouldnt bother as there are no jobs availiable at all. ask yourself why accountancy, if ur looking for good wages , and a secure job u can forget it... do something u like!!

The thing is, it's hard to just 'do something you like'. I've been doing something I liked for the last 4-5 years and I really can't see myself getting a job in that for the foreseeable future. The fact is I could be waiting around for a few years to finally get a job in what I liked.

I see now that there might not be as many jobs in Accounting as I thought. However my aim is to get qualified (at least partly) in another profession so doing something I like is gone out the door I'm afraid. Maybe I will have to review whether it is Accounting that I do. I'll do some more research.

Edit: Just wondering would anyone know if the job situation is the same in the U.K?

MrMatisse

schumacher: Yep its that bad. Lots of people coming out of contracts from the big 4 are now on the dole.

Bobon: The UK is a little better but not much.

Mr.C Accountant

Hey BOBON

Im telling you its not worth it going into accountacy, the exams are extremely tough, the work is boring and there is no jobs.........

Ur better off sticking to your profession, as an architect, trust me, u wont regret it,

Why accountancy anyway..... have u done accoutancy for the leaving cert, did u do any modules before... i wouldnt just jump into it...

The cap 2 exams are meant to be extremely tough, 50% or more failing, ull hav to attend lectures at weekedns and there nearly on evry weekend.

If u dont have good accoutnacy baiscs u can forget it, cause the PDA in DIT aint gonno cover 3-4 years of an accountancy degree in 9 months!!!

Sorry to be so negative but , id say go into another field to be honest!! Becasue the new wages id say will be about 35k for a chartered accountant!!!

The big question take the job security and the high wages out of being an Accountant and ask yourself why am i doing this!!!!!

Bobon

Thats fair enough Mr. Accountant, I appreciate the feedback. The reason I picked Accountancy was that I did do it for my Leaving Cert and did reasonably well in it although it was a good few years ago. I wasn't expecting to cover the whole course in 9 months, however, I did think it might be enough to secure a trainee position. Again, thanks for your honest reply. I am in the process of looking up other options.

DJDC

I'd say seriously consider accountancy. Lets face it the construction industry in Ireland is in terminal decline while accountancy will always have a role in the Irish economy. Wages may be lower but you are going in on lower expectations now so its not so bad.

I can see why some accountants are trying to push you away though as your situtation is mirrored across hundreds if not thousands of people considering their options. The sheer ease of access in terms of the ACA means lots of undergrads with engineering, finance, arch. and other degrees may add to already precarious situation in terms of oversupply. However that is not your concern, its purely about options and right now accountancy is still better than anything construction related.

aoibhebree

Bobon, I'd say if you don't have any other immediate job prospects, then go for it! What have you got to lose? Even if you never end up working in accountancy, it looks a lot better on your CV than a year on the dole. Besides, accountancy will always be a help to you, say if you were to become self-employed etc, and you never know when an architectural job might come up looking for someone with some accountancy experience. Worst comes to worst, even if you hate it, you're only young and it's only for a year. Best of luck with whatever you decide!

Bobon

DJDC and Aoibhebree, thanks for the positive feedback, at last .

I suppose I really have nothing to lose. I'm not doing much with myself these days and worst case scenario, I get to educate myself albeit, very briefly.

bananatree

Hi Bobon, I've just finished the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting in DIT and I'd def recommend it. It gives you exemptions from all of CAP1. There were people in the class from different backgrounds, Engineering, Nursing etc and the majority of people got on very well. I'd say most people from the class are starting training contracts this September/October. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

Bobon

Hi Bananatree,

Thats great. I've been scouring the internet to find some information from someone that has actually done the course. I'm glad you've had a positive experience doing the course. Thats all I wanted to hear as I have commited to doing it already. Bananatree, I have a few general questions for you.

1. Could you tell me if the course runs from September to September?

2. Whats the general timetable like for the week i.e, the amount of hours? (Not that this matters much. Just curious)

3. Did anyone from the course look for work in the UK when finished? If so, how did they get on?

Thanks

bananatree

Hi Bobon, the course runs from September to May. We had exams in January and again in May. Think we had around 15 or 16 hours a week, we had Fridays off in Semester 2 which was cool! Don't know of anyone that applied for jobs in the UK. Most people applied for jobs with the Big Four back in October to start training contracts this September/October. The Career Guidance in DIT ran classes giving you help filling out the application forms for the Big Four which I found quite helpful.

Ideo

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

The cap 2 exams are meant to be extremely tough, 50% or more failing, ull hav to attend lectures at weekedns and there nearly on evry weekend.

Agreed, the exams are tough and having gone through them I'd say the lectures are pretty much a waste of time. I attended most of my lectures and they were of very little benefit for exams. I'd tell ya to skip the lectures and dont completely burn yourself by the time study leave comes around

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

If u dont have good accoutnacy baiscs u can forget it, cause the PDA in DIT aint gonno cover 3-4 years of an accountancy degree in 9 months!!!

You haven't a clue what your talking about!!! any of the PDAs gives you a great grounding in accounting! Did you even do a PDA or are you just talking shit?

Mr.C Accountant

Ideo wrote: »

Agreed, the exams are tough and having gone through them I'd say the lectures are pretty much a waste of time. I attended most of my lectures and they were of very little benefit for exams. I'd tell ya to skip the lectures and dont completely burn yourself by the time study leave comes around



You haven't a clue what your talking about!!! any of the PDAs gives you a great grounding in accounting! Did you even do a PDA or are you just talking shit?

Mind what you say to me Ideo, i could have you reported to the moderator and get you subsequently banned for swearing at me indirectly.

Anyway for people with no leaving cert accountancy i say the PDA is not very useful.....

The CAP 2 were difficult enough IDEO, Im glad they made them harder, this will seperate the men from the boys... If you fail them it will look really bad on your CV ideo....

Only the best will survie in this harsh economic climate!

Oct2008

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

Anyway for people with no leaving cert accountancy i say the PDA is not very useful.....

Not true!

The PDA is designed as a conversion course for people with no accountancy knowledge. I did the PDA in DCU and found it excellent and I didn't do accountancy for the leaving cert! A number of my class were the same. There is an intensive week long 'basics of accounting' in DCU before you start into the modules on the PDA.

I secured a Big 4 training contract and the PDA was a major plus. Mentioned in the interview fior the Big 4 and and in interviews since I left also.

tywy

I did the PDA in DIT this year. I hadn't done accounting for the LC. There was no intensive course. I didn't find the accounting too bad. I managed to get a 1st. Despite not having an accounting background.

One must remember that most of the 'accounting' undergrad courses include a lot more than just accounting. The PDAs are focused on getting the exemptions from CAP 1.

Maybe I'll find CAP 2 difficult, maybe not but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I got a training contract with the Big 4 before doing the PDA, the company I joined paid for the PDA too!

Asprilla

tywy wrote: »

I got a training contract with the Big 4 before doing the PDA, the company I joined paid for the PDA too!

Thinking of doing a PDA when I finish my undergrad degree next year. Have not done Accounting for Leaving Cert.

Did many people on the course already have training contracts set up before the PDA ? How did any who didnt have a job lined up fair in the milkround last year? Was it difficult to get the a big 4 firm to sponsor you for the PDA?

tywy

I think it was about half and half with people having a training contract before starting.

The people with good undergraduate degrees, good interview prep and who really worked on their application forms did very well in the milkround. It's very difficult to judge how people act in an interviews...

The companies that offered me a job all thought doing the PDA was the natural way to go. All of them offered to pay too. I think it's the done thing although whether that'll be true this year... I don't know.

Ideo

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

Anyway for people with no leaving cert accountancy i say the PDA is not very useful.....

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about! The PDA course gives you a brilliant grounding in the principals of accounting!! I asked you before, did you do the PDA?

Mr.C Accountant wrote: »

The CAP 2 were difficult enough IDEO, Im glad they made them harder, this will seperate the men from the boys... If you fail them it will look really bad on your CV ideo....

Only the best will survie in this harsh economic climate!

Yeah yeah, you've made this point enough already on other threads. you should stick to this topic in this thread!

Anyway OP, the PDA will give you a great grasp of accounting. Obviously it'll give you CAP 1 exemptions but it will cover a little bit of the CAP 2 financial reporting too. ACCA exemptions are available too, but I'm not 100% which ones. I'm sure if you email DIT they can tell you

In terms of job prospects its no secret the many of the accounting firms are letting people go and reducing their intake numbers so competition for the remaining places will be tough. You'll still need a good 2.1 in your degree but if your committed to it I'm sure you'l do well in the PDA and get a good job out of it. Money prob wont be great for the first few years but I'd like to think in the long run the hard work will pay off.

Best of luck anyway!

Bobon

Cheers Ideo. I think Mr C. Accountant sees me as a threat to his future prospects of getting a job so he's trying to put me off :P

Sorting the men from the boys is a bit extreme when talking about accountancy. It ain't rocket science.

schumacher

If you do do the PDA I say it will be very hard to get a job. Most of the Big 4 if not all have deferred people joining their firm this year until next year. Some forced others not so I doubt the Big 4 will take on much people if any next year. They might go through the milkround just to keep face. You are also competing with people who done 3/4 years doing accounting. IMO I dont think there will be any graduate jobs next year for accountants. I could be wrong of course. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Mr.C Accountant

I actually did the PDA in DIT and it was absolute **** i got a first aswell but really struggled with Prof three finaical accounting,

Myabe it was the **** female lecture i had not to name any names she was shocking! RM is her intials... if u ahd her u might figure it out!!

tywy

Ha! We didn't have her for the first semester... we had a very poor second semester of FA though.

djk1000

I had a look at the course description on the DIT website, it's specifically for non-accounting graduates and it doesn't mention having any prior exposure to accounting.

The exemptions available are,

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland: CAP 1

ACCA: Papers F1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9

CPA Ireland: Formation 1: All papers; Formation 2: Papers 1, 2 and 4; Professional 1: Papers 1 and 4

Don't forget that you'll get your exemptions, but you'll have no experience and you will still have to do your 3-4 years of training before you're qualified.

tywy

Just to let people know that if they're thinking about doing tax, you get more exemptions from IATI exams from the DCU course than the DIT course.

Slippers

AITI?

tywy

Oops yeah... I don't know much about the tax route :P I'm going into Audit. Got mixed up :P IATI is the institute of accountant technicians Ireland...

PharmNS

I'm starting the PDA in DIT in September also. Some of the previous posts have freaked me out a wee bit But i'm definitely going to do the course and give it my best shot because there is no way I'll survive another year in my current career with my sanity intact.

Not really fussed on working with the Big 4, would prefer a small or medium sized firm outside of Dublin but the job prospects for these are probably even worse. Anyone agree or disagree with that view?

Mr.C Accountant

PharmNS wrote: »

I'm starting the PDA in DIT in September also. Some of the previous posts have freaked me out a wee bit But i'm definitely going to do the course and give it my best shot because there is no way I'll survive another year in my current career with my sanity intact.

Not really fussed on working with the Big 4, would prefer a small or medium sized firm outside of Dublin but the job prospects for these are probably even worse. Anyone agree or disagree with that view?

The first thing , is what profeesion are you in and why are u joining accountancy!!

Its very clear to me that if your looking to do it because you are fed up and want a secure job with decent pay, u can forget it!!!

Just to be honest i think the institute are trying to make exams harder, to stop the market being flooded!!

I know what your thinking but the exams are very very tough, its not a joke i would relly think long and hard about it before you commit,

Once your in the contract, uve signed yourself up for the whole thing!!! I dont want to scare you but there nothing worse than working hard for crap pay, and bsuting your balls to do exams and then not finding a job after it, u would be better off where u are!!

ive got a sneeky suspicion that a lot of people in engineering and construction realted fields who are quite numerate are going to dp PDA's and stuff, because they cant find a job in their respective fields.

Whats happening now is that laods of accountants are at the dole office, without any jobs, what will happen when every body thinks along your lines and does accountancy, there will be 2 many and it will be very ahrd to secure a training contract!!

Hackysack

Yeah you may as well not try anything at all!!!

Really Mr CA, your passion for turning people away from accountancy can really be astounding.

PharmNS

I'm not just doing the first course that caught my eye. I loved accounting in school and had a real aptitude for it - A1 in leaving cert. Was tied between two careers after school and unfortunately made the wrong choice. I've no illusions that it's going to be easy and I know the money is crap to start with but I'm not letting that put me off. My current career is quite prestigious and well-paid so if money was my motivation I would be staying where I am. I'm doing this because I genuinely think that accounting is the career for me. And if I'm wrong about that I will have had a years break from my current job and will have a level 9 qualification on my CV so really I think it's a win-win situation.

jjjqwerty

Do you think that if you got a 2.2 degree and then did well in the PDA that companies would consider hiring you or is there no point in doing the PDA if u dont get a 2.1

Creane

Hi, currently doing PDA and secured contract with big 4 firm. Is it a 3 or 3.5 yr contract for PDA. My contract says 3 yrs but i thought that was only for masters students

An Citeog

Creane wrote: »

Hi, currently doing PDA and secured contract with big 4 firm. Is it a 3 or 3.5 yr contract for PDA. My contract says 3 yrs but i thought that was only for masters students

As far as I know, it's 3 years but I couldn't confirm that that's the case for every firm. It's a huge benefit of doing the PDA if you're moving into audit because it means you'll have one less busy season as a trainee than those with 3.5 year contracts.

bigmc23

Creane wrote: »

Hi, currently doing PDA and secured contract with big 4 firm. Is it a 3 or 3.5 yr contract for PDA. My contract says 3 yrs but i thought that was only for masters students

I'm in the same position as you, and yes it is a 3yr contract on joining the firm having done the PDA

bigmc23

An Citeog wrote: »

As far as I know, it's 3 years but I couldn't confirm that that's the case for every firm. It's a huge benefit of doing the PDA if you're moving into audit because it means you'll have one less busy season as a trainee than those with 3.5 year contracts.

My thoughts exactly, i'm going for direct entry after my PDA. The masters route would be a smoother ride but not worth it imo

Creane

Thanks guys, it's an added bonus to know I will be qualified that little bit sooner!! 6 months is 6 months! As for the Masters, it would be nice to be able to have the Cap 2's out of the way but not at the expense of another yr in college! The work/study balance is supposed to be tough but hopefully we get through it!!

An Citeog

Creane wrote: »

Thanks guys, it's an added bonus to know I will be qualified that little bit sooner!! 6 months is 6 months! As for the Masters, it would be nice to be able to have the Cap 2's out of the way but not at the expense of another yr in college! The work/study balance is supposed to be tough but hopefully we get through it!!

It's not that bad tbh, especially with the study leave you get from the big 4. If you were to put in a bit of work for both CAs during the year and get your head around consolidation and one of corp tax/cgt, you'll have plenty of time to cover everything during study leave.

SashaH

I did the Pgd in DIT and found employment before graduation. It is a tough programme, very intensive especially if you have not done much accounting but all doable. Just go to all the lectures and sit up the front. There were a few stragglers there in my year which can be distracting.

Make sure to set up a study group and to check which body your interested in. I entered ACA at CAP 2 with exemptions. Even though I studied Audit I didnt get an exemption. I found out later that CPA would have given it. That would have suited me down to the ground as I dont have much audit experience....:pac: