ACCA vs IATI ...help please

webaholic

I'm considering returning to college for an evening course.
I am in 2 minds in regards to which course to do.
Can anyone tell me what the difference would be between the 2.
The course seems a little different if you look at the descriptions below.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mel

HSI Limerick are offering ACCA Certified Accounting Technician
Year 1:
Paper 1 Recording Financial Transactions
Paper 2 Information for Management Control
Paper 3 Maintaining Financial Records
Paper 4 Accounting for Costs
Paper 5 Managing People and Systems

Year 2:
Paper 6 Drafting Financial Statements
Paper 7 Planning, Control and Performance Management
Paper 9 Preparing Taxation Computations
Paper 10 Managing Finances

Griffith College Limerick are offering IATI Accounting Technician
Foundation Level: Financial Accounting I; Business Management; Taxation I; Law and Ethics Admission Level: Financial Accounting II; Taxation II; Law and Ethics, Integrated Accounting Systems (IAS) Evaluation and Assessment: Examinations - Summer or Autumn sitting.

smcgiff

Do you want to become a fully qualified accountant short to medium term?

If yes - Don't do a Technician course. Go straight into the Professional course.

If you want to be an accounts assistant, then there would be materially no difference between the CAT and the IATI qualification. Go with whatever is the cheapest overall.

Good luck.

webaholic

smcgiff wrote: »

Do you want to become a fully qualified accountant short to medium term?

If yes - Don't do a Technician course. Go straight into the Professional course.

If you want to be an accounts assistant, then there would be materially no difference between the CAT and the IATI qualification. Go with whatever is the cheapest overall.

Good luck.

Griffith College Limerick are doing the ACCA Professional Course part time. However i'm not sure on the cost. What does the papers mean when its F1 & P1.

The course details are:
Professional Accountancy Course Format & Content

Entry
Knowledge Module (all papers)

• F1 Accountant in Business
• F2 Management Accounting
• F3 Financial Accounting

Fundamental Levels (nine papers in total)
Skill Module (all papers)

• F4 Corporate and Business Law
• F5 Performance Management
• F6 Taxation
• F7 Financial Reporting
• F8 Audit and Assurance
• F9 Financial Management

Professional Level (Five papers in total)
Essential Modules (all papers)

• P1 Professional Accountant
• P2 Corporate Reporting
• P3 Business Analysis

Options modules (any two papers)

• P4 Advances Financial Management
• P5 Advanced Performance Management
• P6 Advanced Taxation
• P7 Advanced Audit and Assurance

smcgiff

F stands for Fundamental
P stands for Professional

The first 3 exams are introductory (but not exactly easy) - about the same level as final level CAT exams.

BTW, when you've finished the F level exams you can apply for CAT (you might not even need all F exams, check out to make sure) Technician status. I wouldn't bother, but that's me!

F4 to F9 would be somewhat harder, and all F papers must be taken. You've a choice within the P papers (the hardest) - you need to take 5 of these. Some are compulsory, but worry about that later.

Good luck

Avoiding Work

Hey,

I agree with the previous poster, depends if you want to (eventually!) become a qualified accountant or an accounts assistant.

Generally the ACCA CAT & the IATI take about 2-3 years to complete part time after which you will be an accounting technician and if you were to decide to go further with it will grant you exemptions from the ACCA professional exams. They are basically the same course but I think you may get more exemptions with the ACCA CAT should you choose to continue on afterwards.

The "F"s and "P"s mean Fundamental & Professional Level. F1 & F2 must be completed within two years as a mature student. You can do F4-F9 in any order and then proceed to to P1-3 and any two from P4-7.
In total you must complete 14 exams (within ten years) along with relevant work experience to qualify.

Hope this helps & good luck

webaholic

smcgiff wrote: »

F stands for Fundamental
P stands for Professional

The first 3 exams are introductory (but not exactly easy) - about the same level as final level CAT exams.

BTW, when you've finished the F level exams you can apply for CAT (you might not even need all F exams, check out to make sure) Technician status. I wouldn't bother, but that's me!

F4 to F9 would be somewhat harder, and all F papers must be taken. You've a choice within the P papers (the hardest) - you need to take 5 of these. Some are compulsory, but worry about that later.

Good luck

Thanks a mill,

Looks like a very expensive course compared to the IATI

Awarding Body
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
Fees
Fundamental Knowledge Papers: €510 per paper
Fundamental Skills Papers: €640 per paper
Professional Essential Papers: €740 per paper
Professional Options Papers: €740 per paper

ACCA Examination Fees:
Fundamental Knowledge Papers: £50 (sterling) per paper
Fundamental Skills Papers: £60 (sterling) per paper
Professional Essential Papers: £70 (sterling) per paper
Professional Options Papers: £70 (sterling) per paper
ACCA Registration Fee: £66 (sterling)
ACCA Annual Subscription Fee: £66 (sterling)

All ACCA fees are payable directly to the ACCA

Avoiding Work

Hey,

Yes its quite expensive I paid €655 each for the F1-F3 exams!!! I chose the dearest option for all courses figuring I'd need as much help as I could get however looking back I could very easily have studied F1/F2 at home at a cost of about €150-200 max for materials.

I guess it depends what you want out of it all; if you're serious about becoming an accountant you can be sure to earn the money back in no time. If you just want a decent qualification to back up what you already do / advance your career a little further then ACA / IATI might be the right one for you.

smcgiff

Look around - other colleges do ACCA as well. Off hand, BPP college do them and also based on O'Connell street. Possibly a better college too.

As said above, you could definitely do the first 3 (at least) yourself if disciplined. Text book (all you really need, considering past papers are online) would set you back around €40 unless they've gone up madly.

I usually bought the work book also, but invariably never looked at it.

Study from home - buy text book direct from BPP, and then do exam papers. Consider course post F3.

webaholic

smcgiff wrote: »

Look around - other colleges do ACCA as well. Off hand, BPP college do them and also based on O'Connell street. Possibly a better college too.

As said above, you could definitely do the first 3 (at least) yourself if disciplined. Text book (all you really need, considering past papers are online) would set you back around €40 unless they've gone up madly.

I usually bought the work book also, but invariably never looked at it.

Study from home - buy text book direct from BPP, and then do exam papers. Consider course post F3.

I'm in Limerick so the only 2 colleges would be HSI & Griffith College.
Limerick Senior do the IATI for 650 per annum. Griffith College is approx 1,000 per annum for the IATI. No cost given for the ACCA Professional.

smcgiff

webaholic wrote: »

I'm in Limerick so the only 2 colleges would be HSI & Griffith College.
Limerick Senior do the IATI for 650 per annum. Griffith College is approx 1,000 per annum for the IATI. No cost given for the ACCA Professional.

BPP Limerick don't do ACCA any more ? :eek:

Would definitely study F1 to F3 on my own first - Most you'll lose is 6 months, and you can always ask questions if you get stuck with course materials.