Advice what next?

timkelly

Hi Folks,
I'm looking for a bit of advice on accounting/business related courses.
I was finance manager of a company for seven years covering all aspects of accounts for a company in Ireland and UK.
I was made redundant 18 months ago and now cant even get an interview,I'm thinking of further study but am a little nervous about the thought of study again.
I have an IATI qualification which has been invaluable to me over the years but maybe I need more if anything to boost my CV.
Any thoughts please.
Thanks
Tim

Accountant spud

One of the lads in our office had a IATI qualification, he has went on to do CPA, he received a number of exemptions so it might be worth considering!!

sounds like you have good experience but your lack of a full accounting qualification is holding you back in this market where it's an employer's market. no disrespect but you should have been doing the exams from one of the prof bodies over the last 18 months...

Running Balance

yeah have to agree with glassco, should have join one of the prof bodies
the last 18 months seems a bit of a waste have you not done anything.

timkelly

Thanks for the response guys,I have been working 2 bar jobs to cover my mortgage for the last year I've always worked so I couldn't sit at home idle.Now i'm just afraid of falling into a rut and letting my chosen career slide.Do any of yee know anything about Incorpoated public accountants? I received their prospectus recently the one major benefit I can see is that you don't have to complete all exams in one sitting.

mr_edge_to_you

Never heard of that accountancy body, rounds dodgy doing all the exams in one sitting. No point looking back lads, the OP is looking forward. Saying he should've spent last 18 months studying isn't helpful at this stage. Your IATI qualification is a great starting point and will get you a few exemptions for all of the major bodies. The snag for you is that at the moment you are probably working evenings so night classes are out - there's bills to be paid so they have to take priority! I think DBS do full time ACCA courses. If I was you I would maybe try and get some sort of accounts position, just apply for everything. If something comes up, that will look after the personal finances and allow you to study at night. Just start doing research on which exams you'd do. I'm a CIMA head myself. You have experience and motivation on your side so you'll probably get through them a good pace! Hang in there and best of luck.

timkelly

Thanks Mr Edge for your positive response,ya the trouble is the night work I'm afraid.The knock backs for jobs has hit my confidence in going forward I'll keep looking though this is the link for iipa I'd appreciate your feed back http://www.iipa.ie/

mr_edge_to_you

timkelly wrote: »

Thanks Mr Edge for your positive response,ya the trouble is the night work I'm afraid.The knock backs for jobs has hit my confidence in going forward I'll keep looking though this is the link for iipa I'd appreciate your feed back http://www.iipa.ie/

Tim,

I was looking through it there. I don't know to be honest. Like I said I'm a CIMA-head and I rate ACCA and ACA very highly. That's all I'm saying here. Do your homework on those 3 (and maybe CPA) and see which lend themselves better to what you want to do.

I would apply to CIMA/ACCA/ACA and start the process of studying. Then you are in a position to apply for Assistant Accountant jobs and maybe get in somewhere with a study programme. I think DBS do ACCA fulltime during the day.

But I wouldn't dive into IIPA. I've never heard of it before nor do I know anyone who is a member. You don't want to spend months/years studying to find out that the qualification isn't recognised.

Keep me posted!

Mr_Edge

Jadaol

Hi. I've heard of these. As far as i know they are an accredited body the same as ICAI, ACCA, CPA etc. They are small as i believe their niche is that they don't charge the same extortionate fees to member accountants as other bodies do. So basically, they're accredited and they're cheaper to be with. That's as far as i know. What i've heard is there are accountants who've qualified with other bodies and switched to them to maintain their ability to call themselves qualified and registered. Have no first hand knowledge of them, this is just what i've been told. When i was starting out, i had heard about them then, but personally went with ACA, as i thought it would look better on my cv than a qualification from these. As far as i could see there was no difference between ACA and ACCA. What swung the ACA for me was the fact you needed a training contract. I had no experience in accounting jobs, i had studied IATI only (which i found a brilliant help due to good teachers) ACCA were more flexible on experience but i wanted to get some first hand experience working in accounting. If it was me (and it isn't!) i'd consider ACCA (due to the lack of jobs training in practice for ACA) or CIMA if you're interested in management accounting in a business. That's just my thoughts but don't know fully what's out there. ACA have launched an elevation programme but have no idea what that is. You could possibly do any of these by distance learning. The fact you've done IATI makes this a real possibility. If you have trouble with any of them, they have grind school weekends and such like. It'll be tough especially when you're working so hard to meet bills etc., but i think you're doing the right thing by looking into it. Hell, it's better to try and know, than to not try and wonder what might have happened.

semajnayr

the IIPA were formed about 30 years ago by a group of break away CIMA guys who were working in practice but did not have auditor recognition. it took them quite a number of years of lobbying but they eventually got it. they picked up other members along the way also. they operate like any other recognised body however their membership base is small and aging.