commerce (UCC) vs Accounting (UCC)

Patriciamc93

Basically which is the better course? I am not sure weather i want to end up down the economics route or accounting route so not sure which to pick
Thanks

DaveMur1

Commerce will depend on how good you are at you're own work,If you're exceptional ,you can earn unusually high amounts of money & i would find it the most interesting option for a challenge.

Accounting is a safer more repetitive option where you will most likrly end up with one of Ireland's big accounting firms.

As you can probably tell i prefer economics as it is forever changing ,but don't let that put you off accounting!!

TRAPASARMY

Doing Acc UCC next year. If you docommerce you could end up doing acc and by doing acc you get more exemptions!!!

KnifeWRENCH

Since they're both UCC, this thread might be better off in the UCC forum. Hopefully someone there doing one of the above courses can give you some pointers.

deisedude

I'm heading into final year Commerce and i absolutely love the course. If you are dead on sure you want to be an accountant then do Accounting because you will get exemptions. I absolutely hate accounting with a passion but love management and marketing. The great thing about the course is that there is so much flexibility and at the end of the day there is the option of majoring in a number of certain areas.

If you have any specific questions feel free to reply or PM me:cool:

Celtise

I just finished commerce there and I had the same decision to make as you. I don't regret it as the placement I did with comm got me into the big four anyways and it was nice having such a wide range of topics. Of course the acc is more accounting forced and you get full CAP1 (maybe more?) exemptions. In commerce you are always going to be short two CAP1 exemptions, tax and one of finance/financial accounting/management accounting due to subject/credit restrictions. Of course there is a new placement with accounting now and it is four years, so it's different choice for you really!

Patriciamc93

Celtise wrote: »

I just finished commerce there and I had the same decision to make as you. I don't regret it as the placement I did with comm got me into the big four anyways and it was nice having such a wide range of topics. Of course the acc is more accounting forced and you get full CAP1 (maybe more?) exemptions. In commerce you are always going to be short two CAP1 exemptions, tax and one of finance/financial accounting/management accounting due to subject/credit restrictions. Of course there is a new placement with accounting now and it is four years, so it's different choice for you really!

deisedude wrote: »

I'm heading into final year Commerce and i absolutely love the course. If you are dead on sure you want to be an accountant then do Accounting because you will get exemptions. I absolutely hate accounting with a passion but love management and marketing. The great thing about the course is that there is so much flexibility and at the end of the day there is the option of majoring in a number of certain areas.

If you have any specific questions feel free to reply or PM me:cool:

DaveMur1 wrote: »

Commerce will depend on how good you are at you're own work,If you're exceptional ,you can earn unusually high amounts of money & i would find it the most interesting option for a challenge.
Accounting is a safer more repetitive option where you will most likrly end up with one of Ireland's big accounting firms.
As you can probably tell i prefer economics as it is forever changing ,but don't let that put you off accounting!!

Thanks, Just wondering the exemptions you get my doing straight accounting, are there much or is it like 2-3?
Also if you do commerce is there still a chance of getting your work placement with an accounting place in third year?

Thanks again

Celtise

Patriciamc93 wrote: »

Also if you do commerce is there still a chance of getting your work placement with an accounting place in third year?

Yes. I'd say there was about a third of my class that got a placement with one of the Big Four while others were with other accounting firms as well. That was 09 placement, not sure about this years placement. Obviously there was difficulties due to recession more so this year.

List of exemptions available for ICAI on their website.

deisedude

Celtise wrote: »

Yes. I'd say there was about a third of my class that got a placement with one of the Big Four while others were with other accounting firms as well. That was 09 placement, not sure about this years placement. Obviously there was difficulties due to recession more so this year.

List of exemptions available for ICAI on their website.

The Big 4 were probably the biggest recruiters again this year, especially KPMG

Cian92

Does anybody know how many hours a week is involved in Accounting?

Blarney92

Think it was about 23 hours a week in first year including tutorials and about 17-20 in second year.

Also please try to ignore the hours a week in a course- it's not helpful in any way about making a decision about a course. You're surely not going to pick a course based on the number of hours a week you'll have.

Also regarding the acc placement, if you want a big 4 placement you'll have to be in the 2nd placement group as the big 4 generally don't hire during the June-December placement period.

I'm heading into final year accounting this year so if you have any questions about Accounting or Commerce post them up and Deise Dude or myself will be happy to answer them

Shatner

Blarney92 wrote: »

Also please try to ignore the hours a week in a course- it's not helpful in any way about making a decision about a course. You're surely not going to pick a course based on the number of hours a week you'll have.

Thumbs up. I can't believe how many people come on to boards to ask about particular courses and this is their first question.

"Oh I always wanted to be an accountant, but when I found out it was 23 hours a week, I decided to do something else. I would probably have done it if it was 22 hours a week".

It's the height of stupidity.

Plus, when people look at Arts and Law (@ between 12 and 14 hours) they don't take into account the amount of reading you need to do outside lecture hours.

The work needs to get done somehow, be it in lectures and tutorials, or in the library.

Cian92

Blarney92 wrote: »

Also please try to ignore the hours a week in a course- it's not helpful in any way about making a decision about a course. You're surely not going to pick a course based on the number of hours a week you'll have.

Of course not, but Accounting in UCC is no1 on my CAO, it would be nice to know what the hours are like.

deisedude

Cian92 wrote: »

Of course not, but Accounting in UCC is no1 on my CAO, it would be nice to know what the hours are like.

Its difficult for us to answer how many hours you will have. They have dramatically cut tutorials in the last year so the amount of hours us old timers did in first year may not reflect what you are going to do.

TRAPASARMY

Also regarding the acc placement, if you want a big 4 placement you'll have to be in the 2nd placement group as the big 4 generally don't hire during the June-December placement period.

Can you explain placement group system to me?. How are people placed?

Blarney92

TRAPASARMY wrote: »

Also regarding the acc placement, if you want a big 4 placement you'll have to be in the 2nd placement group as the big 4 generally don't hire during the June-December placement period.

Can you explain placement group system to me?. How are people placed?

In 2nd year you pick which of the two placement periods you'd prefer around the last week in October/start of November. We had to email in our preference between 12am on Thursday night/ Friday morning and Sunday night. There can be only be a limited number in each class so its kinda first come first served.

After you get your placement period your CV is sent to 7 companies which you have chosen from the list of interested companies provided by the careers office. These companies then decide if they will interview you or not based on your CV.

However, some of the 7 companies you choose may not actually take part in the placement and won't hire anyone so your CV might only go to like 3 or 4 companies. This happened a lot during our placement period as a load of acc/fin companies pulled out due to the economic crisis.

You normally travel to the company for an interview and if you get an offer from a company you have to take it. You're then withdrawn from interviewing at other companies.

Any other questions let me know...

Celtise

TRAPASARMY wrote: »

Also regarding the acc placement, if you want a big 4 placement you'll have to be in the 2nd placement group as the big 4 generally don't hire during the June-December placement period.

Can you explain placement group system to me?. How are people placed?

I know a number of people who just worked with Big Four for June-Dec accounting placement so it's not impossible but I agree Jan-June would be their prefered time.

Chris2me

How many hours a week is commerce in ucc?
im not making a decision on it, im just wondering haha.
iv accepted my course =]

captainspeckle

Chris2me wrote: »

How many hours a week is commerce in ucc?
im not making a decision on it, im just wondering haha.
iv accepted my course =]

http://timetable.ucc.ie:8010/reporting/individual?objectclass=programme+of+study&idtype=id&identifier=BCOM1%0D%0A&t=programme+of+study+individual&days=1-7&weeks=5-16;20-31&periods=1-20&template=programme+of+study+individual

TRAPASARMY

How many people are in Accounting?