Thanks for your advice.

kilburn

Hey guys over the last few weeks, I was posting messages and did a poll on helping me make my mind up on the whole ACA or ACCA. Having attended different colleges checking out the ACCA course and attended the CA briefing last night, finally I made a decision.
CA seemed much more professional and didnt dodge my tough questions. So thats the route I am taking with their Elevation Programme. Now just need a job lol.
Thanks to all of you who gave advice and tips, it was very much appreciated smcgiff and Odats to name but a few.

smcgiff

It's good to get feedback - best of luck in your studies. Just noticed...

smcgiff and odats is one short of a few. Mmm difficulty with counting... Yep, good call on joining CAI!:p;)

kilburn

lol i hope they can help me with the counting issue;)

teddy99

kilburn wrote: »

Hey guys over the last few weeks, I was posting messages and did a poll on helping me make my mind up on the whole ACA or ACCA. Having attended different colleges checking out the ACCA course and attended the CA briefing last night, finally I made a decision.
CA seemed much more professional and didnt dodge my tough questions. So thats the route I am taking with their Elevation Programme. Now just need a job lol.
Thanks to all of you who gave advice and tips, it was very much appreciated smcgiff and Odats to name but a few.

Kilburn,

There not much difference between ACA and ACCA.
As a student who is doing ACA, the exams are quite tough!
the new course the pass rate is at approximately at around 50%, (I am open to correction). With the ACA you have a large chunk of study , however one must sit all the exams must be sat together.

It would appear that ACCA is more easily obtainable.
The ACCA is based more in the students favour, as one can move job at the students request and is not tied to a specific firm unlike ICAI.
Also the student can chose the amount of exam subject done at a time, for a example 2 in june and 3 in December. And to make things alot more favouable the student has a period of 10 years to get em, unlike the ICAI who provide 4 attempts at each level.

I would recommend you talk to a few people who have done both routes, as it may influence your decision.

Hope this helps!

Best of luck!

tenchi-fan

kilburn wrote: »

CA seemed much more professional and didnt dodge my tough questions. So thats the route I am taking with their Elevation Programme. Now just need a job lol.

It's pretty funny - the elevation programme makes the chartered route more like the acca route.
Best of luck with the job hunt.

smcgiff

tenchi-fan wrote: »

It's pretty funny - the elevation programme makes the chartered route more like the acca route.
Best of luck with the job hunt.

Anyone know the costs incurred by a student if they go the elevation route - surely it's nowhere near expensive as what firms have to pay for students?

allymcbeal

kilburn wrote: »

Hey guys over the last few weeks, I was posting messages and did a poll on helping me make my mind up on the whole ACA or ACCA. Having attended different colleges checking out the ACCA course and attended the CA briefing last night, finally I made a decision.
CA seemed much more professional and didnt dodge my tough questions. So thats the route I am taking with their Elevation Programme. Now just need a job lol.
Thanks to all of you who gave advice and tips, it was very much appreciated smcgiff and Odats to name but a few.

As a student of the CA, professional is not something I would ever call them. Just wait till you start sitting exams and see the rubbish they give you to learn and then the mess they make of the exams. Good luck anyway which ever you go with.

tenchi-fan

smcgiff wrote: »

Anyone know the costs incurred by a student if they go the elevation route - surely it's nowhere near expensive as what firms have to pay for students?

http://www.elevationprogramme.ie/fees.html

kilburn

Maybe I should clarify the professional statement.
I thought the way CA run the course themselves, recruiting the lecturers and doing the work was better than ACCAs outsourcing of it to hit and miss colleges. Plus the exemptions Im due helped a bit.

smcgiff

kilburn wrote: »

Maybe I should clarify the professional statement.
I thought the way CA run the course themselves, recruiting the lecturers and doing the work was better than ACCAs outsourcing of it to hit and miss colleges.

That's one way of looking at it, but it could also be considered that you're stuck with what you are given (and you'll find plenty of complaints from ACA students), but you can take your pick from ACCA providers.

kilburn wrote: »

Plus the exemptions Im due helped a bit.

That is worth considering for sure.

tome36

Good choice, bottom line is that the ACA exams are a bit easier.
If offered the choice between elivation and ACCA it's a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. The elivation programme is a bit easier to get through and you end up with the same qualification so take the path of least resistance!!

techman

The Elevation programme is not easier.

They are the same exams as those under contract.

smcgiff

techman wrote: »

The Elevation programme is not easier.

They are the same exams as those under contract.

Think he means compared to ACCA

tome36

thanks smcgiff, that is what I meant.
I don't mean to undermine the difficulty of the exams as both are very tough but I do think the ACA exams are more passable having seen the past papers.
and you don't have exams every 6 months where you are either waiting for results ****ting it or back in class flat out trying to get through a mountain of stuff in 3 months.
I'm ACCA qualified and if I had to do it again and had the choice I would definately go for the Elivation programme, I just wish it was around 3 years ago!!

accaguest

I'm obviously ACCA but I'm not really bothered to be honest, you'll find as you get through the course you'll care less as well I think.

ACCA seemed to have kicked all the other bodies into gear this decade and started to become the biggest body, which is no bad thing. Whether this advantage will be whittled away by all the other bodies responses/revamps remains to be seen. ACCA may have just jumped the gun.

Personally I should have done CIMA I realise now but tough sh...

The one thing I will say, and it's purely personal predjudice, I didn't wan't to have a qualification with the word 'Ireland' in it. I'm very negative about this country, and think things are going to get a lot worse, so will probably emigrate and would like to bring as little irish connotations with me when I do. When I see the odd snide comments on here sometimes about 'foreigners' doing ACCA my heart warms a little bit - that's exactly why I'm doing it. When I first started studying I had a lecture on a Friday night. There was about 50 people in the room and the guy beside me said

'I think we must be the only Irish people here.*Pause* They must be in the pub.'

Foreigners work harder than us presently, they really do, I'd rather tie myself to their mast.

Then there's the 'Irishness' of the CA in another, more insidious way. *****, Haughey, Fitzpatrick and many others are all former members. This is not good for your qualification recognition. And when added to Ireland's refusal to ever hold people accountable for their wrongdoings I'd be wary that you end up in a body that will be perceived as a haven for crooks and scoundrels.

Anyway all personal predjudices, I wouldn't expect many to hold them.

Invisible2

tome36 wrote: »

thanks smcgiff, that is what I meant.
I don't mean to undermine the difficulty of the exams as both are very tough but I do think the ACA exams are more passable having seen the past papers.
and you don't have exams every 6 months where you are either waiting for results ****ting it or back in class flat out trying to get through a mountain of stuff in 3 months.
I'm ACCA qualified and if I had to do it again and had the choice I would definately go for the Elivation programme, I just wish it was around 3 years ago!!

The past papers on the old aca course are way easier than the new aca course. No I say the acca and the aca are comparable in terms of difficulty. The aca passrate has gone from 60-70s to 50% on the button in the last year and will continue this year.

smcgiff

At risk of derailing the thread (quick somebody call the mod) I don't think Ahern was a CAI. I think he received membership from the IIPA but stand to be corrected.

accaguest

Yes, sorry for that, edited now. It seems Ahern is an 'honorary accountant' from CIPFA. He never sat one accountancy exam in his life.

What a country.

smcgiff

CIPFA - Really? Suppose it is the public sector accountancy body (although UK mostly) strange.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/sep/28/societyguardianlive6 Did Ahern pass the CIPFA exam - read first paragraph or did the Guardian make a boo boo

accaguest

He can't remember.

Even the man who holds the top job in the country has had his difficulties over inconsistencies in his CV. While there is no suggestion that the Taoiseach deliberately lied or misled the public about his qualifications, in November 2001 the Fianna Fail website listed Bertie Ahern's third-level education as: "Rathmines College of Commerce, University College Dublin and London School of Economics."

That same month the Taoiseach was quoted in a new book, My Best Advice, as saying: "I obtained my accountancy qualification (in the College of Commerce, Rathmines) and later completed further diploma courses through the London School of Economics in taxation and business administration."

Sharp-eyed observers noted that the Taoiseach failed to make any mention in the book of his time at UCD. When a spokesman for Mr Ahern was asked to explain the omission, he said: "He has never claimed to hold degrees from UCD or anywhere else. I don't know what he got (after Rathmines College). He remembers doing the courses, but not what they were."

Attempts by reporters to trace Mr Ahern's attendance record at UCD or the London School of Economics proved unsuccessful. The reference on the Fianna Fail website to his studies at the LSE was subsequently deleted.

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/the-cv-fibbers-who-play-the-lying-game-246598.html

eviltimeban

teddy99 wrote: »

as one can move job at the students request and is not tied to a specific firm unlike ICAI.
Also the student can chose the amount of exam subject done at a time, for a example 2 in june and 3 in December. And to make things alot more favouable the student has a period of 10 years to get em, unlike the ICAI who provide 4 attempts at each level.

If its the Elevation programme then these points don't apply as there's no training contract. They don't need a job necessarily to start the exams (although it might help to pay the fees!) and they only need a job to get the experience. Plus they can break up the exams, 2 at a time, over a couple of years per module. And even though they need 3 years experience, they have 8 years to complete all exams and experience!

And I think 10 years is a bit long to be trying to get exams!