Becoming an Accountant

dublinmanman

Hi there.
I'm 34 and am strongly considering becoming an Accountant. My primary degree is in Engineering which I completed in 1997. I've worked in various engineering roles and in recent years have been dealing with budgets, customer accounts etc.
I've been reading a number of articles on the merits of various qualifications and I'm leaning towards the ACCA.
Do larger companies, PWC, Accenture etc. consider mature candidates for their training programmes?
In these times are the places going to newly graduated candidates?
Are there other routes that I should consider??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

collegeme

I'd recommend taking a look at the Elevation programme which is geared towards experienced professionals (experienced in any field with a degree)

It's done through chartered Accountants Ireland.

http://www.elevationprogramme.ie/

jonnybravo

PwC and the other big four auditing firms would hire some older people but the vast majority would be straight out of college + I'd say they'd be pretty wary of people changing profession in a recession. Most of the big 4 auditing firms would be doing ACA so that would be something to bear in mind. Plus you would have to bear in mind the low wages at the start and the long hours.

Pisco Sour

Rubbish wages (20k starting off in a big 4 if you are lucky, less in smaller firms)

Long hours

Unpaid overtime (in some places)

Awful exams (See FAE 2010 thread)

Incompetent Institute

Partners who treat their staff like sh1t

Painfully boring work


At this age of your life I would advise against going down the road of Big 4 accountancy.

tenchi-fan

ACCA is a good option due to the flexibility. Ignore the elevation programme.. that's just chartered trying to steal some of ACCAs students and get their fees! It reeks of desperation

For someone who's 34 I'd strongly recommend just upskilling in another area of engineering, or even consider emigrating for a couple of years. Trainee accounting jobs can pay peanuts.

I could be wrong though.. perhaps there's an aspect of your engineering job that could get you into a niche job in accounting, but you will need to research this aspect before you dive in head first.

If you are thinking of further education you should look into this course:
http://www.dcu.ie/prospective/deginfo.php?classname=PDA
I haven't done it but it gets you a ****-load of acca exemptions!

You should also consider just how much of your role could be defined as accounting / budgeting as this may count towards your practical experience if you can get the accountant at work to sign it off.

Basically, if you are working at the moment you should try to stay in the company and pursue an accounting role there.. build on what you have rather than going into a low paid trainee job.

Just to add: I doubt you have much chance of getting into a big 4 company on a training contract. It is too long since you graduated and your degree isn't in accounting.

EveT

would you consider doing an MBA? it depends if you want to do accounting to work as an accountant or to have a decent business qualification.

it aint great money to begin with but maybe being that bit older you can bargain a bit harder! ive just done my CAP1s and am on 30k, not great but I can survive.

Im doing ACA, im 25 but there are people in my class in their 30s (im not in the elevation class).

Other option you would have is to do the first set as an external candidate and keep working as an engineer, you would still need to get the experience side of it, but means youd still be on your current wages and give you a taster for it to see if its for you. Means you'd have to take annual leave for exams also.

Slasher

EveT wrote: »

would you consider doing an MBA?

Agree.

As an experienced engineer, I think you'd be much better off to do an MBA rather than Accountancy. A part-time MBA will be only two years and you can still continue to work as an engineer, rather than become a trainee accountant on 25K a year.

Also, I think you would find an MBA much more rewarding as you can bring your experience to date to the course.