Acca Exams

plumber77

Hi everybody.I am currently considering doing the ACCA exams but I am not working in any related field, just a factory job.Graduated as a 36 year old in 09 with a degree and masters in business so I should get a good few exemtions.Hard to get into any job at the moment so would it be worthwhile pressing ahead on my own or holding off until something turns up jobwise.Any advice greatly appreciated.

Do you want to be an accountant?

plumber77

Yeah thats the plan anyway.It was my reason for going back into education.Most of the opportunities I see are in fund accounting though which I wouldnt mind doing.Would ACCA be relevant in that role though.Decisions decisions.

Gremlin2011

Hey Plumber77, just saw your thread. I'm in fund accounting and studying for the ACCA exams. You will get a lot of experience in fund accounting that will help with the exams, and vice versa. My employer is ACCA approved and further education is encouraged and rewarded.

tenchi-fan

Fund accounting is the way to go if you want any chance of making a half-decent living in the next 3 years.

Personally I'm only doing accounting as a fall-back job Didn't find anything else I liked , although I'm looking into doing a part-time course with a view to a new career.

plumber77

Gremlin2011 wrote: »

Hey Plumber77, just saw your thread. I'm in fund accounting and studying for the ACCA exams. You will get a lot of experience in fund accounting that will help with the exams, and vice versa. My employer is ACCA approved and further education is encouraged and rewarded.

Cheers for that Gremlin.Will the work you do in fund accounting be considered for some of the practical experience thats needed to qualify fully.

Gremlin2011

Yes, you would gain the experience for the 9 essentials required for the PER in fund accounting. In some departments, you would also get some of the experience towards the options, depending on the client and the type of funds.

plumber77

Cheers for that Gremlin.Appreciate it.

Gremlin2011

No worries. Just so you know, you don't have to be in relevant employment when you start studying/sitting ACCA exams! You can stay in your current job until you pass a few, then go job hunting armed with them

If you have an interest in fund accounting, then go for it. You build up a lot of knowledge about the markets, and depending on what dept you work in, you can also build a lot of knowledge in specialist areas. A lot of the work is repetitive and can be boring at times, but then something new comes up and your interest is sparked again. Think this is why I'm still at it!

plumber77

Yeah thats the plan for the moment.Just registered with ACCA for the June exams.Have 6 exemptions so hopefully I will finish the first 9 this year.
I know some of the fund accounting roles are boring enough at first,but I'd be willing to do that for a while.Working in a repetitive factory job at the moment so the ability to deal with boredom is ingrained now at this stage.

jkjhngk

plumber77 wrote: »

Yeah thats the plan for the moment.Just registered with ACCA for the June exams.Have 6 exemptions so hopefully I will finish the first 9 this year.
I know some of the fund accounting roles are boring enough at first,but I'd be willing to do that for a while.Working in a repetitive factory job at the moment so the ability to deal with boredom is ingrained now at this stage.

There are only 14 exams, if you have 6 exemptions, then u have 8 to do - no chance of gettin them in one year if your working as well (esp is an unrelated field imo)

Having saying that i wish you luck, as i think i may try to go down that route in a year or so.

tenchi-fan

plumber77 wrote: »

Yeah thats the plan for the moment.Just registered with ACCA for the June exams.Have 6 exemptions so hopefully I will finish the first 9 this year.

9 8 exams in a year?! You do realise you're only exempted from the easy exams?

I think a 1.5 year minimum time-frame is more realistic and thats only if you pass them all first time, otherwise it could drag on well over 2 years.

plumber77

Obviously I must have worded that wrong folks.What I meant was I aim to finish the first 9,F1 to F9(inclusive of my 6 exemptions) this year.I might still be working shift so I don't know how many I should take on as it will probably be through distance learning for June.What is the normal amount people will try at one sitting.

tenchi-fan

I don't know about distance learning (I only actually did one exam distance learning) but you should aim to do 2-3 exams at a time.

REDSOCKS22

Hey, I've a quick q on the ACCA exams. I have 8 out of 14 exemptions. Therefore, I have F8 to do in the skills section and all the exams in the professional level. I am AITI qualified and wish to pursue my career in tax in general. However , I was wondering do people think it is beneficial to have the ACCA exams as well as the tax. I am solely considering it because of the exemptions I have. I am planning on paying for these exams and coursemyself as opposed to my employer therefore it would be a bit of a financial strain but if people were of the opinion that it would be beneficial I would really consider sitting them.

Also anyone ever sat paper F8 and how difficult is it??

Any advice on same would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

SBWife

F8 is not particularly difficult. There's quite a bit of information and you need to know how to apply it to different scenarios but put in the time and do the work and you'll pass it.

You can see the past papers (as well as the answers) on the ACCA global website.

REDSOCKS22

Thanks for that it's good to know that its not that difficult cos i'm planning on doing distance learning too so i'll have to put alot of work in myself but hopefully it'll be worth it!

onehorse

Time to start thinking of this again, Aug 22nd nearly on us

Distance learning for F8 is a viable alternative