I'm looking to start on the road to accountancy, and needed some advice!

Count Duckula

Hi all, I'm a British graduate currently living in England, but owing to true love (aww!) I'll be moving to Ireland soon. I would like to train as an accountant, and just had a quick question relating to that:

I have a history degree (a 2.2 only, sadly), and so would need to retrain, and I see that many of the colleges offer an accountancy "conversion" course (link). Are these worth it? My father is an accountant too (albeit in the UK) and he's pretty adamant that those courses aren't worth anything, and that I'd be best off applying to a smaller firm as a regular graduate and training from scratch with them.

Are there any accountants out there who could shed some light on this? I don't want to waste time (and money) on a pointless course, but at the same time I want to give myself every advantage (particularly since I only got a 2.2) when it comes to getting an accountancy job.

Thanks!

Clanno

Count Duckula wrote: »

Hi all, I'm a British graduate currently living in England, but owing to true love (aww!) I'll be moving to Ireland soon. I would like to train as an accountant, and just had a quick question relating to that:

I have a history degree (a 2.2 only, sadly), and so would need to retrain, and I see that many of the colleges offer an accountancy "conversion" course (link). Are these worth it? My father is an accountant too (albeit in the UK) and he's pretty adamant that those courses aren't worth anything, and that I'd be best off applying to a smaller firm as a regular graduate and training from scratch with them.

Are there any accountants out there who could shed some light on this? I don't want to waste time (and money) on a pointless course, but at the same time I want to give myself every advantage (particularly since I only got a 2.2) when it comes to getting an accountancy job.

Thanks!

firstly there are many different accounting qualifications.
If you decide to go down the Chartered Accountant Ireland route, it would appear that you would have very little exemptions, so you would have to start at cap 1 level.

If you have your head set on accounting, and its the route you would seriously like to go down. the job market is very tough at the moment.

the best recommendation I could suggest is either go back to college full time, doing a course to get exemption from CAP 1 and CAP 2 exams or have a crack at the CAP 1 exams yourself - with the elevation programme a possibility.

Thats my two cents anyway.
Best of luck

tenchi-fan

The conversion courses can give you a lot of exemption from acca. see what exemptions you qualify for on the exemption checker at accaglobal.com

If you start now, you're at least 3 years off being a qualified accountant. Your wages will be peanuts for 3 years (probably less than min wage for the first year) and you haven't much hope of getting a job given the huge number of business graduates with 2.1s and higher.

I suggest you get some work experience off your dad for at least 6 months.

p13

Clanno wrote: »

firstly there are many different accounting qualifications.
If you decide to go down the Chartered Accountant Ireland route, it would appear that you would have very little exemptions, so you would have to start at cap 1 level.

If you have your head set on accounting, and its the route you would seriously like to go down. the job market is very tough at the moment.

the best recommendation I could suggest is either go back to college full time, doing a course to get exemption from CAP 1 and CAP 2 exams or have a crack at the CAP 1 exams yourself - with the elevation programme a possibility.

Thats my two cents anyway.
Best of luck

I'd stay away from chartered accountancy. Biggest waste of time & they are most incompetent shower you'll come across

smcgiff

p13 wrote: »

I'd stay away from chartered accountancy. Biggest waste of time & they are most incompetent shower you'll come across

Can you give details? Otherwise it's just a rant I'm afraid.

J.Ryan

smcgiff wrote: »

Can you give details? Otherwise it's just a rant I'm afraid.

Apart from the fact that CARB was been disciplined twice (Well published twice anyway, so there may very well be more instances) by IAASA in 2010

smcgiff

J.Ryan wrote: »

Apart from the fact that CARB was been disciplined twice (Well published twice anyway, so there may very well be more instances) by IAASA in 2010

That should have no impact on a CAI recruit. That would only have an impact if the general population believed the CAI to be an inferior organisation. I don't think this to be the case - I do believe such instances degrade the profession as a whole, but that's a different story.

There's a long way to go before the CAI is not considered a premier organisation.

kilburn

Have a look at the CIMA certificate and then progress to the professional qualification

colbags

the conversion courses certainly ARE worth something...i got offered a graduate job in PwC and the first thing they said to me was...do u want to do the PDA (professional diploma in accounting) and they wud pay 4 it,,

my advice wud b to do that course in DCU or where-ever, (cost a few grand and full-time) and then you could prob walk into a decent job...

it gives u full exemptions from the cap 1s so u wud be in a very decent position...

pity about the 2.2 because afaik PwC wont even look at a 2.2 and id imagine thats similar for the big4

Ciara471

I did an arts degree and got a 2.2 and then decided to go the accountancy route. I did the PDA in DCU and this got me full exemptions and also helped me get a job with a Big4 company where I'm now doing the ACA exams.

There are only 2 or 3 colleges in Ireland that do the PDA and this is the only course that will get you exemptions from CAP 1 exams. (Unless of course you go back and do a business degree).

I think it was well worth doing as it starts from scratch and the course is taught for people who have no accounting backround whatsoever. When I did it the entire first week was basic double entry. However it can be a bit exam focused. As in, their goal is to get you through the exams and get the exemptions so sometimes there isn't a lot of detail in certain topics. I don't see this as a bad thing though. It will help you to get a job and once you have a job everyone is in the same boat.If you put the work in you can get a lot out of the PDA.

Count Duckula

Would there be much difference between the postgraduate / professional diploma in accounting at DCU and the one at DIT? I'm coming to Ireland from Britain, and so I'm not sure as to the relationship between universities and ITs and their standings in the eyes of employers. DCU is ranked higher in the university league tables, but it's also more expensive and will be much harder for me to get to. So I'd prefer to do it at DIT, but if a big accounting firm would turn their nose up at that and want it from DCU I guess I'd have to do it there!

Ciara471

To be honest there is a small bit of snobbery when it comes to the IT Vs University debate but it doesn't really make a difference. The level of education you get in both is very close to equal (I've never been to an IT but my friends have and there's no noticable difference in our levels of knowledge). As for how firms look at it, I would guess that they might very slightly prefer DCU but not significantly. A lot of people I work with (in a Big4 firm) are from DIT. I'd say go for DIT. Good results are good results no matter where you get them from.

Raymysterio

Count Duckula wrote: »

Would there be much difference between the postgraduate / professional diploma in accounting at DCU and the one at DIT? I'm coming to Ireland from Britain, and so I'm not sure as to the relationship between universities and ITs and their standings in the eyes of employers. DCU is ranked higher in the university league tables, but it's also more expensive and will be much harder for me to get to. So I'd prefer to do it at DIT, but if a big accounting firm would turn their nose up at that and want it from DCU I guess I'd have to do it there!

Hello count Duckula! I am in the same predicament now as you mentioned above, can i ask if u ever went ahead with one of the conversion courses, and if so where?! Thank you!

Raymysterio

Ciara471 wrote: »

I did an arts degree and got a 2.2 and then decided to go the accountancy route. I did the PDA in DCU and this got me full exemptions and also helped me get a job with a Big4 company where I'm now doing the ACA exams.

There are only 2 or 3 colleges in Ireland that do the PDA and this is the only course that will get you exemptions from CAP 1 exams. (Unless of course you go back and do a business degree).

I think it was well worth doing as it starts from scratch and the course is taught for people who have no accounting backround whatsoever. When I did it the entire first week was basic double entry. However it can be a bit exam focused. As in, their goal is to get you through the exams and get the exemptions so sometimes there isn't a lot of detail in certain topics. I don't see this as a bad thing though. It will help you to get a job and once you have a job everyone is in the same boat.If you put the work in you can get a lot out of the PDA.

Hi Ciara i am in a similar position looking to switch from a legal undergrad, would you recommend the PDA in DCU? How did u find it from a non accounting back-round? Thanks

Loughc

Hi Raymysterio,

If you have a query regarding an old thread, either PM the OP or set up a new thread please do not drag up a thread over 4 years old now.

Thanks,

Loughc