Option Papers

Brad1234

Hi Guys,

Just want some advice. Going into the option papers.. I'm doing p7 as i did the Irish variant in p2 for the auditing cert so for me not to do p7 is pretty stupid and its handy to have as I'm working in a practice.

So its leaves me with 1 more.. I like the idea of doing P6 Tax but as everyone has heard about the horror stories of the exam would i be narrowing my options by not doing it.

i have ideas of grandeur of doing tax exams after i finish ACCA ( more than likely i lose all that enthusiasm) but if i avoided p4 or P5 would my chances of industry job or Financial services diminish considerably or does it really make a difference once your qualified ACCA.

If anyone could help me out that would be great as ill be registering for these later in the week.. I don't want to take the easy way out just to be a member and say im qualified..

ScaldyB

I've heard P6 horror stories. The gang in our Tax Dept only have to be AITI qualified and while some do AITI concurrent to to ACA or ACCA many do ACA or ACCA exams afterwards. I know of at least two AITI qualified people that have failed P6! The AITI exams are open book. That doesn't make the AITI exams easy but I think the fact that P6 is closed book raises the bar even higher.

I've heard a few people saying the P4 might give you a very slight edge getting in to Fund Management etc. Many seem to do it because they're in that area already and/or have an aptitude for it. So maybe if you're looking to break in to that area it might be a small advantage but once you're qualified a few years I suspect that prospective employers are not overly concerned about your subject choices. If you're Dubin based maybe go to the ACCA event in the Radisson this Thursday at 6.30. There'll be loads of the State Street/IFS/HedgeServ etc. gang there and they should be able to give a better steer than me. http://irelandbookings.accaglobal.com/event_details.aspx?month=2&id=546


I pretty set on P5 and P7 because they're supposed to be the easiest and for the option of the practice cert. Am still going to go to a presentation about the options in Independent college this Wednesday at 6.15 before I make up my mind 100%

http://www.independentcolleges.ie/faculty-of-accountancy/acca-at-independent-colleges

Best of luck, almost there!

Brad1234

Thanks very much Scaldy, basically i dont want to do tax and put all that effort in and fail audit and then be told if i do AITI exams ah you didnt really need to do P6 and you dont get any exemptions.

Brad1234

Picked P4 and P7 in the end.. Wanted to do P6 but i rang the tax institute and they said i wont get any extra exemption for doing it so whats the point and i keep my options more open by doing p4.

Also going to sit tax exams once finished so p6 was pointless

SBWife

I'd get cracking on P4 ASAP it's a very big syllabus and relatively technical.

Brad1234

In comparison to p2 is the volume of work similar or more??

SBWife

More than P2 definitely, stuff like creating hedges just takes more time to get your head around (and do quickly) than the consolidations and cash flows in P2.

Brad1234

Christ maybe i should have done P6 then...