accounting cources

bowelofsoup

i am considering becoming an accountant and trying to decide what college course to do. i am looking at accounting and finance in tipp institute to start. dose any one know anything about this course? whether there are any benefits to this course than any others?. would this be the best way to start a career as an accountant.

deejer

First I will explain where I am coming from: I always had it in my head that I wanted to be an accountant also. I did a business degree in CIT a few years ago. The worked and travelled for a few years. I am back doing my chartered accounting exams now on my own and working in a bank by day.

My degree has given me exemptions from the first year exams which is some benefit. However for the next level of exams it is assumed you know the previous years material and it may be examinable (it would have been covered in college at some stage)

Anyway, personally i think if your sights are set on becoming an accountant (I am assuming financial and not management) your best bet would be to complete an Accounting Technicians course. This takes 2years and would then lead into taking exams with one of the professional bodies or be used as a valuable qualification on its own. A course like the one you mentioned would be useful if you were looking for more general financial knowledge.

Personally this is the route I would go if I had to do it all again. The reason I didnt was probably down to the fact that I just wasnt 100% committed to the accounting route. Have a look at their website as it has alot of useful information.

http://www.accountingtechniciansireland.ie/

Morte

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? There's a world of difference if you're a leaving cert filling out your CAO compared to if you're in your thirties, married with kids and have a job but fancy a change of career. You sound like a leaving cert so these are probably the main questions.

I presume you're from Tip. Can you afford to move away or are there any other reasons why you'd want to stay in Tip? Any reasons for moving anywhere else?

What kind of points roughly would you hope to get? 450 is a good baseline - do you expect to get around this, definitely above or definitely below? You certainly don't need 450 points to become an accountant but it'd help us not to recommend courses you won't get into.

What other things might interest you? Are you completely set on accounting? Some courses have accounting as a "stream" so you'd be in a position to choose another one if you decided half way through college you didn't like accounting any more. Accounting and Law in UL for instance. And you can get into accounting with any degree, you don't need to do accountancy at all (though it obviously helps a lot). Business Information Systems in UCC is more of an IT course but isn't a bad one for getting into accounting.

bowelofsoup

i have done my leaving cert and then i done a plc course in business studies i got 300 points in my leaving cert. i am looking at this course because i live close to the college but i would be willing to move for a better course. im not fully set on accountancy but it is the front runner. i know that most of the people from that course go on to be accountants but not all.

Morte

I don't know too much about the course specifically but it has full exemptions from the Chartered Accountants for every subject in the CAP1 exams. To become an accountant you normally have three sets of exams to sit but with this course you'd only have two sets. The full list of what exemptions courses around the country get is here (courses not listed may get some if you apply separately and all are subject to change before graduation). This is the most exemptions any degree can get and shows the ICAI are reasonably happy that it meets minimum standards. I've only used ICAI as an example, there are other bodies with their own exemption lists but I'd imagine it's similar.

It's obviously a bonus to a firm when you're applying for a job the less exams you have to do. Generally speaking I found employers tend to focus on their local IT but will take any university. I don't have a lot of experience in this area mind, it's just the impression I got.

bowelofsoup

thanks for the reply. from your experience is accountancy a good career to follow.