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Which FAE Elective 2012 / 2013 to choose?

  • 20-08-2012 4:12pm
    #1
    Whemair0128
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭


    Hi All,

    I would like some people's advice on which FAE elective to choose. I can't see anything on the institute's website i.e what the course content is for the electives etc.

    If anyone has feedback or info, could you please forward it here.

    Cheers:)


Comments

  • #2
    reo49
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 67 ✭✭reo49


    APM, don't ask anymore questions and just trust me.


  • #3
    ferike1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,785 ✭✭✭ferike1


    APM. By far the most straightforward.


  • #4
    funkymonkey9
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 63 ✭✭funkymonkey9


    Once getting an audit cert is not a priority for you, you should go for APM. Without the audit elective you cannot sign off on an audit report but for the majority of people this is not an issue.

    It also depends what area you are working in, if you're in a tax department, tax may be the option for you!

    If you're in audit in a big 4 firm u may have to justify to a partner why you don't want to do the audit elective however they cannot stop u from doing the elective u want!

    APM does have the highest pass rates so a lot more people are opting for that!


  • #5
    ted2767
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 477 ✭✭ted2767


    funkymonkey9 wrote: »
    Once getting an audit cert is not a priority for you, you should go for APM. Without the audit elective you cannot sign off on an audit report but for the majority of people this is not an issue.

    It also depends what area you are working in, if you're in a tax department, tax may be the option for you!

    If you're in audit in a big 4 firm u may have to justify to a partner why you don't want to do the audit elective however they cannot stop u from doing the elective u want!

    APM does have the highest pass rates so a lot more people are opting for that!


    How difficult is the tax elective?


  • #6
    funkymonkey9
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 63 ✭✭funkymonkey9


    ted2767 wrote: »
    How difficult is the tax elective?

    I honestly couldn't say!! I'm currently studying for the fae and I'm doing the audit elective.

    Tax pass rates are quite high (81% in 2010 and 75% in 2011). I can only assume that if you work in a tax department, tax would be easier compared to audit.

    Audit is the elective that's complained about the most but I think this could be partly down to the number of people who choose it!


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  • #7
    notanocelot
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 141 ✭✭notanocelot


    This is a controversial viewpoint. Nevertheless...

    The majority of FAE candidates are working for firms, usually the Big 4.

    People who are working in Audit ---> automatically enrolled in Audit elective.
    People who are working in Tax ---> automatically enrolled in Tax elective.
    People who are working in Advisory ---> automatically enrolled in APM elective.

    Firms only have a very small amount of openings for Advisory per year, usually less than a dozen. It's an attractive path. Many apply, hardly any are accepted.

    I'm of the opinion that APM's high pass rates are related to the calibre of the people who take them.

    (No, I'm not in Advisory.)

    So, look to your own strengths. How are you in Management Accounting? If the answer isn't 'excellent', don't plump for APM.


  • #8
    ted2767
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 477 ✭✭ted2767


    notanocelot wrote: »
    This is a controversial viewpoint. Nevertheless...

    The majority of FAE candidates are working for firms, usually the Big 4.

    People who are working in Audit ---> automatically enrolled in Audit elective.
    People who are working in Tax ---> automatically enrolled in Tax elective.
    People who are working in Advisory ---> automatically enrolled in APM elective.

    Firms only have a very small amount of openings for Advisory per year, usually less than a dozen. It's an attractive path. Many apply, hardly any are accepted.

    I'm of the opinion that APM's high pass rates are related to the calibre of the people who take them.

    (No, I'm not in Advisory.)

    So, look to your own strengths. How are you in Management Accounting? If the answer isn't 'excellent', don't plump for APM.


    Agree with everything you said.

    Am quite strong at man acc but have it in my head that tax might be a more useful elective going forward


  • #9
    ferike1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,785 ✭✭✭ferike1


    APM is more finance than mgmt accounting


  • #10
    EveT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 336 ✭✭EveT


    ted2767 wrote: »
    Agree with everything you said.

    Am quite strong at man acc but have it in my head that tax might be a more useful elective going forward

    I did it for that reason....incase I want to do tax exams etc, it is tough, it takes A LOT of work, would I have picked apm if I went back? I dont know, will tell you in November!! Id say APM would have been less work for me, but I may still want to do a tax qualification (i know you can do one without tax elective), anyway it is a lot of work, if you do it, try to get your head around some topics before study leave! I know a good few people not working in tax doing it.


  • #11
    Whemair0128
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭Whemair0128


    Thanks Guys for the info.

    I can choose which ever elective I want because Im doing elevation but I am working for a mulitnational so mgt acc might make more sense in that respect.

    For some reason I seemed to be inclined to go for tax, obviously all three electives are alot of work, I am kind of confused as what to chose but I definitly don't think I want to do audit.

    In relation to my CAP 2 results, Tax and Audit were my best, I scraped SFMA so maybe I should stay away from APM for that reason.

    Pity Institute don't give more info on their website.
    Thanks!


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  • #12
    EveT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 336 ✭✭EveT


    Whemair0128 wrote: »
    Thanks Guys for the info.

    I can choose which ever elective I want because Im doing elevation but I am working for a mulitnational so mgt acc might make more sense in that respect.

    For some reason I seemed to be inclined to go for tax, obviously all three electives are alot of work, I am kind of confused as what to chose but I definitly don't think I want to do audit.

    In relation to my CAP 2 results, Tax and Audit were my best, I scraped SFMA so maybe I should stay away from APM for that reason.

    Pity Institute don't give more info on their website.
    Thanks!

    do you do any tax in work? what you get in it in cap 2? I did fairly well in tax in cap 2 and still struggling with it this year


  • #13
    Whemair0128
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭Whemair0128


    i got 70 in tax, 2 be honest don't too much in tax, i would do more work in connection with audit. but i used 2 work in practice and did good bit of tax den, de most I do nowadays would be connected to vat and even then, it is not even applicable in this country!


  • #14
    Ex 88
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 72 ✭✭Ex 88


    Be carefully picking the Audit Elective, there's a lot of work/reading involved so unless you HAVE to do it I'd consider doing one of the others! Currently studying the Audit Elective and it's tough and time consuming!


  • #15
    Whemair0128
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16 ✭Whemair0128


    To be honest I am not going to pick audit. I work in industry and feel APM would be the better option for my career but I am bit worried it is very simillar to SFMA. I don't mind mgt accounting, but I am not all good with the the fiinance (i.e Interest rates/ FX Risks etc) and I don't want to choose it if it is very much based on this area. Could you anyone give me a broad overview of the contents of this subject?

    Thanks:)


  • #16
    tomfoolery60
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 295 ✭✭tomfoolery60


    Whemair0128 wrote: »
    To be honest I am not going to pick audit. I work in industry and feel APM would be the better option for my career but I am bit worried it is very simillar to SFMA. I don't mind mgt accounting, but I am not all good with the the fiinance (i.e Interest rates/ FX Risks etc) and I don't want to choose it if it is very much based on this area. Could you anyone give me a broad overview of the contents of this subject?

    Thanks:)

    I would advise against audit unless you work in it (not an issue for you!). Similarly tax could be quite a challenge if you are not working in tax. The APM pass rates are encouraging!


  • #17
    Username2011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 287 ✭✭Username2011


    tomfoolery60 wrote: »
    I would advise against audit unless you work in it (not an issue for you!). Similarly tax could be quite a challenge if you are not working in tax. The APM pass rates are encouraging!


    Best thing you can do is probably have a look at the compentency statements and see which you prefer.


  • #18
    BESman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 563 ✭✭✭BESman


    Just to clarify, it might appear from some of the earlier posts that APM is the easiest elective because it has the highest pass rates. This is not necessarily true. I think the pass rates are high because a much smaller number of students choose this elective (possibly because the majority of trainees work in audit or tax and are more or less forced to choose those electives). The small number of students with the option to choose freely (i.e. those not working in audit or tax) will naturally choose the elective that they feel they are best at and therefore will perform better in than say someone working in audit who had little choice but to do the audit elective even though they may not be that interested or good at the subject.

    Also, I'm not sure about the audit or tax study materials, but the APM textbook and cases are particularly good, especially compared to some of the texts for the Core. The competency statement is concise and clear as well. Basically, you have a very good idea what to expect going into the APM exam and based on the word of those doing audit or tax, this is not as clear. If you struggled at SFMA, then APM might not be for you. However, there is hardly any management accounting in APM. It's a lot more finance and economics based. I'd advise you to download the past papers for each elective and see what you think. They're available on the website.


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