Is this course worth doing?

Stevie888

Hi All,

I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate who has worked in AP/AR for the past 3 years in Australia (2 years as a team leader, small team). Im returning home in a few weeks (personal reasons) and will be looking to get a formal qualification in Accounting and Finance. I want to do either the 1 year P/T diploma on offer in DBS, or the foundation ACCA course, after which I want to go on and take the full ACCA exams. As these courses dont start until September, I was considering doing this distance learning Finance Cert in the meantime - http://www.theopencollege.com/fetac-level-6-certificate-in-finance.html so as to have a solid base in understanding the technical terms, practices etc. It also only takes 3 months apparently, which fits in nicely with the timeframe.

As my degree was not in this sector, I want to give myself every chance of passing any future exams. But my question is, given that it is only a FETAC level 6 cert, should I bother with this course?

An accountant friend has suggested I just read "Accountancy for Dummies" or some other introductory type book before September. Should I just do this and save the 250 euros?

I will also be looking to get an AP/AR role while stuying P/T from September, and some companies are looking for people with some form of Business/Finance qualification. Would this cert (coupled with my experience and the fact that im looking to get qualified) help my chances?

Many thanks for reading and I appreciate any responses.

Cheers
Steve

Kaka86

Hi Steve,

I did a degree in Business and Accounting a few years back. I never pursued the accounting any further. I recently did I 5 week - 1 evening a week course ran by the local county enterprise board €40 called Book-keeping for Small Businesses. What it does is go through the accounting process from the very beginning. The course is design for Business Owner interested in doing their own books/accounts as much as possible before handing over to an accountant. Anyway I found this short course amazing it was a (cheap) refresher which I badly needed. I would recommend something like this to anyone trying to get a basic understanding for accounting either. I would rate a course on its FETAC level if you have a greater goal in mind. A cheap basic course, unless you have the money to spend, is definitely the way to go.

I think getting work in accounting areas is difficult unless you can get in on some of the graduate schemes which larger companies offer. ACCA have a list on their ACCAireland website of the different companies in Ireland.

Best of luck with the studies!

Cat

saggart26

Stevie888 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate who has worked in AP/AR for the past 3 years in Australia (2 years as a team leader, small team). Im returning home in a few weeks (personal reasons) and will be looking to get a formal qualification in Accounting and Finance. I want to do either the 1 year P/T diploma on offer in DBS, or the foundation ACCA course, after which I want to go on and take the full ACCA exams. As these courses dont start until September, I was considering doing this distance learning Finance Cert in the meantime - http://www.theopencollege.com/fetac-level-6-certificate-in-finance.html so as to have a solid base in understanding the technical terms, practices etc. It also only takes 3 months apparently, which fits in nicely with the timeframe.

As my degree was not in this sector, I want to give myself every chance of passing any future exams. But my question is, given that it is only a FETAC level 6 cert, should I bother with this course?

An accountant friend has suggested I just read "Accountancy for Dummies" or some other introductory type book before September. Should I just do this and save the 250 euros?

I will also be looking to get an AP/AR role while stuying P/T from September, and some companies are looking for people with some form of Business/Finance qualification. Would this cert (coupled with my experience and the fact that im looking to get qualified) help my chances?

Many thanks for reading and I appreciate any responses.

Cheers
Steve

Hey,

I would advise you to start with the three ACCA foundation level exams F1-3. They're computer based and i think ACCA run the exams 4 times a year. I wouldnt bother spending money on these exams. A good online resource is opentuition.co.uk. They have subject notes/video tutorials/exam tips/studdy buddies etc which should help you in your prep work. The exams are basic enough and with your current experience, you shouldnt have a problem. Adverts.ie for second hand material is also handy.

Stevie888

Thanks for the guys. saggart26, I am registering with the ACCA and intend on attending lectures in the evening for F1 - F3 from July - Dec and taking the exams online soon after. I am also going to take the additional 2 technicians exams (and all other introductory papers relevent to the CAT qualification) and so hope to be fully CAT qualified by latest Jan '14, about 9 months from now.
I also hope to do 3 more foundation exams in Jun '14 and the remaining 3 in Dec '14. I will also be attending lectures for all subjects. Is all this perhaps pushing it a bit too much timewise? Or with the right lectures and study, is this do-able in this time frame?