ACCA ACA advice

Joseph t Duggan

I'm looking for some advice about which professional route to take ACCA or ACA. I am in full time employment ( not accountancy related) and have completed hons degree in accounting. I would hope to go into industry rather than big 4 etc but I am unsure which exam route to take.

thefa

Chartered is more geared towards practice in my opinion while Chartered Certified is either. That said a number of Chartered Accountants go on to work in industry.

I chose ACCA because I am working in industry and it offered me more flexibility to complete exams. The 4 exams per sitting for Chartered would have been an extreme ask since the time off I would be allowed would be a week or two study leave at most (and there are other companies that wouldn't even be that generous). I would have been at a serious disadvantage to some of the other students taking the exams, especially those in practice who would have had a lot longer than me and the system of passing exams in Chartered involves averages I believe. On the other hand, I need 50% to get an ACCA exam and can take between 1 and 4 at a time.

Prettyblack

Looking at the Chartered brochure, I see that 65% work in Industry - so its not that practice focused really. Training in industry is kind of mostly done with Elevation - which I recommend, as it gives a lot of flexibility and allows you to train / work wherever you want, and at the end you get a FAR better qualification, IMHO!! You don't have to do all four subjects at once with Elevation.

Oh and also you qualify faster with ACA - according to the brochure! :-)

thefa

I am not too familiar with Elevation but a quick scan on a webpage about it says that you can only do 2 exams up to and including CAP 2s so presumably that means the FAEs have to be completed at the same time. This is significant since they are the toughest. I am unsure how the 2 subjects is suitable this is to the exam timetable too since the exams are 3 months apart I understand (Jnue & September) as opposed to June and December for the ACCA sittings.

Both have similar content and are recognised globally. ACA has a prestige about it in certain quarter but unless you are talking a bout a specific area where one is more recognised than the other, describing one as a far better qualification doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.

ACCA takes 3 years practical experience to qualify along with the exams, PERs and ethics module. ACA takes 3 with a recognised masters or 3.5 with a degree.

Prettyblack

Yeah but how many ACCAs actually finish in 3 years? According to CAI, 78% of ACAs complete their training in less than four years, higher than other bodies. Again I'm just reading the brochure but they'd hardly be lying on their literature would they?

I know what you mean about the FAEs - they are tough but at least you can work up to them. I'd personally rather an exam in Sept than December with Christmas etc coming up - nothing worse trying to study around that time!

For me its less about the prestige and more about the training with ACA - you get a mentor, you get proper guidance, and the education is all inhouse, they've got good support - that's my experience anyway.

thefa

I don't have figures on people completing their quailification in 3 years with the ACCA but your original point was that you qualify faster with the ACA according to their brochure, not that a greater percentage of students qualify within a certain amount of years. I am on course to do it on the 3 year mark as it stands if I can pass 1 more exam and fill in the practical experience requirements.

It depends on the individual. I find it easier to study in the winter with the weather and dark evenings than for the summer exams plus they are out of the way by the middle of December.

You have a mentor for ACCA who is responsible for signing off your experience and for general guidance also. The fact that the education is all in-house does not automatically make it better, just ensures that it's standardised. I think the training received is not as much dependent on the accountancy body you are trying to become a member of but the structure provided by the company you work for. Both bodies provide guidelines I believe but guidelines are only that.