Completed Accountancy degree in IT Tallght- ACCA options?

lbu4u

I have just completed my 3rd year Degree in IT Tallaght.

I only did 3rd year in IT Tallaght as I had previously done IATI Accounting Technician Ireland course which meant I could go straight into 3rd year.

I have got a full time job and I now want to do the ACCA exams at night.
According to the ACCA website I get F1,F2 and F3 exemptions from IATI,
also F4,F5,F6,F7,F8 from 3rd year IT Tallght.

F4 is a subject I did not do in IT Tallaght as I have not attended there since 1st year.

ACCA seem totally confused by the fact I didnt attend IT Tallaght for the full 3 years and keep giving me different answers in regards to F4.

I need to know if I need to sit that or am I exempt?

Has anyone else completed IATI and then attended 3rd year IT TALLAGHT?
The head of Accountancy in Tallaght was sure that we would get the f4 exemption.

Also if I do have to sit F4 I was considering going to the Independent college on Dawson street Dublin. Are the lectures any good here as more than likely I have to pay for my exams myself

All advice appreciated!!!

Thank you!!

Kaka86

Have you sent off your results, etc and formal received the exemptions ?? If not, you need to do this first to see will you definitely be exempt from F4 - if you have - take the exemption and run!!!

lbu4u

Thank you I registered and I am waiting for ACCA to actually check my transcripts and tell me what exemptions I have..apparently this can take a month??

I kind of want to apply for F4 so I can do it in December if I need to sit it...so I am being impatient and just thought i would see did anyone have the same experience.

Hopefully I will get the F4 exemption

Balloony

Did u get ur exemption?
I'm going into second yr Acc technician and then am thinking to do the same as u in IT tallaght.... Would u recommend it? How did you find the college? Some people say I should just go straight int Acca exams rather than doing the 3rd year in Tallaght... Also another question.. Did u not do the 4th year in tallaght to get the honours degree?... Sorry for all the questions but I don't know which path to take once I finish 2nd year

Brewie

I was in a similar boat as you are now. I completed the BA in Accounting & Finance in DKIT & after officially submitting my results & official documents from DKIT, the ACCA were only giving me 4 of the 9 ACCA excemptions when there website states that all F's were excempt.

It took an additional 3 to 4 months to sort it out, a letter from the head of the Business & Accounting Dept in the college. That wasn't quite enough, so luckily one of my bosses got the phone number of someone high up in ACCA Ireland through "the old boys network" and informed him of the problem. 2 weeks later, it was sorted.

The DKIT dept head got in touch afterwards to see if it was sorted as he was concerned about excemptions for their course, but said that this sort of mix up occurs quite often. Ideally, you need to talk to someone from a higher level in the ACCA company structure.

It is very frustrating though, I joined the practice in August and had to skip the June exams due to it, so I had to wait to December the following year after joining the firm.

Brewie

lbu4u wrote: »

According to the ACCA website I get F1,F2 and F3 exemptions from IATI,
also F4,F5,F6,F7,F8 from 3rd year IT Tallght.

Balloony,

If the above quote is true, it just really comes into a time matter. A year in IT Tallght gets you 4 maybe 5 (depending on the F4 issue). Now you could get these 4 or 5 exams in 2 sittings which is quite realistic, and possibly F9 too. so 2 sittings with 3 exams (F4,5,6,7,8,&9) each and in that same year in Tallaght you are in a better position time wise.

If as you say staying in IT Tallaght for the 4th year for the Honors Degree, personally, I wouldn't and don't bother looking at someones CV once I see ACCA qualified or ACA etc etc. Saying that some people will value the hons degree more than I do. Qualification for me is the main thing and personally, from completing a post grad in a different area, while working full-time and knowing how hard it is, I think it speaks about the persons work ethic and ability. Working full time, attending class 3 nights a week & studying is not easy so it is worth something. This for me personally has been positively commented on numerous times in interviews and from people higher up than me in my current position. It is all just personal preference though.

The time benifits is where the main consideration should be given and your own confidence in your ability to sit and pass the exams to pass the exams quicker than the year or two in Tallaght will give you.

Balloony

Thanks for your advice Brewie....today I was looking at the BPP website, online lecturing, wonder if that's any good.... Don't like the idea of waiting a few months for exemptions to be confirmed before I can register for Acca. I have time yet so will keep researching for the best way to go about it.
How are u going to study for the remaining Acca modules?

lbu4u

Balloony wrote: »

Did u get ur exemption?
I'm going into second yr Acc technician and then am thinking to do the same as u in IT tallaght.... Would u recommend it? How did you find the college? Some people say I should just go straight int Acca exams rather than doing the 3rd year in Tallaght... Also another question.. Did u not do the 4th year in tallaght to get the honours degree?... Sorry for all the questions but I don't know which path to take once I finish 2nd year

Hi Balloony

so sorry for the delay in replying.....IT TOOK 3 Months for my exemptions to be confirmed...total nightmare as now its too expensive for me to sit any exams in december

Basically i have now got exemptions f1, f2, f3, f4, f6, f7 and f8...if i did the 4th year honours degree I would have got f5 and f9...(which was news to me as i thought i only got f9..but the head of my course claims i should get f5 after 3rd year..but ACCA are still looking into that exemption for me....absolute idiots!!

there are other ways of doing your ACCA such as a college in ranelagh in dublin I think you do a year there and sit 6/8 exams im not sure exactly but it might be worth it for u??

tallaght is a great college but the delay with gettin your exemptions is a hassle.
also in tallaght you will have to sit 2 Continue assessment class tests and then a main exam in decmeber and january...like for your one exam with acca your sitting 4 with tallaght and in some classes you do group projects instead and just have the final exam in DEcember and May...to be honest the projects are easy and everyone got good results in my year...

its really up to you what you do but i liked tallaght it worked for me i got a 2.1 ord degree ...which most companies want and i think will stand to you in the future. like the delay in gettin exemptions was worth it for me .

once i had a bachelor in accountancy i was offered a few jobs so I definitely think get a degree outside of ACCA as the ACCA degree isnt really a degree..
sorry hope that makes sense im in work and distracted
please contact me if u want to know anythin else
goodluck!

Freddo123

lbu4u,

If you have just completed 3rd year, you did not do Management Accounting 3 & 4, if I'm correct? From my understanding these modules were moved into 4th year and Management Accounting 1 & 2 were moved into 3rd year from last year. Because you were in 3rd year and did 1&2 you didn't have to do them and they kept other modules for last year. The same has happened with 4th years. Since we did 3&4 in our 3rd year, we didn't have to do them in 4th year, we did other others for the year. If you saw the timetables and course structure now, you will see the changes.

F5 is performance management - an exemption you gain from doing and passing 3&4. Since you did not sit those modules, you would not be able to gain that exemption. Up until last year, F9 is the only exemption with ACCA you would gain from 4th year but with the new course structure F5 will be gained in 4th year too. Thinking about it, it's a little unfair to those who only intended to doing the Ord. Degree when they started thinking they would only be missing one exemption (being F9)

thomlin

Hi All,

I did the accounting technicians diploma and recently completed the ITT Honours degree in accounting.

I will be exempt up to F9 if you only completed the ordinary degree then you would only get F1-F4 & F6-F8 due to the course structure of management accounting.

The course structure has changed now but the exemptions are the same still afaik over time this will change with the new course structure.

When I was completing third year we had someone out from the ACCA who confirmed that anyone doing IATI then the Degree would only get the above for completing 3rd year but full exemptions up to F9 is you do the honours degree. This was also confirmed again in 4th year by the ACCA representative.

On another note if you can you're better off doing the extra year and getting the Honours degree as it will make you more employable than having the ordinary degree as a lot of employers look for the honours as a minimum.

HTH

Tom

Balloony

Thanks Thomlin and IB4u for ur replies...
..just wondering did you do the tallaght degree course, part time in the evenings or full time during the day.... I have kids so not sure which will suit me best...kids all at school but I would like to be able to collect them from school, which ends around 4... Wondering what the day time timetable was like...and where I can get hold of one... Is the day time course full on, or are classes spaced out?

thomlin

Hi Balloony,

The final year was harder as we had double the amount of CA's than in the other year so you had a lot of work to do outside college as well as trying to study/do coursework.

I was full time and the classes were spread out so you could end up some days spending the whole day in college but only have say three 1 hour classes on that day.

The classes would total about 19-20 hours a week but taking into account that some days had breaks in between could easily equate to being in college for 32 hours a week give or take.

As for finishing at 4 can't really say I know two days of the week I didn't get out of the college till 6 because of classes so you're at the mercy of whoever sets the timetables.

I've heard some say part time is harder as you only have half the time that a full time student has to cover the same material in class. I know a few of the students that were full time in my class switched to the part time classes because they got jobs etc and most of them dropped out.

It's hard work doing a degree while working full time and if you have a very demanding job then it's even harder. That said everyone has different strengths etc.

I would recommend doing full time if you can you'd be surprised how quickly a year will pass.

Best of luck

Tom