ACCA - should I continue or forget it ?

iligosigogidze

I'm having a great dilemma with my ACCA studies. I did MSc. in business long time ago and sadly do not possess any other professional qualification or PhD. Nevertheless, I have been working in Finance for 5+ years and made it to a manager with a few direct reports who are all acca qualified.

I registered with acca 7 years ago but haven't done much with it. Today I'd still need to pass 11 exams to qualify. I don't really know what to do as the 10 year period to do the whole thing will be over soon, so I guess I either start right now or forget it all together.

In my job, I have been mentoring sales and accounting staff for 2 years now. Since I do not possess formal qualification, it feels a bit awkward to be training accountants. I have learned everything myself through experience, self-study and interactions with auditors. But not having acca still feels kinda intimidating. Considering I'm only left with 3 years to do 11 papers I'm bit scared to get into this. I've turned 35, have kids and busy job which won't leave me much time and peace to study.

Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated.

jjp123

If you want to do Acca. It is a lot of work.
I would contact Acca and check how long you have left. When exams format change they extend length of time you have to qualify. If you really have only three years and want to pursue it you might be better re starting giving family pressures etc. the first three exams are computer based I think so you could redo quite quickly. Best of luck

JustAThought

Wwll congrats for getting started& doing so well so far. It looks like you're doing a good job so far !

Re the ACCA have you done any exams yet? And coukd you qualify for ant exemptions based on your work experiences to date since you registered? If not, could you quote life pressures & try & have the date shifted so you could gain a few extra years to finish them all -I think that would be worth trying for . And then see if you could re-register to gain extra years to pass -it might be worth the investment. 3 exams a year isn't totally unmanageable but I'd be asking just to get the edge in case of unforeseen circumstances/financial problems .

smcgiff

As has been said above. Check with ACCA to see how many years you have left. It's very rare for someone to be time barred because of how often ACCA change the syllabus.

Worst chase scenario, you transfer bodies away from ACCA if you don't get all the exams in time.

Mini claire

iligosigogidze wrote: »

I'm having a great dilemma with my ACCA studies. I did MSc. in business long time ago and sadly do not possess any other professional qualification or PhD. Nevertheless, I have been working in Finance for 5+ years and made it to a manager with a few direct reports who are all acca qualified.

I registered with acca 7 years ago but haven't done much with it. Today I'd still need to pass 11 exams to qualify. I don't really know what to do as the 10 year period to do the whole thing will be over soon, so I guess I either start right now or forget it all together.

In my job, I have been mentoring sales and accounting staff for 2 years now. Since I do not possess formal qualification, it feels a bit awkward to be training accountants. I have learned everything myself through experience, self-study and interactions with auditors. But not having acca still feels kinda intimidating. Considering I'm only left with 3 years to do 11 papers I'm bit scared to get into this. I've turned 35, have kids and busy job which won't leave me much time and peace to study.

Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Hi I really feel for you, I'm doing Acca at the min & find it a struggle, very hard exams & the whole work/ home life balance is hard to do....
I think work experience is sometimes more valuable than a qualification & in your case you have the experience , you can't buy that....have confidence in your ability to train the account juniors... They are lacking the experience that you have gained....
It's really your decision to sit the exams or not... I feel 11 exams in 3 years would be alot to do.. But if you ran out of time you could transfer to CPA or another body & get yourself more time ....
I've 3.5 years left to finish 2 exams & I'm finding the final option papers tough going... Sick of Acca really 😞

SBWife

I did all 14 exams in 4 exam sessions. 2 the first Summer to be accepted onto the register then the remaining 12 4 at a time over the next 3 sittings. 3 years gives you 6 sittings so I'd look at sitting 3 at a time until you get the last 6 f papers. Then take the p papers 2 at a time. This would have you finished with a sitting to spare.

barneystinson

SBWife wrote: »

I did all 14 exams in 4 exam sessions. 2 the first Summer to be accepted onto the register then the remaining 12 4 at a time over the next 3 sittings. 3 years gives you 6 sittings so I'd look at sitting 3 at a time until you get the last 6 f papers. Then take the p papers 2 at a time. This would have you finished with a sitting to spare.

Ah but you're great though

It very much depends on the type of person you are - some of the smartest people I know have struggled to get through the professional exams (because they couldn't juggle work, personal and study commitments), and some of the greatest goms I've met in my working life have gotten through them without much bother (through endless hours of hard work).

Jim2007

Mini claire wrote: »

I think work experience is sometimes more valuable than a qualification & in your case you have the experience , you can't buy that....have confidence in your ability to train the account juniors... They are lacking the experience that you have gained....

Would you go to a doctor that was not qualified or seek legal advice from someone who failed the law society exams??? If you want a career in accounting that parchment is a basic requirement otherwise you are always going to struggle to get on. There are very few people who are going to go with experience over qualification for any kind of senior position for the simple reason that if it all goes pear shaped they will have a hard time explaining the fact that they did not select the qualified candidate in the first place!

keano2012

11 exams in 3 years is far too much. Fair enough if you were not working and have a lot of time but as you said you have a busy job. I think it is too risky now....for example you could get through the F paper quickish but the P papers are a step up and doing 3/4 exams at a time along with working is near impossible....so you could waste 3years and not qualify. Yes SBWife did it but she forgot to mention she was not working full time so had the time to do all them.

SBWife

I may have been working less than full time for some of the time however my suggestion to the OP involved them taking significantly more time to complete the exams. The schedule I proposed involves just two P exams per sitting completely doable for most.

BTW its about focus not how much time you have available, I completed another more difficult professional designation while working a minimum of 55 hours a week.

ADG_CPA

Iligosigogidze,

Hi there. I just came across this blog today and this is my first post. Before I start with this longish post, let me clarify, I have a CPA from the US and that essentially makes life a lot more easier. In fact the only reason I thought I should take up ACCA recently is because I got exemptions in 8 papers through CPA.

But this post from me is not so much on ACCA as it is on your whole dilemma and the pain you are facing working with junior staff who are qualified. I was in a similar state, a couple of summers back when I was an Internal Audit manager with a fortune 500 Company with all my juniors being Chartered Accountants. I did have a couple of certifications such a CISA and CFE (from US), but felt quite challenged in my interactions with my juniors as well as my seniors in the company as no one really thought those certifications were equivalent of a serious accountancy qualification or an MBA. Every one seem to give me the same look - "How did you get here?". So getting an advanced level qualification was not a choice but a necessity for me. Hence I decided to pursue CPA from US, which requires passing just 4 papers as compared to the ACCAs and the CIMAs of the world requiring 11- 14 papers.

Having completed CPA it brought me back to a level playing ground. I was no longer considered any less and working in an American Company made it that much more relevant.

My wife studied CMA from the US (Distance learning) around the same time that I was studying for CPA. CMA too had 4 papers back then and am sure is easier to pass than CIMA of UK. In fact, now you have to do just 2 papers to get CMA designation and the best part is, she too has 8 exemptions from ACCA. So both of us are now done with 2 of the remaining 6 papers from ACCA and are targeting completion of the 4 other parts by June / Dec 2014.

In summary, I want to leave you with 2 suggestions:

1. Don't view ACCA or an equivalent qualification as an option. As you climb up the corporate ladder, you will need it more than ever, to really have a say in what you believe.

2. Try to find courses that are easier to accomplish and which can get you exemptions from CIMA / ACCAs etc at a later point. They have dual benefits in that, passing them takes lesser time if you are focussed and dedicated. And secondly, they set you up for exemptions so you don't have to worry about spending another 5 years to get a full accountancy qualification.

I am 34 Yrs old and my wife is 32. We have a 6 month old at home now and are both engaged in full time jobs with Multinational Companies. So don't think of yourself alone in this situation. There are a lot of us around who are bending backwards to achieve professional qualifications under challenging circumstances to stay ahead of Competition.

All the best.

CMA website: www.imanet.org
CPA website: www.aicpa.org

clc01

I think you should definitely go for it. I understand that you have children and it will be very difficult for you, but it's worth a try and 3 years is feasible. I've spent the last 4 years doing the exams while working full-time, and that was starting from F1. So it is possible to get 11 in 3 years. Register now for F4 & F5 this December and see how you get along. Just order the books online and print off all the past exam papers and start studying in the evenings. F4 & F5 aren't too difficult and remember all you need is 50 to pass! It will be a tough 3 years but it will be worth it. I'm 35 now myself and have 1 exam left, but I only started training in a practice 2 and a half years ago, so it's not too late! Good luck

frogstar

Get onto acca

I was similar. Did two exams in 05 Was worried about the 10 year rule

I rang acca, since the syllabus has changed they were allowing me 15 years fromfirst registering to complete

ive sat 9 exams since, 5 to go

smcgiff

ADG_CPA wrote: »

Iligosigogidze,

Hi there. I just came across this blog today and this is my first post. Before I start with this longish post, let me clarify, I have a CPA from the US and that essentially makes life a lot more easier. In fact the only reason I thought I should take up ACCA recently is because I got exemptions in 8 papers through CPA.

Howdy and welcome.

Have you looked into sitting ICAI (CAI) or ICAEW? I think you might get greater exemptions with these bodies. Worth a look anyway.

Your wife probably wouldn't so you might want to stick with ACCA to be able to sit them together.

JAKE11

I think everyone has their challenges/difficulties to overcome. So you are no different than anyone.

What we all have to do is consider where we are now and where we want to be. Then its just a matter of finding a way to make that happen.

By the way, I have been looking to get into a particular role for some time now and despite having the professional qualification I keep getting overlooked because I do not have adequate experience. So, I am currently working on getting some relevant experience.

So why do you want the professional qualification anyway? Is it just because you feel that people around you have something you don't? Well did you think that they may feel intimidated because you have no qualification and yet you are able to show them how to do their job?

I would say value what you have and decide whether or not you really need the professional qualification to achieve your career ambitions. You have a family so you may prefer to focus on them for now, you only get one shot at that. You can do qualifications at any time in your career. These are all the things you need to reflect on and if you think carefully I am sure you will work out what is best for you.

Mini claire

Jim2007 wrote: »

Would you go to a doctor that was not qualified or seek legal advice from someone who failed the law society exams??? If you want a career in accounting that parchment is a basic requirement otherwise you are always going to struggle to get on. There are very few people who are going to go with experience over qualification for any kind of senior position for the simple reason that if it all goes pear shaped they will have a hard time explaining the fact that they did not select the qualified candidate in the first place!

I was not suggesting going to a doctor that was not qualified ... I think you missed my point clearly... Experience is essentially in any role plus qualification but not everyone gets through the professional accountancy exams & lots of practices have staff who are not fully qualified but do the job of a accountant but cannot sign off on accounts......

Jim2007

Mini claire wrote: »

fully qualified but do the job of a accountant but cannot sign off on accounts......

Exactly what I said, you will always be a second class citizen if you don't have the certificate and consequently your options will be limited.

Mini claire

Jim2007 wrote: »

Exactly what I said, you will always be a second class citizen if you don't have the certificate and consequently your options will be limited.

Very true jim