Will I cancel my registration with college for BB Accounting ?

newbie13

Hi All,

Dont know where to start. I was hoping to go back to college after 12 years I left school.

Accounting always attracted me in to be a qualified accountant. So I applied to the CAO as mature student and chose a Level 8 (HONOURS) IN ACCOUNTING.

I had my acceptance letter from college last week and online registered.That`s where my suspicious thinking start. Am I choosing the long route to be a qualified accountant in the future by going to college route or should I go for IATI route for short cut? Which route would have more exemption when it is comes to sit for big exams of Acc Bodies. I might cancel the college degree route before it s too late if there is an alternative short and stable way.

As my age is around thirty , I dont want to waste my time with extra studying. I would like to get qualified ASAP and get a job to survive with family.I am still searching from online as I have zero "0" business or accounting background to how the steps & procedure progress on the way to become accountant.

I `m still unemployed due to construction industry down. So I have to chose a way to educate myself further and increase my chance of getting a proper long term job.

I believe there are some people in this forum who has gone through this and would share their experience / opinion .

Thanks in advance.

shuyin1

IATI route- 2 years exemptions:
CAI 3/5 cap1's (tax,financial reporting,law)
ACCA 3/14 (F1,2,3)
Plus advanced entry into year 3 of an I.T honours accounting degree.

Honours degree- 4 yrs exemptions:
CAI- Cap 1
ACCA F1-F9 (9/14) depends on subjects taught


The major benefit of the honours degree is it opens doors for trainee contracts. People often neglect the experience side of the qualification when deciding what to do. To answer your question the absolute quickest way is to start doing acca exams while working under a qualified accountant who'll sign off on your experience. Every other route whether iati or degree will be a minimum of 6-8 years to become fully qualified

Whoisin thehouse

I agree

If your aim is to become an accountant then you should start with the ACCA exams (or ACA or CIMA). You can register with ACCA as a mature student, the course for the December exams will have started at the colleges and you should contact one of the ACCA platinum approved colleges or ACCA themselves for further info.
PM me if you need further information

newbie13

shuyin1 wrote: »

to start doing acca exams while working under a qualified accountant who'll sign off on your experience.

Who would employ me without qualification and basic knowledge of accounting ? didnt get what you mean .

tenifan

There's a lot of crap crammed into 4 year degrees (and 3 year degrees for that matter!)
Once you graduate, you could still have a lack of any usable accounting knowledge, you'll be competing for minimum wage accounting jobs, and it will take at least 3 years before you will be a qualified accountant (even after exemptions you'll probably have to sit 4-6 exams). So 4 year degree + 3 years = 7 years. I could think of more productive ways to spend 7 years. Not to mention, accounting will become more computerised (fewer jobs), while construction may have picked up.

I'd recommend you do some accounting technician exams and try to get a job as a part-qualified accountant asap. Try to get work experience in an accountants office on jobbridge, even if it's not strictly an accounting role (data entry is fine just to get a start)

Jim2007

newbie13 wrote: »

I had my acceptance letter from college last week and online registered.That`s where my suspicious thinking start. Am I choosing the long route to be a qualified accountant in the future by going to college route or should I go for IATI route for short cut? Which route would have more exemption when it is comes to sit for big exams of Acc Bodies. I might cancel the college degree route before it s too late if there is an alternative short and stable way.

Well the first thing is do you actually have an alternative option lined up???

The second thing is that you are only committing yourself to the first year, if it does not work out you can still walk away.

And the third is that given your lack of experience, education and age, how easy is it going to be for you to out shine the competition and land a training contract or similar?

If it were me I would not walk away from this opportunity without having something else already lined up.