Big4: ACA & AITI?

Eoinm824

Hi,

I will be starting in the tax practice of one of the Big4 Firms this October.

I have the chance to complete both the ACAs and the AITI CTAs as part of my contract.

My undergrad is engineering so if I opt for the ACA route the duration of my exams will be five years. Alternatively, if I go with just CTA it will be three years.

We recently had a welcome day at the firm and a few seniors in the department noted that they didn't have the ACAs and it had not held them back.

Will doing the ACA's enhance my career opportunities or, will not doing them limit my career? I intend to stay at the firm for 5 years and make manager and then perhaps leave or stay if I am enjoying it.

Any advice would be really great !

Thanks

Lockedout2

I'm of the view that any qualification will stand to you.

Being a qualified accountant and well as a chartered tax advisor would be very well qualified in your area.

Jim2007

Eoinm824 wrote: »

We recently had a welcome day at the firm and a few seniors in the department noted that they didn't have the ACAs and it had not held them back.

Ya, the only requirement to become a senior is time, unless you are extremely good specialising in Irish taxation is going to limit the number of opportunities you will have. That is not to say it can't be done but most organisations can only afford to have a few experts on the books.

Eoinm824

Jim2007 wrote: »

Ya, the only requirement to become a senior is time, unless you are extremely good specialising in Irish taxation is going to limit the number of opportunities you will have. That is not to say it can't be done but most organisations can only afford to have a few experts on the books.

Yeah fair point. One of my thoughts for perusing the CTA only route was given that I would be finished exams earlier than the majority of my intake. it would perhaps enable me to apply myself more to the job and get promoted quicker. What I just said could also be complete horse**** haha.

Jim2007

Eoinm824 wrote: »

Jim2007 wrote: »

Ya, the only requirement to become a senior is time, unless you are extremely good specialising in Irish taxation is going to limit the number of opportunities you will have. That is not to say it can't be done but most organisations can only afford to have a few experts on the books.

Yeah fair point. One of my thoughts for perusing the CTA only route was given that I would be finished exams earlier than the majority of my intake. it would perhaps enable me to apply myself more to the job and get promoted quicker. What I just said could also be complete horse**** haha.

Do you seriously not have a bigger ambition in life than to do Irish tax compliance and planning work for the rest of your live??? Go out an experience life, travel, live abroad for a while, learn new language or two there is a whole world out there for the taking.

Eoinm824

Jim2007 wrote: »

Do you seriously not have a bigger ambition in life than to do Irish tax compliance and planning work for the rest of your live??? Go out an experience life, travel, live abroad for a while, learn new language or two there is a whole world out there for the taking.

And who says you cannot do all of those things while working?

barneystinson

Jim2007 wrote: »

Do you seriously not have a bigger ambition in life than to do Irish tax compliance and planning work for the rest of your live??? Go out an experience life, travel, live abroad for a while, learn new language or two there is a whole world out there for the taking.

Do you seriously not know what a prat you sound like saying that???

Not everyone is, can be, will be, or most importantly wants to be you Jim.

johnk2015

I would say 100% do ACA first unless you have significant experience in tax (2+ summers of internships) and know you love it. Even then, I'd still say do ACA instead of AITI! It is my impression that tax has a higher retention rate than audit in that more people will be working in tax-related work after qualifying than audit people, who will mostly go on to work in random non-audit jobs. That said, if you are in the cohort who have trained in tax but can't see themselves doing it for life (or potentially completely hate it), it would be very bad for you to only have the AITI qualification as it is specific to tax and to Ireland. ACA is international and can open up doors for you to work in many different fields globally. From my own experience, having originally been set on doing ACA first and then AITI after, I realised fairly quickly that I have no interest in tax, and will not be signing up to the tax exams when ACA is over this year. A lot of people will tell you to that the more qualifications you have, the better. That isn't necessarily true. If after your 3.5 contract you want out of tax and want to move to, say, a non-tax related industry field after finishing ACA, then just leave and start getting experience in something you are interested in as having experience will be worth more than having a piece of paper that is irrelevant to the type of work you want to do.

Also, if you were to do AITI first (usually 3 years) then decide you should do ACA after, that'll be another 3 years - i.e. 6 total. If you do ACA first, that'll take 3 years and then you can go on after and and sit the Part 2 and Part 3 exams (1 - 2 years, most would do it in 2), so that's 5 total. Depending on your exemptions, this may be different for you.

Basically, it's all well and good thinking now that you may as well do AITI as you'll be finished quicker and get promoted quicker, etc. That's an ideal world scenario and you have absolutely no idea how things will pan out in reality, whether you'll have a genuine interest in tax or if you'd rather get out after 3.5 years. Give yourself the most flexibility and opportunities by doing ACA first and then you can do AITI after if you do decide to stay in tax.

House of Wolves

I'm just at the end of the 5 year process of ACA and AITI with big4.
ACA is a very valuable, would highly highly recommend it first, especially if you want to work abroad. AITI is very good and very challenging, but it is Irish specific. You'll be a lot more restricted with just AITI.
The exams shouldn't impact promotion (unless you fail), in big4 if you are good they recognise it, end of (thats my experience). Also its a pretty clear path for the first number of years in big4 so making promotion jumps based on having exams finished doesnt really matter.
Also the study leave is great, so the longer you have doing exams is actually a good thing as daunting as 5 years sounds.

Eoinm824

House of Wolves wrote: »

I'm just at the end of the 5 year process of ACA and AITI with big4.
ACA is a very valuable, would highly highly recommend it first, especially if you want to work abroad. AITI is very good and very challenging, but it is Irish specific. You'll be a lot more restricted with just AITI.
The exams shouldn't impact promotion (unless you fail), in big4 if you are good they recognise it, end of (thats my experience). Also its a pretty clear path for the first number of years in big4 so making promotion jumps based on having exams finished doesnt really matter.
Also the study leave is great, so the longer you have doing exams is actually a good thing as daunting as 5 years sounds.

Yeah I'm gonna do the ACAs thanks for advice guys.