Working full time while studying accounting

curry_person

Hey hope someone can shed light on this for me, I currently work full time as a shop manager, I wish to study accounting I particularly liked idea of ACCA seen as its recognised all over. Only thing I'd much rather not do the work experience side as I simply can't go from 27000 a year to 17000. I could do accounting at work part time possibly but would that be enough? Or which body does it sound I'm better to try get qualification from? I'm not planning on leaving country any time soon so ACCA isn't a necessary one for me.
Thank you!

adrianw

curry_person wrote: »

Hey hope someone can shed light on this for me, I currently work full time as a shop manager, I wish to study accounting I particularly liked idea of ACCA seen as its recognised all over. Only thing I'd much rather not do the work experience side as I simply can't go from 27000 a year to 17000. I could do accounting at work part time possibly but would that be enough? Or which body does it sound I'm better to try get qualification from? I'm not planning on leaving country any time soon so ACCA isn't a necessary one for me.
Thank you!

Any accounting body is going to require you to complete a training contract of circa three years averaging 40 hours a week.

bonyn

You could study acca but why would you? You still need 3 years accounting experience. The early subjects will give you some technical knowledge, the middle subjects may be difficult without working in accounting, and the advanced papers can be frustrating and technical and not relevant to most people's careers.
It's a hard and expensive slog and not something to do as a hobby.

robo

I can see where you are coming from - going from €27k to a lower salary - but in the long term, if its something you want to do, then it will be worth it both for your career prospects and salary. To get the most out of ACCA, CIMA, ACA - you really do need to be working in the industry. However, as a shop manager, you may have some transferable skills that some companies (maybe not the big 4) are looking for & your salary may not be as little as you think. Maybe talk to some recruitment agencies as from what I can see out there, there are a good few jobs out there. Skills like accountancy can be learnt but you may have more to offer with your skills of being a shop manager - client relationships, people skills, managing staff etc.

curry_person

robo wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from - going from €27k to a lower salary - but in the long term, if its something you want to do, then it will be worth it both for your career prospects and salary. To get the most out of ACCA, CIMA, ACA - you really do need to be working in the industry. However, as a shop manager, you may have some transferable skills that some companies (maybe not the big 4) are looking for & your salary may not be as little as you think. Maybe talk to some recruitment agencies as from what I can see out there, there are a good few jobs out there. Skills like accountancy can be learnt but you may have more to offer with your skills of being a shop manager - client relationships, people skills, managing staff etc.

This is gold dust thank you! I see what you mean about working in the industry whilst studying the return would be extremely valuable. But i'm hoping to leave it as very VERY last resort. Although i 100% understand its much better for learning. Is there any course option where i can avoid the work experience? What courses you recommend overall? I had been looking at doing a Diploma in accounting and business and then going onto work from there?

robo

I am sure there are plenty of diploma courses out there and now is certainly the time to look, as some of the colleges might be starting evening classes in Diplomas coming up to September - I am not aware of them. Others on this forum might be best able to guide you with them.
I just started ACCA last year and the reason I took up the course was because I was moved from a non-accounting role into an accounting role so I decided I might as well get more knowledge & a qualification at the same time.

witchgirl26

I know that both ACCA and ACA require work experience to actually get the qualification. It's part of it. ACA is a lot tougher in that the 3.5 years has to be with the same company/firm whereas any relevant accounts work experience can be used for ACCA and if you move job than you take the length of experience with you. Therefore you could be in position of having done all the exams and just needing to get the work experience - you might be able to negotiate a better salary with that than going in & doing both at the same time.

If you really don't want to do the work experience than you could do an evening diploma or degree even but speaking as someone who did a degree in accounting & the professional exams while working there is a massive difference between classroom learnt & practical.

Also, do you mind if I ask why you want the qualification? It's not really clear and if it's just because it could help with getting other jobs, be aware, they'll probably ask about experience. Exams are great but experience can trump them.

I think robo is right about chatting to some recruitment agencies about salaries etc. They're not necessarily that low & if you stick with industry rather than practice, starting out they can be higher (goes the other way up the scale a bit).

silent_spark

I think you could easily do the F1 to F9 ACCA papers while in your current job, if you don't already have exemptions (from an undergraduate degree). By the time you get to the professional papers you might find it difficult if you're not working in an accounting related role, but it's not impossible - but as others have said, it's probably in your best interests to make the jump as early as possible.

Avatar MIA

curry_person wrote: »

I could do accounting at work part time possibly but would that be enough?

Taking ACCA or the others wont really help you to set up a part time book-keeping service. You'd need a decent amount of practical experience to be competent/useful at that.

It's not very clear what your purpose is in studying accounting.

Is it because you like the subject and want to know more about debits and credits? If so a basic book-keeping course should help.

ACCA et al are for people that want to ultimately to become accountants. It is not a path to take on based on a vague idea of what you want out of it.

Most, if not all, of the institutes have exams that cover a very broad range outside of accountancy, such as HR, IT, Marketing, Behaviour and Strategy.

Do these interest you?

curry_person

witchgirl26 wrote: »

Also, do you mind if I ask why you want the qualification? It's not really clear and if it's just because it could help with getting other jobs, be aware, they'll probably ask about experience. Exams are great but experience can trump them.

I think robo is right about chatting to some recruitment agencies about salaries etc. They're not necessarily that low & if you stick with industry rather than practice, starting out they can be higher (goes the other way up the scale a bit).

To be honest i want to go into this field as its really high earnings, also its something i would have a interest in. I want to escape retail and venture on a new path. I've heard if you do the degree you don't have to do many the ACCA exams afterwards only 4 i believe? is that true?
The thoughts of doing a degree had played in my mind as i felt it leaves many doors open instead of just ACCA. What do you reckon could be a reasonable goal for me achieve to get in first year if i did opt to get experience first? Thank you! appreciate the advice

witchgirl26

curry_person wrote: »

To be honest i want to go into this field as its really high earnings, also its something i would have a interest in. I want to escape retail and venture on a new path. I've heard if you do the degree you don't have to do many the ACCA exams afterwards only 4 i believe? is that true?
The thoughts of doing a degree had played in my mind as i felt it leaves many doors open instead of just ACCA. What do you reckon could be a reasonable goal for me achieve to get in first year if i did opt to get experience first? Thank you! appreciate the advice

I'll be honest with you about the earnings - it's not as high as it was. I started on the road almost 9 years ago & I earn a good wage alright no denying but it's not massive. To get the big bucks its long hours, no social life & a lot of experience built up.

You do get exemptions by doing a degree but you'll still be doing exams in college so I think going straight into when you're not coming from school is actually a better path. I think it can also be done in the same time frame as a degree would take you to get to that point.

I'm not too up with the ACCA format as I did ACA. I think maybe if you did the basic first entry exams & then get in somewhere with those behind you it would lead to a bit of a better salary. Others might be able to help with the ACCA better than me though.

Sundance_Kid

I had exemptions from all the Foundation papers for the ACCA Exams due to my college degree. So started at the Professional Papers level

The only issue is that my college degree was 6 years previous, so when it came to doing some of the professional papers - I didn't do the relevant F paper so if anything it meant I was at a bit of a disadvantage as any college work was 6+ years back and long forgotten.

In hindsight, I wouldn't of minded not being exempted from some of the latter F papers.

Chartered Accountants Ireland: Careers Team

witchgirl26 wrote: »

I know that both ACCA and ACA require work experience to actually get the qualification. It's part of it. ACA is a lot tougher in that the 3.5 years has to be with the same company/firm whereas any relevant accounts work experience can be used for ACCA

Hi there, just wanted to mention this point - this is not actually accurate. With the Flexible Route, you can get your experience in a number of different companies as you won't be under a training contract. You can build up your 3.5 years slowly and gradually, and you don't need to be in a relevant role to start your studies.

Please PM me if you'd like more information on this.

witchgirl26

Chartered Accountants Ireland: Careers Team wrote: »

Hi there, just wanted to mention this point - this is not actually accurate. With the Flexible Route, you can get your experience in a number of different companies as you won't be under a training contract. You can build up your 3.5 years slowly and gradually, and you don't need to be in a relevant role to start your studies.

Please PM me if you'd like more information on this.

That's interesting to know. Must have changed from when I was doing it