Any advice would be very grateful

Mhmammy

Hi everyone,

I am currently employed as a part time accounts assistant . I am a Mam to 3 children and I am 39 years old. I studied Iati and ipass a good few years ago and I am now considering further study. Am I too old to start ? Any help or what you recommend to study ie Acca , Cima , Cpa would be brilliant..

tanit

Mhmammy wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am currently employed as a part time accounts assistant . I am a Mam to 3 children and I am 39 years old. I studied Iati and ipass a good few years ago and I am now considering further study. Am I too old to start ? Any help or what you recommend to study ie Acca , Cima , Cpa would be brilliant..

No you are not. That said the exams for professional accountancy are a b1tch (excuse my language) and if you have small children that need attention and no help it's going to become very, very difficult. I have been around people in your situation and it was very, very tough for them.

If the children can be left to their devices because they are old and responsible then it's going to be better. You will have very little time to spare but it's feasible. Acca and Cpa give the chance of doing the exams on a one by one basis and they also provide distance learning without having to go to class. ACA provides lectures in many places in Ireland and some distance learning with contact days that you have to attend, but you will need to do the exams in block. You can still do them in parts for CAP1 and CAP2 (blocks of 2), but FAE is all at the same time, it can be very tough to do this if you are not in a training contract with study leave or in a job where you cannot get proper time to study. Some people have done it but it's very tough without proper leave.

CIMA it's kind of different than the other ones. They never do Audits (they are not an Audit body), it's more financial and management reporting and finance and to be honest I don't know how they organise their exams. They have kind of branched out from the main accountancy bodies. They are still very much about financial reporting (traditional accounts) but they are more industry, manufacturing oriented.

So basically the body you choose will decide which kind of jobs you might have open to you when you qualify. Some people do the traditional accountancy route (ACA, ACCA, CPA) and then specialised further going for CIMA or for the Chartered Tax Advisor qualification.

You should take a look at the websites and see what it suits you better.

Whatever you decide best of luck

Mhmammy

Thanks so much for all that information.. my children are not small so that won't be a problem. I'm in industry at the moment but have worked in practice previously. Which route to choose is now the question . Thanks again

All in all

Another thing to possibly consider is the exemptions that you may gain for your Accounting Technician qualification with the different bodies. If there were more exemptions with one body it may mean that you have a quicker route to qualification.

Also at a practical level it may be worth researching where you can do the courses for the different bodies that is suitable for work/home.

sReq | uTeK

Mhmammy wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am currently employed as a part time accounts assistant . I am a Mam to 3 children and I am 39 years old. I studied Iati and ipass a good few years ago and I am now considering further study. Am I too old to start ? Any help or what you recommend to study ie Acca , Cima , Cpa would be brilliant..

say it takes you 4 years to get qualified.

That leave you with 25 years left to work, assuming retirement age goes to 75.

Think about that, 25 years.... its a long time in a career and job.