ACCA route or Accounting technician??

JPARP

Hi all,

I am considering going on to do ACCA exams. Anyone do ACCA exams that have children and work full time??
I work in a finance department and have QFA but won't have any exemptions from that qualification.
Would I be best to do Accounting technician first and proceed on from that I wonder?
Anyone with any experience in this area advice would be much appreciated
TIA

Jem123

JPARP wrote: »

Hi all,

I am considering going on to do ACCA exams. Anyone do ACCA exams that have children and work full time??
I work in a finance department and have QFA but won't have any exemptions from that qualification.
Would I be best to do Accounting technician first and proceed on from that I wonder?
Anyone with any experience in this area advice would be much appreciated
TIA

Hi Jparp,

I completed accounting technicians a good few years ago and now on final stages of ACCA. I have 3 kids and work 4 days a week. If I was starting again I think I would have gone immediately into ACCA instead of doing the accounting technicians course first. AT was 2 full years of study, 2 nights a week.

I only got 2 exemptions from it for ACCA. ACCA is much more flexible and you can study at your own pace. A lot of the early exams are computer based and can be taken quite regularly and in my opinion are easily passed.

It is hard to study with kids around so I tend to get up before work and fit in an hour or two aswell as early weekend studying.

Best of luck with whatever you choose!

Avatar MIA

If you ultimately want to be an accountant then I'd advise going straight for ACCA professional. BTW, they also do CAT (their version of technician).

MartyMcFly84

If your goal is to be an accountant I would recommend going straight into the ACCA exams.

The ACCA exams have three levels foundation, skills then professional level. With no exemptions there is 13 exams over all so the sooner you start the better.

The accounting tech course would be a round about way of getting to your goal and could ultimately delay you further, as you could make a serious dent into your ACCA exams in the time it takes to the AT course.

I would recommend doing the first 4 ACCA exams as quickly as possible. They are the easiest and no need to loose time attending classes or doing full courses for these ones imo. I did, and it probably delayed me the best part of a year, while I know others who passed these with just a few week prep. From exam 5 onwards the level increases quite steeply and these exams certainly need more time.

JPARP

Hi all,

Many thanks for your responses! I am registered for ACCA and am completing my first exam in Dec'19!
I am studying with Accountancy school through their online course so hoping it all works out..

Thanking you
JParp

Cats26

Hi just come across this post. I have just completed my Accounting Technician course and am looking into further study. I was undecided on whether to do an Accounting and Finance degree or ACCA, but I think there are better job opportunities as an accountant! I'm hoping to get 4 exemptions from ATI, the guy I spoke to yesterday said this, however he didn't sound too sure and I see from a previous post here someone didn't get any exemptions?? I work full time and am a seperated mam with 3 kids and would have to travel an hr to classes. So I'm thinking of only sitting 1 exam at a time. Is this normal or do people tend to do more than 1?

robo

Cats26 wrote: »

Hi just come across this post. I have just completed my Accounting Technician course and am looking into further study. I was undecided on whether to do an Accounting and Finance degree or ACCA, but I think there are better job opportunities as an accountant! I'm hoping to get 4 exemptions from ATI, the guy I spoke to yesterday said this, however he didn't sound too sure and I see from a previous post here someone didn't get any exemptions?? I work full time and am a seperated mam with 3 kids and would have to travel an hr to classes. So I'm thinking of only sitting 1 exam at a time. Is this normal or do people tend to do more than 1?

Just on the travelling for classes - you can do them all live online with most of the colleges (if not all) and you can type a question in the chat window of the lecture as if you are in the actual classroom. Also, you can watch the lectures back if the time doesn't suit you. That might help you with the lectures.
Not sure about exemptions - but best of luck with it all

JPARP

Cats26 wrote: »

Hi just come across this post. I have just completed my Accounting Technician course and am looking into further study. I was undecided on whether to do an Accounting and Finance degree or ACCA, but I think there are better job opportunities as an accountant! I'm hoping to get 4 exemptions from ATI, the guy I spoke to yesterday said this, however he didn't sound too sure and I see from a previous post here someone didn't get any exemptions?? I work full time and am a seperated mam with 3 kids and would have to travel an hr to classes. So I'm thinking of only sitting 1 exam at a time. Is this normal or do people tend to do more than 1?

Just on the above.
I have 2 small children and have opted to start the ACCA through distance learning (Accountancy School). This means I can do it all at home at a time that suits. My first exam is in Dec'19 and my first lecture starts on Monday 2nd September.
I don't have the option to travel to classes. Something like this may help you.
Best of luck if you go this route.