ACCA / CPA Time Frame

theunforgiven

Hi All,
I am going back to study either ACCA or CPA. I am a bit late to the game and will be starting from the bottom.
I have plenty of experience and am IATI qualified about 15 years at this stage.

I am not asking which is easier or best but I would like to know anyone's experience with exam sittings for either of these two accounting bodies.

As I have to start from the bottom I would like to get the first stage of either, done as quickly as possible (time wise) and by the looks of it ACCA has more exam sitting per year so am leaning towards these.

Am I correct in thinking this?
I am not naïve enough to that I will pass each exam first time but with more exam sittings per year (more chances to pass exams per year).
I was hoping to take all 4 F1 CPA exams or the first 3 ACCA exams together. (Dilpoma)(Whichever body I decide to go with).

Thank you in advance for any help or replies.

tanit

I am ACA so my opinion and experiences are from the outside of those certifications, but from knowing other people that have gone through either CAI, CPA and ACCA, ACCA would be the one from the exam sittings point of view that may be more convenient. The majority of ACCA I know work in industry and than in practice so you might want to consider which professional path you want to follow when opting for one or the other.

In theory you might have exemptions for any of the certifications as IATI but I think that at least Chartered only lets you claimed them if there has been less than 10 years since you last were studying, and the other might as well. And in theory with your experience passing the first exams might not be that difficult, it would be more of refreshing your knowledge and the technical points, but you should take a look not just at the number of exam sittings during the year but the amount of time you can dedicate to your studies and the availability of classes (most of them have moved tuition online so this is going to make things easier for you if you are not in a place like Dublin or Cork). Once you get to intermediate and advance levels, the material is going to become more difficult and more exam sittings will not make any difference. What it is going to make a difference is how much time you can dedicate to study and lectures, and if you can take some time off before exams to study. Studying and working can become very hard, you will have to rearrange things around quite a bit to make things work and if you have a family the 3 years of exams are going to be very hard for all.

Do not focus so much on the number of sittings but more on how much time you have available and how much support you have already and are going to need. Working and studying is going to make things like grocery shopping very difficult, because you are going to need planning simple things well in advance and go around fitting those tasks around your free time. And after a while not having free time, will burn you.

SureYWouldntYa

CIMA might not be applicable to you depending on where you want to go in your career, but in terms of exam sittings and flexibility it's very good

The first 4 exams can be sat on demand online at any time, you would more than likely be exempt from these 4 depending on the exact level of your qualification

The professional degree then follows which is 12 exams in total, broken up into 3 groups of 4. The first 3 exams in each set can be done online on demand at any time, with a case study based on those 3 exams following which must be sat in certain windows which are Feb, May, Aug and Nov

The fact you sit most of the exams any time is very handy for repeats, I failed one on a Thursday (99 out of 150, pass mark is 100) and sat it again 8 days later and passed, no time for stuff to be falling out of the head. You get an instant result, pass/fail depending on what you got as marked by the computer with your proper scaled result following 48 hours later

You can also sit the exams one at a time and properly focus on an area more than you would with an exam window, while you might have 3 months to prepare for 2 exams I know I'd rather sit 1 exam with 6 weeks prep and then do the same again for the next exam with 6 weeks prep

It might not be for you since you said you're looking at ACCA / CPA but just wanted to let you know some of the pros of CIMA since I'm currently going through it myself

theunforgiven

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated. Still a bit to consider but your insights are helpful.
Best of luck to you both in your exams!

Cheers,