Accountancy Technician Training

W

Wizzit

Guest
I am Thinking of doing accounting Technician training. I am aged 40 and have been teaching geography in a secondary school for the last 18 years. I feel I need a change. Dont get me wrong I have enjoyed the last 18 years teaching but I dont want to end up like some teachers who always complain about been bored or stuck in their jobs. Would like to try something new. I was always interested in the business/economics side of things but I did not get the points to study commerce. As my wife works outside the home as well, and has a good income, I am in the lucky position of being able to afford to take a cut in salary or time off to study. Is this a mid life crisis?

Any advise or ideas welcome
 
Hi,

I done the ACCA accounting technician course however i would recommend the IATI course as there is more material in it and it is based on Irish laws and Regulations as opposed to UK laws.

You can study the course in a number of colleges all over Ireland by day or night. I think that would be your best option and you could still teach away by day and when you have finished the course you will know then if accounting is or is not for you. Good luck anyway..

Jockey
 
Thanks for the reply.

Is the ACCA accounting Technician more recognised than the IATI course? Is one better than the other for further accountancy training? What sort of pay would an newly qualified accountant technician earn? Is there any college/school you would recommend for part time study?

Thanks again.
 
Hi Wizzit, I'm presuming your looking more at a career break than a complete change of career at the moment. At 40 I would say you are too young to throw away the stability of your current job that would be my thoughts anyway. The IATI have a great web site that gives details of all Evening Classes etc that are available and also have a link to Salary Survey etc for different parts of the country. I qualified as an Accounting Technician abt 6 yrs ago and have been told now that I have reached the top of the salary Scale for an Accounting Technician and believe you me it wouldn't go anywhere towards getting you any kind of Mortgage Approval at the current house prices in almost any part of the Country.

I would recommend you try the Evening Classes first before making any harsh decisions that way you continue to have the stability of your current job, you are looking at 2 years to attain your IATI qualification but you can also continue your studies after this to qualify as a Certified Public Accountant with about another 3 years of evening classes (you can get exemptions from some subject in the first year of CPA depending on your IATI results).

Good Luck with whatever you deceide.
 
Wizzit,

I would also go with Cashstrapped's advice to stick to your own job, plenty of teachers i know continously study night courses every year while carrying on with their teaching careers.

I would say the IATI course would be more widely recognised in Ireland then the ACCA course but i only did it so i would be exempt from part 1 of the ACCA professional exams because thats the accounting body i wanted to be a member of for various reasons. The same goes for the IATI course, there are good exemptions from the first part of the CPA exams.

I am currently working in practice and the money would probably be about a quarter of what a teacher earns but in a few years hopefully i will be rolling in it!!!

Jockey
 
IATI is a great way of testing the water to see if it's right for you, you could continue your teaching and as you teachers have so much time off (joke!) you may even be able to pick up some accountancy work on the side to see if it's what you want to do. As an accountant (IATI/CPA qualified) i can tell you that accountancy is not the most exciting career in the world either but it was a good choice for me as i now have my own business and wouldn't have achieved this without starting out doing my IATI course. I would recommend IATI over the ACCA technicians course, but that is just based on my own personal experience.
 
IATI is far tougher and gives good exemptions, especially for the tax institute

you can sit the exams in mid may or mid aug, results 7 weeks later

CAT is easier to sit and allows for people who are short on time (you can sit 1 exam at a time.)

you can sit the exams twice a year june and dec, results 6/7 weeks later.

I am IATI qualified and i know people who have sat the CAT exams.

Personally i feel that the IATI give a far better grounding for those who want to continue their studying while the CAT gives a false sense of security.

Anyone who i know who has gone on afterwards has been blown away at the jump in exam standard (difficulty) after studying CAT

Earnings potential depends on industry or practice, practice pays lower but you can gain experience that could result in you becoming self employed.
Industry roles are better paid initially but taper off at a certain level.

Starting rates practice 16 - 19k
industry 20 - 22k

CAT link [broken link removed]

IATI link

Hope this helps
 
Could anybody give me an idea of the workload involved in the IATI Accounting Technician course? I've signed up for it by night (three hours, twice a week) but, needing to plan ahead, I'd like to know how much additional study others who have gained this qualification ended up putting in. I don't want to commit to other things if this is going to be very heavy going. Obviously, it'll vary from person to person, but just a rough idea would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
 
Hi

I have just done my exams for year two of iati, I found it tough going I have to say, Have you a back ground in accounting or any of the subjects? if so it will help a lot, I didn't do accounting in school and this made things tough for me in year one. Just make sure you keep on top of each topic as its done in class, you would be surprised how quickly you run out of time coming up to the exams, ( if your working too. ). Try going to all classes for Accounting and Tax anyway. Hope this helps.
 
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