Becomming an accountant

L

legend99

Guest
lads,
maybe one of you can help me out. I'm not a Finance/Business/Accounting grad, I'm an Engineer. Graduated about 5 years ago, but, God knows why, I'm really ken on switching into accounting.
I've looked up the CIMA site, seems I could do the courses in my own time and keep working where I am, or I guess the other path is to try and basically be recruted as a grad in one of the bigger places and do my 3 year stint there is it for my Prof Exams to be come Chartered Accounant.

So listen, can anyone offer words of advice etc etc. I'm only 28 so not massively old, but obviously the biggest problem is how much of a salary hit I could be looking at. So if one managed to get CIMA done in your own time, any idea what your starting salary might then be for the 3 years expericcne you need to become fully qualified.

or if you jumped straight into an accountants office tomorrow to start off training to become a chartered accountant, what kind of cash would you be on?

Thanks for any help guys!
 
If you go down the Chartered route you will have to sign a contract for 3.5 years. I work in a small practise in Dublin and the junior staff, straight out of college, would start around the €15K mark. The big 4 will probably pay more..maybe up to €20K. On top of this you will get your course fees paid and study leave. Our boss makes the juniors pay their own exam fees and refunds them if they pass. They also have to pay their own registration fee to ICAI which this year came to €985. Bear in mind that ICAI will send details of all assignment results and attendance at lectures to your boss....

If you choose CIMA you can study on your own time and don't have to work in the area, however once you finish the exams you will need 3 years work experiance in order to become a member.

Its do-able if you don't work in the area but you will have to bear the cost of courses, exam fees etc yourself. The courses are fairly expensive. Your looking at 350 - 500 per subject. (contact BPP and they will be able to give you a better idea) You will probably use up all your annual leave in order to study.

The benefit of working in the area would be getting a better understanding of some of the subjects you are studying. Salary wise I'd suggest you contact Accountancy Solutions or one of the more specialised employment agencies who may be able to give you a better idea of a starting salary...its generally accepted that industry pays better than practise. You may get assistance with your cours fees, study leave etc. Generally you will get better study leave in practise.

Another aspect of CIMA is that its aimed towards industy, thereby pigeon-holeing yourself. Have you considered ACCA? Its a more flexible qualification in that you study Auditing so you have the choice of practise or industry. Its basically Chartered without the contract...

Hope I've been of some help
 
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thanks Kiddo. Thats great info.

So is ACCA the same as Chartered in so far as you need to work for 3 years while studyuing/doing exams in a practice? in that case, I assume you start around the 15-20 k mark also.

At the end of the day, is there a difference between Chartered and ACCA...(I take it ACCA is what used to be known as certified??) is one regarded as better than the other, considering the big 4 all seem to do the Chartered route?


if one did do CIMA and managed to get as far as all exams being done, any idea what the starting salary might be for the 3 years of office work???

You have any idea yourself Kiddo, what you might do if you were me....are you ACCA yourself?
 
Re: ..

Yes I'm ACCA, after a long hard struggle :) ACCA is Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

The difference between ACCA & Chartered is that you don't have to sign a contract with anyone. In terms of exam content they are pretty similar. Chartered used to have more "snob" value but thats all changed now. I don't know why the Big 4 recruit for "chartered". One advantage of training in the Big 4 is that you would probably have a better chance of getting a job in a multi-national company.

ACCA is similar in structure to CIMA in that you can study while your working at something else, and gain your 3 years experience before,during or after you pass all your exams. You can choose whether to work in practise or industry. The only thing being its easy to move from practise to industry but not the other way around..

The difference between CIMA & ACCA is that ACCA exams include auditing whereas CIMA doesn't. So a Chartered or Certified Accountant can work in either practise or industry whereas a CIMA accountant is effectivly limiting the options to industry.

I haven't a clue how much you'd get if you sat all the exams first. Again I can only suggest that you contact a few of the agencies.

Personally I'd choose ACCA. Reasons being
1. its the same qualification as Chartered
2. freedom to move jobs that signing a contract doesn't allow
3. it doesn't limit the options like CIMA
4. You sit your exams twice a year enabling you to get past the finishing post a lot sooner than Chartered.

I moved jobs many times during my training, while its not something I'd recommend (lost me many an interview) its better than being stuck in the same job for 3.5 years and hating it. I started out in practise, moved to industry, hated every minute and then moved back to practise.

I'd be more likely to try & get a job before spending 2/3 years studying for a qualification then hating the work.

Any other questions, just ask
 
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Only reason i was trying to say get exams done before doing the 3 years practice is the hope that you'd start on a better wage that way.

Ok, so it seems, cause you'e not the only person to say this to me!, that ACCA is the way to go. But, i'm guessing that if i applied to a place tomorrow that as you say they'd offer me 15k a year like..which is impossible with my mortgage etc etc

Only hope is to do ACCA exams at night....and then hope if you had them all passed that the starting salarys for the training period is not that low....
 
Re: ..

I'm not trying to put you off, but the main reason the starting salaries are so low(in practise anyway) is that your getting "on the job" training,coupled with study leave & financial assistance re exams. You probably would get an extra 5k (maybe more in industry) but being realistic you couldn't expect to be starting on 30K or whatever they pay newly qualifieds these days...

The reality is that what you learn in a classroom, while being relevant to some extent, is a lot different to the reality of working as an accountant.

Have you thought about what area you'd like to work in? If I was in your shoes I'd talk to a recruitment agency or two and get some feedback on the kind of salaries you could expect both in practise & industry, with and without the exams.

Its a tough one especially with the mortgage & bills to pay. Could you rent a room or two to help out?

Another misconception is that we get paid shedloads of dosh...not the case unfortunatly. I'm fairly well paid but its the policy of my boss to pay over the odds as a mechanism to keep staff....Luckily I like it here :)
 
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yea, actually reliased that a former rugby trainer is working in recruitment in financial area so have banged off an email to him and will contact him about it.
 
acca distance learning

some modules can be done with griffith college
[broken link removed]

dont know how this works in practice ? or how easy it is to complete not working in an accounting position coming from engineering ??
 
Re: acca distance learning

I have been looking on the ACCA website at pass rates for exams it consistently comes in about mid to late 40% pass rate - i would have thought that this would reduce as people are for want of a better word weeded out at the earlier stages ?
 
Re: acca distance learning

i would have thought that this would reduce as people are for want of a better word weeded out at the earlier stages ?

ACCA give quite good exemptions, especially to holders of Business Degrees. Its possible to get up to 9 exemptions thus leaving 5 exams left to pass. This may explain the pass rates being consistant through all levels.

You have 10 years from the time you register to complete the exams and there is no limit on the number of times you can sit them. AFAIK Chartered set a limit on the number of times you can sit each exams...their version of weeding....

But I've seen cases where people had a natural ability for accountancy but struggled with their exams...and the other side of the coin people who flew through the exams with brilliant % but couldn't put a set of accounts together....go figure
 
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I've been thinking it through anyway. With mortgage, other commitments etc I don't know what to do. If i sit all the exams in either CIMA or ACCA I can't get the final qualification until 3 years exp is done.
Now, even if I flew the exams, I'd probably have close to 7-8 years IT experience and I am an Engineer by Degree. At that poitn in time I just wouldn't be able to go as a traineee in practice earning 20k.

So, I would have to hope to get some kind of magic job in industry, sellnig myself as having an Eng degree, 8 years expierience in IT and having passed all my exams in either CIMA or ACCA and hope to get myself a job in say a finance dept of a big company where I could do my three years but not have to have a really crap trainee role.


is that in any way possible/practical? or am I only fooling myself and even if I busted my balls doing the exams I wouldn't have a hope of nailing down any kind of decent job even in industry? And with what i am describing should I lean more towards CIMA or ACCA??

Thanks for the help lads.
 
Re: ..

Do you really, really want to be an accountant - or do you just want to work 'in business'? Would you consider a business role in an engineering company, where you would have P&L responsibility for a business area?
 
Check out exemptions

Check out exemption on the accountancy websites like:
www.cpaireland.ie

Money in accountancy practices is indeed very poor. Many of my friends who are qualified earn precious little.
 
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Jaysus, many of my friends in practise in the big four earn 70k. Which I would regard as not so bad at all.
They are about 6 years out.
 
Re: ..

Yeah...any of my accountant friends are earning serious bucks. Mind you...I'd rather cut off my own right arm than be an accountant...but each to their own and all that ;)
 
aca / acca

if one goes the aca route one has to sign contract for 3.5 yrs with a chartered firm ?

i imagine somebody coming from an IT university qualified background 3 yrs experience IT industry would have difficulty securing a position with an aca registered accounting firm ?
 
Well Legend99

did you think anymore about this? I too am thinking along the same lines as yourself and the salary hit would be the big thing for me aswell.

I work in IT in an accounts envoirnment so have a good idea of what it is like to work in this type of envoirnment (if you get my drift)
 
CIMA

I'm registered with CIMA as a student. While I haven't done any exams, I got 9 exemptions on registration so have to do 4 exams and the final exam, TOPCIMA. They recommend that a student doesn't do TOPCIMA (Test of Professional Competence in Management Accounting) until the work experience is completed and approved. I glanced at the part of the student handbook that covers work experience and it lists a lot of areas, some of which you may have already done. You have to write up a career profile and send it off but if some of the accounts/IT stuff you've done already is covered, you may get away with 2-2.5 years.
If you're not being sponsored by a firm who pays your fees, you have to pay for the exemptions. Registration was Stg£125 and my 9 exemptions cost me £450 (or they will whenever I decide to pay them!) so thats £575 before I do anything.
I plan to study by distance learning as there are no colleges near me and the home study pack from BPP is €180 for the subject I'm hoping to do this year. My salary isn't great (started here almost 2 years ago in 16k, now earning 18k) but I'm looking at moving jobs soon and there seems to be jobs out there for about €25-30k but thats with my 2 years experience.
 
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hey cushtie....something came up just before the Jan 31 deadline for CIMA. So I let the CIMA registration go for now. Not sure yet if the other thing is going to work out or not. Decided that if it didn't I will go with CIMA for June deadline(or maybe its July)
Another serious issue for me is how much it will cost. Between registering, exams, even distance learning its serious cash.

if you want to send me a private message I'll tell you what my own accountant friends etc advised me...too early to type all of it now!


"Well Legend99

did you think anymore about this? I too am thinking along the same lines as yourself and the salary hit would be the big thing for me aswell.

I work in IT in an accounts envoirnment so have a good idea of what it is like to work in this type of envoirnment (if you get my drift)"
 
Sorry if this seems like i am bumping up a reply but i remember reading in the old board about a course that entitles you to 2 exemptions in the ACCA exams that can be taken by night. I have tried searching but to no avail. I would really appreciate any help.

I have a feeling the course is called Dip in Fin Management run by the Dublin Business School although i am not sure. Have tried their site but I just cant find it.
 
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