Career change to accountancy related

This topic has been covered in part elsewhere so forgive me for the repetitiveness of some of it but my query is somewhat different.
I am an IT professional working for a relatively big firm. I work in support/design and my gross salary is circa 70K (including perks car etc.)

I am interested in changing careers to working in finance/accounting and from talking to the various Course directors and career advisers the best advice appears to be to head straight for the accountancy exams. My question is in 4 parts. Before I ask them I need to add that I would not be in a position to give up my job and I do not think I will be in a position to approach my company to pay/support me in my studies. I work in a technical role and accounting/finance is a whole other section where we are hated.
In my favour I have many years experience of Mangement in the entertainment industry. The relevance (or irrelevance) of that is that I have not spent my whole working life working in IT and I do have a good sense of the market place.

1. Am I dreaming at 39 years of age to be thinking of getting into accounting. By that I mean will the inevitable pay cut be too much and will there even be any work for 40+ years of age newly qualified accountants

2. Will I find it impossible to get the qualifications when I have a full time job and a 1 hour commute to my office every day (lecture locations would be on the way home)

3. My ultimate goal is to have my own practice in however many years it takes. With that in mind what qualifications should I begin with. Bear in my mind I have no accounting background although am good with figures and do all the tax returns for my colleagues at work (not much I know but still...)
Also I was student once and have a BSc and completed 1 year of a Diploma in business studies, certificate awarded (8 years ago now) Will that count for anything.

4. How do I actually get into a course. Is it a question of just going to the various open days on next month and dealing with the colleges or do I have to firstly approach one of the Associations and sign with them.
Finally what will be the cost roughly for lectures and exams over the course of the next 2/3 years.

If you are kind enough to reply please be aware that I am starting from scratch so excuse my igonorance of the topic.

I know it is the silly season but is there anyone out there with any advice on this topic before I take the plunge ?

Why not try something that used both skills IT and accountancy?

Oracle Financials is always highly sought after and it might be a good entrance to the world of accountancy.

I'm in the Financial side of IT and about the same vintage as yourself so I may consider a financial qualification at some stage but I don't want to start from scratch completely again.

The accountancy exams are very tough and even if you get them what then.
Big accountancy firms won't take on a trainee in their 40's and you wouldn't be able to live on what a smaller firm would pay even if they would take you on.

The accountancy exams are tough but they are also miles removed from day to day accountancy work,so the exams without the experience are no good.

If the firm you are in now would facilitate some kind of move into Finance that would be your best bet

I'd say if its your dream go for it because it wont go away and the longer you leave it the more you will regret it. A number of my friends have changed direction mid career and have no regrets. If you are doing what you want to do then opportunities naturally arise.
If you start with the accountancy technician exams then you will be able to supplement your income with private clients. There is always a huge demand for Book-keeping, VAT / PAYE and Financial Returns. I know of a number of people who are part qualified accountants and make a nice living by providing these services.
As you progress you will niche IT/ Financial consultancy opportunities will also unfold. Go for it.
Tangerine

I began studying Chartered Public Accountancy this year - i am in my early 30s. Agewise, students at lectures i attended ranged from 28-55. I have a demanding full-time job and spend 2.5 hours a day commuting.

In CPA, you MUST pass all four subjects at ONE sitting. There is very high failure rate. The level of dedication is required is very high, and balancing study,lectures, job, commuting and the very occasional social night out is very tough. I attended lectures last year, and am attempting exams this coming April (2008). I was in no way prepared for the instensity!

In contrast, with ACCA, you can study and sit ONE exam at a time. Which is much easier to manage.

You will get exemptions for your third level qualifications.

In both CPA and ACCA, you must also complete a training record - if you only do the exams, you will only be part-qualified. However, from reading your initial entry, you actually do have quite a lot of experience in, for example, Management - so you might be pleasantly suprised at how much credit you will be allowed for your current experience.

Def go for it if you want to! On an aside, what about becoming an IT auditor? IT auditors are in very high demand, can command high salaries. Most auditors have accountancy qualifications - cos auditing is fairly new - but look at the Institute of Internal Auditors (uk & Irl) and check out jobs & salaries..

good luck!

p.s - meant to add - have look at CPA (Ireland) website - you can email them directly with any queries and they are usually very prompt at replying.

triplex said:

I began studying Chartered Public Accountancy this year - ...

Click to expand...

I hate to break it to you...it is Certified Public Accountancy

I did my first accounting exam when I was just 30. I did CIMA.

I took no classes and studied in my own time (I work in IT as well) and didn't find the exams so difficult. If you are interested in financial markets anyway then you should be able to understand accounting for rights issues etc. I found the law, finance and economics modules interesting in themselves.

I have done up to strategic level and there is just one more exam. But I know I don't have the relevant experience to apply for membership.

I would advise just to start doing exams in your own time. With CIMA, the first exams are online now, but if you are thinking of practice you are better off with ACCA.

Doing the exams has not really been of benefit to my career, but I did get called to some interviews I would not otherwise have gotten. I have emigrated since, to Germany, where the accounting system is different so I`m not really looking at the moment.

Hi,

I deal with students in work some of whom would have signed up for accountancy studies. I have a little knowlege about these studies and some of the things that I have observed are as follows:

A lot of the students seem to opt for BPP

Because a lot of these students are supported by the company their costs are not high but as you intend funding the studies yourself you may find it tough going financially. Many of the payments are in £ also.

If you were to do the Accountant Technician course would it give you some exemptions in your accountancy studies?

Depending on the accountancy course you choose am I right in thinking that there can be anything up to 15 exams?

Hope things work out for you as you do seem to have a keen interest in pursuing this route. I suppose a one hour commute is standard these days but be aware that at certain times of the year lectures can entail week-ends as well.

I moved from IT to accountancy 2 years ago. Had always wanted to do it but found it very boring tbh. Not for me at all...am currently moving job back to a senior IT position & can't wait. Like you I had a dream of opening my own practice, but the time & experience you need to get will take sooo long I didn't feel it worth it. From a financial point of view it will take you a long time to reach 70k in accountancy if you go back to scratch...5-6 years min...in which time you'd probably get promoted in IT to around 85-90k...

For my tuppence I'd say don't do it. I was 31 when I made my switch for info

Best of luck though whatever you do!

From what i have heard accountancy exams are difficult to pass. This is not because it is a difficult subject per se but because the accountancy bodies deliberately limit the number of people who pass on each sitting

Why are you doing this? I mean you should know this before you start. You say that you want to have your own accounting practice. If that's the case the only option I believe is ACCA as you can do practice with that and you won't need to go through an apprenticeship with Big 4 (ACA) etc who normally only take in graduates. Maybe CPA allows auditing also, I don't know. Chartered, as a rule is a safer bet though.
If you don't necessarily want to have your practice then CIMA is an option but it's more industry focused and you can't do audit.
I'm not sure about ACCA but I did Cima in just over 2 years with no classes. The exams across the bodies aren't that bad really - I would reccommend doing the revision courses which are held about a month before the exams. That's when I would start!
It's more about exam technique and focus than anything else. You could waste months poring over books and fail miserably because you didn't do enough exam questions. If you have a good history with exams then you should be ok.
On the experience side you need to be rewriting your cv to highlight the financial side of things and preferably, while still doing your exams, actually working in a financial area so as to have the experience necessary for getting your membership. You can only say that you are qualified when this has been accepted also, not just having done your exams.
The reason I asked what do you see yourself doing at the start is that, like the person above found out, you need to be fairly sure that you will like what you are getting into. For example, the reporting side of accounting (where most of the jobs are) can be tedious and boring. The application of accounting and finance in a strategic sense is more stimulating. I myself work in corporate finance which is quite interesting. Just be sure that you have a clear idea what your expectations are!

Evan, how do you know the accountancy bodies limit the no of people who pass? am shocked and depressed at thought - the amount of effort, study and money this costs is not funny!

Glasso, why is chartered better?

V depressed!

I don't wish to get into a debate on Chartered versus Certified. I'm only going from a brand perspective - that's the way it works.

Some bodies have a sort of quota on the %'s that pass the exams each time. It's not strictly the case but there is definitely an elment of it going on, even though the accountancy bodies would deny this of course.

For example, if they set an "easy" exam, they would still make sure that the top 60% pass and the rest fail. It's sort of a standards thing I guess... you can't have everyone getting through... otherwise the qualification would have little value.

Just make sure that you are in the required percentile or above...

I also have a degree in IT but I'm currently working for myself so I'm considering doing the ACCA Accounting Technician course on a part time basis over 2 years starting September. This is just mainly for myself to get a better handle on that side of the business and reduce accounting fees. Has anyone else done this course and if so how intensive is it? Would I be able to do book-keeping for other small businesses once I've completed the course?

I think with your skillset you would be better off financially to stay in the IT world but maybe crossover into consultancy and possibly get in to Finance Systems accounting/consultancy. Mainstream accounting can be quite boring preparing accounts on a conveyor belt rota.
If you still want to do it then you should work out what area of accounting you want to work in ie banking/Fin Services/Practice/industry and then go and talk to someone who works in that area who can tell give you the inside story. You mentioned about running your own practice but I think thats ambitous given your age and time it will take to qualify unless you go the book keeping route or computerised accounts(to exploit your IT backgroung). Your best bet is to offer to work for an accountancy practice on their IT business (if they have one) and in return they agree to train you up on Finance.