[carl29]

For the record, when i finally passed, NONE of the supposed ‘clues’ applied to me

[carl29]

I think you will find that a lot of people are in the same boat, in fact, out of everyone i know that has studied accountancy, they have done so whilst working full time. I did, i have a family at home too and was managing a finance department. Evenings and weekends, the time when most can study, were pretty full at times too, so it was a struggle. We had a baby, plus got married during the time i was studying, so it is do-able, even if it takes longer

I suppose you have to decide if its for you? are you prepared to give up most of your free time for a couple more years (wait till you get to the option papers…), or is it not for you?

Career wise, its definitely worth it, even if not just for the added salary

[carl29]

Dont know, if i was the employer probably not really, it might help, but id be more interested in your experience, not what marks you got in your exams. No employer or potential employer i have interviewed for has every asked me about marks

I cant talk for everyone, I imagine the big 4 would be interested, or some sort of practice

But good marks show you have made a good effort, I would say 78 / 80 are well above average

[carl29]

no, not unless you were to show them

I have heard of employers asking for first time passes in some instances, and maybe some ask for marks, but i’ve known anyone be asked

[carl29]

good enough for what?

You need 50 to pass, the mark is pretty much irrelevant, theres no grading level like with a degree. if you passed with 99, or 50, you passed, thats it really, your mark isnt recognised anywhere. You might get an award from ACCA if you got 99 though

[carl29]

just did a bit of reading, ‘chartered’ means that the profession holds status of being recognised under the ‘royal charter’, which means the profession holds a certain amount of recognised power by the crown

[carl29]

if you are doing ACCA, you will be a certified chartered accountant, thats what the qualification is. It doesn’t matter what papers you do

Do you mean if you want to work in practice or industry?

[carl29]

I think (and expect to be corrected) chartered accountants were historically the originally officially recognised ones, as in those that had completed a certain level of qualification and experience. I believe that this is recognised in the UK as the ICAEW, which i think is the ACA qualification

I think since then, ACCA has formed, CIMA etc… which are just different variants of the above, its just where the industry has developed. I have always thought that ACA/ICAEW tends to be more focussed on practice accountants, the old school expectation of what an accountant is, ACCA allows entry into either practice or commercial accounting, but with some additional requirement for the former, and CIMA purely commercial accounting

I dont see there being much difference, but often people outside the industry will ask ‘are you chartered?’ as they probably know what that means, but dont know the different types. A bit like if you were to ask someone what they do, and they said ‘Im a doctor’, that could mean GP , paedatrician, surgeon, psychologist etc… they are all doctors, but for different applications, same with Acccounting. You might get a CIMA qual to advise on corporate strategy, but they probably wouldnt be able to do your sole trader tax return

[carl29]

Surely thats your call? what do you want to do as a career? ACCA is generally undertaken by those wishing to work in Accounting and Finance in some capacity, the HR world offers their own qualifications to support those that wish to pursue a career in HR

It does sound a little odd that you are studying ACCA whilst working in HR, but payroll is often a finance function too in some places

[carl29]

I think a lot of the time, they wouldn’t know. The accountancy profession, like any profession, relies on honesty of its members. Being a member of a body means that, theoretically, you are bound by its terms in order to operate, so customers can be confident at least that you should adhere to its rules

You would have to ask what kind of professional with falsify their credentials and break the rules for financial gain? if they were any good they wouldn’t need to, so they must be bad at their job, and not someone to trust

[carl29]

Some jobs ask for first time passes, others will ask about marks

I’ve never been asked what marks i have got in any interview, and i would say for most commercial employers that’s the case, having been an employer myself too. I think the majority will just look at whether you are qualified or not, marks might be more of a pre-requisite in larger practices though, i cant really comment on that

Best advice is to do everything you can to give yourself the best chance of passing

[carl29]

there’s a cure for that…its called the options papers

the last thing you want to do by that stage is study, you just wish its over

[carl29]

Maybe time to sit back after this session and consider your position

As said, is this a career you are sure you want to continue on? Even after the exams, the higher paid roles do not come easy, there is a lot of pressure on Finance professionals, usually coupled with massive work loads, will you be happy with that? its certainly not a career where you can wing it for a large pay cheque. Look at your reasons for studying, money should not really be one of them

If you think it is for you, maybe take a more relaxed approach to your exams. There is no rush to pass, you can now sit 4 times a year, maybe study for and sit them one at a time? make it more manageable and less stressful

[carl29]

By the way, im not some sort of ACCA superfan, the fee is a lot to pay out, i just think if you have done all the hard work with the exams, it makes sense to keep your member status

[carl29]

Paid CPD, once you’re a member they have regular webinars and seminars to attend for learning purposes, some are free, some are paid for, some are useful, some less so, but all of it needs arranging and paying for, its often information you would have to pay more for to receive elsewhere

It is an academic title, but to retain that title, its an on going process. In order to retain your ACCA member status, you have to complete your annual CPD, which is proof that you are remaining relevant and knowledgeable to the industry, which is what clients and employers want – if you employed someone that qualified 20 years ago that hasnt kept up with things, then how useful is their knowledge? it might be fine, but would you take the risk?

Imagine you were looking for an accountant to do your tax return, wouldn’t you be annoyed if you used someone that wasn’t aware of recent tax relief available, and you paid out more than you should have?

[carl29]

You cant use your ACCA title if you dont pay the fee, as you will not be a member and not bound by their rules, which pretty much invalidates all the effort you made

The fee is £211, its a lot, but you do get lots of free CPD opportunity, as well as having the paid available, plus of course, it keeps all the effort you made with regards to exams etc.. relevant

Being a member will allow you to access higher paid roles, so it effectively pays for itself (unless your employer pays)

[carl29]

The employee shouldn’t be charged more than the gross purchase price

[carl29]

I’ve always just split the original purchase price evenly over the installments. As I understand it, you treat the installments as a rental charge, which offsets the depreciation of the bike through the p+l, plus vat on the rental charges

Cycle to work is a pain in the rear, and not really worth doing these days

[carl29]

if you were enrolled this year, you dont need to complete CPD until Dec16 (thats what it says in my ‘Myacca’ anyway)

…if this is not the case, i have some work to do

[carl29]

No, im not, thought it was a bit pricey for what It was, and, did I read right that other than the london event, there was no charge to attendees?

[carl29]

Mine came on the weekend, anyone else?

[carl29]

you can estimate it. As long as its not year end, if you’re estimation is way off it wont make much difference (although might affect your management accounts,might want to check with your boss), or you might have a quote. If it bridges a year end, you will need to provide details to your auditors, who may challenge the basis for your amount – it needs to be realistic

[carl29]

FYI, this is whats known as the ‘matching principle’, matching costs incurred against revenues received

[carl29]

You should accrue the cost in October to recognise the expense when the cost is incurred, and offset this against the invoice once it is received in December

[carl29]

I did. I attended a BPC classroom study once, it was awful, rushed, crammed everything in, it was no better than me reading from a text book, so thats what i did

I think to be really successful at studying, you need to identify how you learn. I realised that sitting, listening to someone talk at me does nothing for me, I learn by jumping in at the deep end and figuring things out myself, so thats the approach i learned in the end. I started by looking at exam questions, figured out how it worked, then learnt the supporting theory

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