Anyone have the ACCA qualification?

[Mr_Wistles]

Morning all,

Does anyone here have the ACCA qualification?

I may be losing my job soon so instead of being one of hundreds chasing a couple of jobs I am thinking of doing this.

How hard is it? What would be a realistic time frame attacking it full time?

I am planning on doing it through the BPP, has anyone used these guys?

Thanks in advance.

 

[nitelife]

The wife is persuing this at the moment, she's at level 2.

There's 3 levels, each with a varying number of exams. Some compulsory some optional.

You can take three exams every 6 months I think, and you need to get work experience at some point. I think they have some sort of arrangement with Oxford Brookes in the later stages as well.

She finds it tough with the little one running around, but shes perservering, and thats the main thing.

You have to pay a yearly subscription fee (£66 I think) and exam fees. On top of that you'll have to pay the BPP course fees.

She's tried the BPP texts, but prefers the ACCA official ones.

Ohh and she's not doing a course - but learning herself at home. She is considering doing a course this year though because they are getting much harder quite quickly (apparently).

If you're starting at level one I wouldnt bother doing a course - or at least check the syllabus and the details beforehand, you might decide to do it yourself.

HTH

 

[Mr_Wistles]

do you know what they mean by part qualified?

I have ten years experience in investment banking and the jobs I am looking at only require that.

 

[nitelife]

I think it means you've done a certain amount of exams, but I don't know the details on how many or to what level.

btw, she was level one exempted because she had an accountancy qualification before years ago - at your level you may be able to get exempted as well, but you would need to give them a call and ask.

I'm sure you know this already, but their website is at ACCA - the global body for professional accountants and contains a wealth of info.

 

[Sad099]

Hi

I'm not ACCA but the other "faction" - CIMA

Part Qualified is someone who is actively studying but noy yest completed all the levels

it goes like this
Part Qualified - whilst studying
Finalist - doing the final level exams
passed finalist - someone who has passed finals but not yet been signed off

Qualified - passed all exams and has all relevant work experience and has been signed off.

NB - a lot of companies who want PQ usually meean someone who has already done a few exams too - so bear in mind - but they usually offer study support - ie study fees and time off etc .

I used BPP and FTC for my exams - they do get hard very quickly - i would reccomend using them at the start though as they foundation is just as important as the later levels - if you dont understand these fully you may struggle with the more difficult concepts later on - so would be ideal to use someone like BPP from the start - hower if you are paying for yourself then this is not always practical as the costs are not cheap


In terms of doing them - usually they say allow 1 year per level - but you can do them much faster ie every 6 months - but your work experience wont keep up - so you end up waiting at the end trying to get signed off with relevant experience- either way takes 3-4 years +

They advise approx 60 hours per paper - i'm sure it can be done with less - from experience here

Any more questions just ask - if they are specific I have some friends / collegues who are acca - studying and qualified who can answer them

 

[Ultima]

I qualified a number of years ago after going the AAT route. Depending on your qualifications and exemptions it will probably be 2 - 3 years studying with exams every 6 months. Details of the syllabus can be found HERE.

I studied part time whilst working and it was suggested that a minimum of 21 hours study/revision per week was needed to fully grasp the syllabus and pass exams.

Membership fees when qualified are about £180 and approx £350 if you obtain your practicing certificate.

When jobs advertise for Part Qualified accountants or when you see that phrase it usually refers to Individuals who are part way through qualification for one of the Professional Accountancy Bodies Exams (ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA etc).

Good luck

 

[yok0ross]

i get my results in February of my last two ACCA exams and, if I pass, will be fully qualified.
I started working in an accountants six years ago as a trainee - I did my full AAT qualification in around 3 years doing two evening classes per week this gained me exemption from the first level of the ACCA qualification.
I moved jobs around two years ago for financial reasons and have been doing my exams on block release, basically i get around 3-4 days leave per subject on courses from FTC Kaplan (used to be fantastic as FTC, since Kaplan moved in I will be going BPP route in future)
The first few stages are fairly straightforward if you have worked in the particular subject you are studying but they do get very tough towards the end.

If you are single go for it. If, like me, you have a young family (3 kids!) it can be very difficult to find time for both myself, my kids and my missus. I would prepare any family you have to take a backseat particularly in the weeks leading to your exams as you will want 100% focus.

If you do this full time I would sit four exams at a time (the max i believe) but only if you have no other commitments. for the record I sat two every sitting except the finals where I sat three and this was the only stage (so far) that I had a fail - this was more to do with time contraints trying to learn 3 subjects than difficuly (or at least thats the excuse i use )