Hello,
My question is whether a career-changer, moving into accounting and holding a master’s degree in business, should start at AAT L3 and L4 (assume exempt L2), or should they go straight into ACCA/ ACA/ CIMA professional studies.
If you could suspend judgement and take in a few specific details…
Aims: to secure a finance-related job a.s.a.p. in this tough market, to have a solid grounding in financial accounting and to be a management accountant within 3 yrs.
Background: Nil accounting experience (career change from marketing), investing for 10 yrs (i.e. financial statements and asset/ project valuations) and MBA 5yrs ago.
If you were in this [messy!] position, which path would you consider best?:
1. Self-study CIMA’s foundation certificate and then begin the CIMA professional pathway of exams for Operational F1, P1, F2 etc. and seek no exemptions (except perhaps E1), or
2. Begin the exams for AAT L3 and L4 and then take CIMA’s “CMGA”, where MBA graduates take one exam at Management level and then start Strategic’s P3 etc. afterwards (i.e. exempt from all 3 Operational exams as well as 3 separate Management exams).
(Both paths will take roughly the same amount of time to reach CIMA Strategic.
Option 2 may seem a little strange, but it would fit the 3 aims mentioned.
Please help- I’m in a real pickle, since studying syllabuses and texts only guides you so far.
Replies (16)
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Sounds like a win-win situation to me to be honest.
What I would do is have a look at the jobs that you see yourself applying for and if they ask for AAT go for AAT, or if they ask for CIMA then just get straight onto CIMA, or if they ask for ACCA then just get straight onto ACCA.
From my personal experience, AAT can drag on a bit especially when you do the project at Level 4 and some people still look down on/have not heard of the qualification. Consequently it might be worth just getting on with CIMA or ACCA.
However the benefit of doing AAT is that it is a qualification in its own right, which you can obtain relatively quickly, relatively easily, you can get a practising licence and learn about the various areas of accountancy (e.g. financial, management, tax, internal audit).
Both AAT and CIMA
If both pathways take roughly the same time why not get 2 professional qualifications, both AAT and CIMA rather then 1. I am assuming all of this will be self funding so have you checked that the cost is roughly the same too.
By doing AAT it will give you a good understanding of basic accounting, which employers will be looking for given the career change.
Can I suggest that if you have the time offer to work for a local firm of accountants free of charge just to get some basic accounts experience, which will help your studies and give you a reference for use in the future.
Good luck with the career change.
The qualification does not matter
I am afraid that without the experience to back it up, it does not matter which qualification you undertake. You will not be able to gain membership of any the accounting bodies without the recognised professional experience - time at the coalface.
Unfortunately, you are seeking to enter a profession where the graduates outnumber the training contracts by something like 10-1 or more.
To be honest, studying a course yourself in order to gain employment is a risky investment. It is usually better to be in the job first which will put you through the training.
I would estimate that something like 10% or less of the syllabus of any given qualification will have real world applications for you.
Where do you see yourself working - practice or industry.
(personally I have an accounting degree, lapsed AAT membership, CIMA membership and now working on tax qualifications.- always worked in industry)
CIMA suits industry, whereas the other institutes are more allied to practice. Did you complete your MBA whilst working? if so, you should have no problem combining CIMA studies with work.
Rather than do AAT, why not start temping in financial admin roles to gain awareness of a wide range of IT systems, start CIMA, and then apply for permanent roles on that basis.
Remember most peoples career paths only look planned with the benefit of hindsight.
Good luck.
My views
I would always take what exemptions you can - even if you feel you need to take the courses later.
If you are working I would study as few subjects as possible - two at most, maybe one - that will mean you get a better understanding.
Why are you choosing accounting? What you are taught on an MBA is totally different to accounting in practice. Are you sure you will like it?
Why do accounting?
I'm not sure your reasons for why you want to do accounting are the best.
I think they should be more personal to your knowledge, abilities and personality.
Entering financial accounting
I entered accounting because I thought I was suited to understanding the fundamental principles that are needed. Once they are learnt you can then use your imagination and knowledge to know how to deal with problems. I think it was important for my confidence to have a good understanding of the basics. I like to make sure the groundwork is well done. Other people are good at making the best of a bad job. I'm not like that so I made sure I had a good understanding and a lot of experience of the basics which now means I can judge how to proceed with very little time spent on understanding what is going on.
When I trained in auditing everybody said that if they knew what they knew at the start of an audit what they knew at the end they could do the job a lot faster. By doing a lot of varied work as an auditor in different companies I understood the principles a lot more. I don't think you get as good a grounding in management accounting.
>20%?
@MaxT
A bit OT but I can't let pass your comment that equity investment returns of >20% are achievable!
Buffet has managed about that return over a long span of time but you would have to be 1 in a million to achieve it, surely? If you put a lot of conditions around it, perhaps it is possible for a portfolio that is one or more of: high risk, leveraged, over a short time span - but not long term.
Cynic
If people say that something can be done I wait until they do it. Then I believe them.
I really mean this to be helpful and I'm very sorry if it doesn't come across that way Max T but the tone of your posts leads me to believe that you may not be suited to the role of management accountant.
After MANY years in industry in large plc's and smaller limited companies I can honestly say that the role of a management accountant is a strange one (I qualified ACA but worked with mainly CIMA's and CIMA trainees). As a trainee accountant you will, most likely, be sat in a room full of other accountants endlessley crunching numbers, producing manangement accounts, forecasting and doing variance analysis.....much of it "fudged" to fit with management vision of what the numbers should be. Hardly an exact science in sight! One of the main attributes you will need is the ability to "muck in" and go with the flow whilst being able to relate to everyone you meet in the course of your day throughout the business. You will be expected to understand the business at every level - I have spent many days during my time in retail standing on a shop floor selling shoes or bags or computers in order to know the business at its grass roots. Most people on those shop floors cared not a jot for equity investing!
Everything you do will be "derailed" at some point, meetings do not follow a logical format that is useful to others, you will be asked to do a report at 5pm on a Friday only to be told on Monday morning that it wasn't required afterall and nobody will ever answer your exact questions in the format that you require.
That's the life of an accountant in industry (in my view). Some absolutely love it. I'm not sure (from the tone of your posts) that you will.
Good luck.