Should trainees be swotting in their own time?

Yes, but not only trainees. We belong to a profession where studying about and around the subject every day is surely essential?

As somebody who couldn't get a job in practice when I changed career (aged 26) I paid for and studied AAT 3+4 in my own time two nights a week after work, ACCA every Saturday and Sunday during term time at Kaplan 10-4pm.

I started in practice when I was 3/4 exams into ACCA, I chose not to accept their training programme as I didn't want to be tied to them for a few years after, it was hard work and sacrifices aplenty but not having to stay with the place I was with was worth it.

Depends what kind of company you are and how many years you want to tie them into after, plus if they turn out any good in the first place!

With most training you have theory and practice. In many cases (even now in taxation) theory is different to practice but you still need the theory. On site training is most valuable so to get the balance between that and home study leave really depends on the person. On going training is of paramount importance, even if it is just reading articles. A friend in the big four once told me "it's not what you don't know, it's what you forget is the problem".

In the 1970's my ICAEW training contact allowed 10 weeks paid study leave with a training provider (in my case Chart Foulks Lynch) per professional exam sitting (PE1 and PE2). But, you still had to study outside these periods to stand a good chance of passing.

I work with a number of firms - and so get to see inside them to some degree.

A few years ago, one firm had a student who seemed to be into a number of internet "Gen Z ideologies".

One was that he didn't see why he should do unpaid overtime. He'd take his lunch hour and leave on the dot.

Well, he failed his CTA twice and was asked to leave. That's despite full classes and plenty of study leave.

Especially when you're a student, it is a 2 way street. You are getting a valuable qualification and experience - which you can sell to many firms for good money - so it is only fair that some of the investment comes from the person. This is a knowledge based profession after all.

There is a heck of a learning curve and it isn't fair to think that can all be done on company time, especially when the person has the option to go to a new employer as soon as they qualify.

All in my opinion, of course.

The great think is that in this profession every day is a school day

You never stop learning and thanks to online resources research tools are at your fingertips

The passing of the exam is a bit like taking your driving test you only start really learning once you have passed your test

I didn’t start studying until relatively late in life (late 20’s) because the first firm I worked for didn’t want to employ anyone qualified (apart from the owner) because they’ll pinch my clients!

I was able to agree a paid for evening class but the on the job training I had already received helped

Personally any help you can give someone to pass should be given and that includes ongoing CPD during work hours for qualified staff.

Our study time was clear in our contract and anything more we took from holiday. However, we had to pass all exams in one sitting, so to some extent it was easier to schedule study time. As exams can be sat piecemeal now, exams are being sat all the time, so that it's easier to swot for one in ones own time with the revision study leave we used to get littered as maybe a day/half day a paper depending on the number and difficulty involved.

A long time ago, I chose a training contract with an employer that offered paid training hours and generous time off to study prior to exams. That doesn't mean I never studied on my own time (I did) but that I wasn't expected to put a full day of work in and then fit studies around that for an upcoming exam.

The companies that expected that from their trainees didn't pay a lot more so to me that was a fair deal.

And this was back in the day when a qualified accountant had more value in the job market. Today, I wouldn't even consider a training contract that involved unpaid OT.

Im reminded of the apocryphal story about a senior partner arguing AGAINST being generous re time off to study etc. "What if we give them time off and then they leave?"
To which the team manager is reported to have replied: "What if we don't give them time off, they don't qualify and they STAY?"

I qualified 12 years ago and spent the next ten as an ICAEW tutor.

I set the expectation for all of my students that they would be spending the majority of their free time studying during exam periods, and in my experience most of the good ones did. Very few were given study leave outside of tuition and revision courses and the exams themselves. The focus was on encouraging them to build in an hour or two for leisure or relaxation but studying most of the time.

When I was qualifying we used away jobs as a good opportunity to revise (often preferable to sitting through awkward dinners with the audit team at the Premier Inn...). We spent all our evenings and weekends revising and it paid off - I always told my students there's a reason it's such a valuable qualification, it takes a lot of HARD work and personal investment.

I am probably giving away just how old I am but I began studying for ACCA by completing ACCA Foundation A&B. To do that I had no allowance for study save for my employer paying I recall about £40 per level for a Foulkes Lynch Correspondence course. I worked 9.00 -5.30 plus 3 hours every alternate Saturday morning. Almost every night I would sit down for a couple of hours study & completing papers which I then had to post off for marking & feedback at my own cost. I did it because I wanted to be part of a profession which was respected. I later found out that some trainees in the firm were studying ICAEW courses which were fully paid for block release courses lasting 8 weeks to which were added exam days and study days. None of those ICAEW students qualified & left the profession whilst I continued on until some 9 years later I became a partner in a different firm. My involvement with my own firm & staff extended to Investors in People and involvement with AAT & the local careers service. I am therefore a believer in encouraging those trainees who show a keeness & aptitude for the work , those who display a level of common sense & those who direct questions to senior staff rather than sitting there puzzled. If they are worth employing then they are worth encouraging & if that means allowing someone to have one or two days off pre exam then the increased level of fee achievable by them will more than outweigh 2 days salary. I preach the same mantra whether it is relating to staff or to clients " if we don't look after them, someone else will "