Uni or not?

Bluegrass

Hi all,

Looking to become a qualified accountant, unsure of what to do/where to start.

I'm thinking of going for a degree in Commerce in NUIG next year, but wondering if I should just try and go the ACCA route altogether? Would I be better off earning a degree, and then going the ACCA route? I'm not getting any younger, 26 and looking for a career change. Always had an interest in Accountancy, since I was in school, and have done some mediocre courses on it since, and currently on a business course at the moment.

I've been working in the building trade since 17 and realise I need something more in life. I'd like to try gain a recognised, accredited qualification ASAP, what would you all recommend?

Any information appreciated,

Thanks

KindOfLearning

I'm in the same boat, doing a course and hoping to get into commerce next year too. I'm just wondering would I be better off going the ACCA route rather than going to college?

smcgiff

Mmm - not clear cut, would probably still go the degree route before taking the prof route.

KindOfLearning

So you reckon getting the degree in Commerce first..?

smcgiff

If you think you can get a good degree - 1.1 or 2.1 I'd suggest the degree. You'll then get exemptions and have a good degree. However, that's not to say going straight into the prof exams isn't a viable option. Just avoid going down the accounting technician route.

Good luck

KindOfLearning

A degree would probably better prepare me for it anyway would it?

Do you know anyone who went from a non accounting related sector, and went straight into accountancy through one of the bodies, without a degree? Just trying to get my bearings..

Prettyblack

You could do the accounting technicians ireland qualification, either 1 year or 2 years, depending on how you get on, and that leads into the chartered accountants ireland (ACA) programme directly.

thomlin

This is just my opinion.

I would say go down the degree route as you will get a better understanding of business and accounting and then do the professional exams.

The theory behind my advice is that at the end of the degree you decide you don't like accounting like some people discover you still have a degree behind you which is a valuable piece of paper on your cv where if you go down the professional route you're a qualified accountant with professional exams and nothing else.

Before anyone flames me for running down professional accountancy exams I'm not just stating the point that not everyone wants to do accountancy and at least with a degree he/she has that otherwise they might drop out of completing the professional exams.

HTH

smcgiff

Thomlin,

You don't just study accounting when doing the prof exams, they're probably as broad as a business degree, completed up to masters level.

deejer

I have said this here a couple of times before but I think you are way better off going straight for the professional exams. I am 29 now and currently doing my ica exams via the elevation programme. (sonething you should look into). I did my business degree and if I could go back I would have gone straight into the profs. College is great and all but at 26 you are looking at 6-7yrs to qualify if you go down that route.

Another thing is that college exams are completed different to professional exams

R0N BURGUNDY

If you're looking for something more in life, I'd say accountancy is definitely not the route to go.

EveT

I did the ACA 'school leaver route', so I did year 1 of IATI, got a distinction, CAP 1, CAP 2 and am waiting for FAE results.

I dropped out of 2 degrees and didnt want to go back for a third, was 22/23 starting IATI exams.

Few probs with it - pressure of getting distinction, of you gotta do year 2 of IATI. If you dont get through the prof exams youve nothing really to fall back on, where as if you do a degree you do.

If saved me time but probably was higher stress. I think having sat so many professional exams stands to you a little bit later on, like some people doing FAE who did masters would never have sat any and they are very very different.

People can only give you opinions on this, no one can decide for you! I would recommend not doing a degree if youre confident youll pass. But again Im biased, like people who did degrees will probably be biased towards that route...

R0N BURGUNDY

I think everybody knows uni is the biggest pile of crap. Getting group assignments and getting into your little joke groups and giving presentations to the class when 50% of the people know someone from the year before and copied their work to some degree. This kind of crap is good for say the likes of one of my good friend who is studying at the moment but is short on confidence in these sorts of situations.

Then when you leave uni you realise the majority of the hippy, arty uni accountancy crap that you studied (eg. a module like accounting history or studying standard setting = wtf?) is completely useless for the real world and anything that was useful got well and truly forgotten when you were out straight after your last exam on a week long party and ultimately pressing the delete button for everything you crammed in the weeks before. Perhaps I undermine the importance of the stuff that got covered at uni but you'll end up missing a good few classes or sitting there absolutely busted from the night before. But you will have the best craic ever so that shouldn't be overlooked. It is just another way to separate people and having a degree at the end is what will separate you from your next Tom, D1ck or Harry.

oxysept

Not an easy one - personally I went straight from leaving cert to prof exams (CIMA) in the early 90's - I have no other qualification. The Prof exams are far superior than some Uni courses but can be narrow in focus. The real world was where I learnt my craft. I've had various roles over the years in finance mainly in Multi national manufacturing environments . I've worked with people that came to Finance from all sorts of routs I've hired based on the persons ability not paper qualifications, but the qualifications can be an indicator of ability.
I often consider going and getting a Uni formal qualification but only as a box checking exercise, I find that some times when asked for may background people don't understand may qualifications & how I got this far in my career.
At 26 I'm guessing you dont want 6-7 more years fir qualification so if you have reasonable brain power & can apply the Prof exam route is quicker, plus you may be able to work whale studying. How ever its a narrow route if accountancy turns out not to be for you a Business degree may give you other options.
But above all I'm a strong believer in the person not the parchment..... the parchment gets you an introduction , you yourself get the Job!!!.
Whichever route you go if you succeed at this your the type of character that I would find intriguing if I was hiring. Best of luck.

Pauvre Con

University is a life experience but if you remove this aspect I'd always recommend becoming a qualified accountant in the quickest and cheapest route available - something I didn't do myself. I've an accounting degree and am a qualified accounts technician but i'd suggest these will be utterly irrelevant when I've finished my ACCA. I can also say academically that a degree isn't any more demanding than the foundation units I'm currently studying - let alone the final professional stage exams.