To ask for help with ACCA?

[PartTimeEverything]

I have NCed for this as I'm a bit ashamed at my stupidity ...

I want to start ACCA training, with a view to eventually becoming a qualified accountant. I have 20 years experience of bookkeeping and management accounting for not for profits, but no qualifications beyond A Level. I currently have a p/t finance job for a small charity and would like to start ACCA training, before looking for a job with a company that might be able to help pay for the rest of the qualification.

So, here is my AIBU.

I have spent SO much time on the ACCA website and can't work out where the fuck I'm meant to start! Which exam do I do first? Do I have to become an ACCA member and then pay for tutoring and then pay for exams? What kind of timeline would this involve?

Are there any accuntants or current students who could help me figure out this mess?!?

I find the ACCA website and processes super frustrating so no, it’s not you!
Effectively you need to register and pay for membership / subscription before anything else so you’re then a student, then if you want to apply for any exemptions you do that, if not then you will have to start with the foundation levels and work through the skilled and professional levels. Off the top of my head there are 14 exams.
There are a few ways to study, online, classroom based etc and you buy your material online via the website. I don’t think you HAVE to use their tutoring or study methods and can just book the exam but not completely sure if that’s still doable.
As far as I remember you don’t have to follow a set exam route so can choose which subject to go with first (from the foundation level I mean) and just work through them until you’re ready to move to the next level of papers. There is a suggested exam path but I wasn’t following it because I wanted to choose the study days around existing commitments so went for the one which suited my diary.
Tbh the website isn’t the best, once you register as a student there is a helpful student phone line, so perhaps give them a call - you might find they ring you actually.

Sorry I’ve given you a bit of duff info there - in terms of studying, you can study independently or use a learning provider. I confused myself, I used Kaplan! There is a list of the learning partners on the website.

I am ACCA qualified.

The PP is pretty accurate in her advice.

You need to register in order to become a student (you also need to pay annual membership -currently £112 a year for students, £250ish once qualified) Exams range from £100-£160ish each depending on the level, you will pay for 13 exams (more if you have re-sits.
As you have only A levels you won't get any exemptions so you will have to do all the exams.

The foundation exams are:
*Accountant in Business (AB)
*Management Accounting (MA)
*Financial Accounting (FA)
You can do these in any order or sit them all at once if you like, but you must sit all 3.

Then you have The applied skills level:
*Corporate and Business Law (LW)
*Performance Management (PM)
*Taxation (TX)
*Financial Reporting (FR)
*Audit and Assurance (AA)
*Financial Management (FM)

like the foundation exams you must sit all of these, they can be taken in any order and you can take 2 or more at once if you want.

The final stage is the professional exams:
these two You MUST sit,
*Strategic Business Leader (SBL)
*Strategic Business Reporting (SBR)
again you can sit both at a time.

followed by 2 of the below:
*Advanced Financial Management (AFM)
*Advanced Performance Management (APM)
*Advanced Taxation (ATX)
*Advanced Audit and Assurance (AAA)

It is not easy at all and the pass rates are horrendous. But worth it for me.
Your knowledge from book-keeping and management accounts will only really help you with the foundation exams. Once you get to the advanced stuff you have to study complex tax, ethics, hedging and high level financial practice (think CFO of a shiny investment bank type stuff)

I self studied/ on-line studied all of it using resources from Kaplan mostly.
In the final stages I discovered a company called ACOWtancy, which were brilliant, and their resources are a lot cheaper than most.

Do you have a sponsor in your day job that can help you?

I say this because to be fully chartered it isn't just the 13 exams, you also need,
3 years in a relevant job.
To complete a professional ethics module.
To complete 11 (?) PER's- these are performance related skills, you basically write mini essays- that get approved by your sponsor, to prove you are applying your studies in your job.

I hope that helps

All exams are 3 hours 15 minutes long, except SBL which is 4 hours.

I think you can now sit the first 9 on a computer instead of hand written.

and there are 4 exam sittings each year (march, June, sept, Dec)

There is a website called acowtancy and also one called open tuition that is good for studying. I did about 3 of the modules as a night class at uni for about 500 pound a module and another 3 at home on my own time with both the the above sites mostly for free as I was paying for it myself. Defianately preferred using the sites and got a much better pass rate with them as I could learn at my own pace. I haven't done the advanced stage yet as I after I had a baby found it too hard to study while working nearly full time. I really need to start it up again actually.

Good luck

I'm a chartered accountant from a differently regulatory body.

It's quite a competitive field. I work for large company & we hire junior people into the finance division with both ACCA and equivents including CIMA etc, I don't think I've come across many non graduates. I do know of one, but she had exceptional a-levels grades - she had had to leave a top university before graduating due to a bereavement. She later did a degree while working.

I would chat to a recruitment agency to be sure the qualification will open the door to the sorts of jobs you are hoping for, before investing a lot of your own money & time.

That's unusual NoIDont

I didn't have a degree when I did my professional qualification.
People that had ended up starting at the same level as me anyway only they had the millstone of student debt and I didn't.

I don't find it particularly competitive, I do find a chartered qualification is expected when looking at jobs though. Especially if you want to get anything above 'assistant' level and pay

Thank you thank you everyone for all for your incredibly helpful responses!

@Grumpos I'm glad I'm not the only one!

@Brimful I'm the FD for a not for profit and no-one else in the organisation has any financial knowledge. Does this mean I wouldn't be able to get a sponsor in my current job?

I've done this kind of role quite a lot, but would like to get a qualification which means I could work for larger organisations. I want to work in strategic roles. Perhaps ACCA is too granular for this? Should I be considering CIMA instead? All my accountant friends are auditors for big accountancy firms, so they're all ACCA. But I'm definitely not in their leagues intellectually (!) nor do I want that kind of job.

Usually auditors in the biggest firms are ACA rather than ACCA. It's slightly different - ACCA is better known internationally, but in the UK ACA can carry more prestige.

My experience of corporates is that there is often a bit of a two tier system:

• They will sponsor & train ACCA students for the entry level book keeping & management reporting roles.
• they will hire in ACAs for senior roles in the central finance team eg in roles in tax & technical accounting, financial reporting.

In my current company many of the roles historically done by the people trained in house in london are being offshore to a cheaper location.