Could I just borrow anyone with a job in bookkeeping please?

[DaveyJonesLocker]

Iabu to use aibu for traffic. Feel free to ignore if you aren't interested

Trying to get my life together after leaving abusive exDH.

is this AAT qualification legit and will lead to a career in book keeping?

www.aat.org.uk/qualifications-and-courses/bookkeeping

Thanks for your time!

I'm thinking employed. I've ran a business. I don't fancy doing that again.

I think I've found a funded online course.

I'll still be working for my ex doing his books and he thinks his friend is hiring too. So I'll have the experience to go with it.

Thank you all

If you are going to complete ACCA - I would go straight to that and bypass AAT. If you complete up to AAT level 4 you get exemptions from the Applied Knowledge level of ACCA - but its only three exams so you might as well just complete ACCA - depends whether you want to do bookkeeping or whether your long term goal is to be an accountant.......

I thought I'd need AAT before ACCA but looking at the requirements, can I jump straight in?
I have 4 A levels, AABB in biology, physics maths and chemistry. And mostly As at GCSE. A* in maths and A in additional maths.

Do you get taught ACCA, it just mentions exams, is there like an online course or do you have to self teach?

Yes you can jump straight into ACCA, you would be except from some if you had done AAT. What I do find is that AAT provides a much more in depth knowledge than the foundation ACCA level however if you are good at studying/exams etc then you'll be fine, esp as you have work experience in that area.

There are various providers for ACCA, you can do it yourself but I would recommend something like Kaplan or similar.

There are courses, expensive ones mostly. You can buy the study guides and study yourself, sit most of the early exams, but this is an extremely hard way of doing it.

@DaveyJonesLocker

The real determiner of which qual to look at is what do you want to do as a job?

If you are looking to be a solid bookkeeper then I would do AAT - it concentrates on the core skills and teaches lots that will allow you to apply knowledge on the job which is invaluable.

ACCA is great and will allow you to work at a higher level as a Finance Manager, in practice, set up your own practice etc. However my experience is the bookkeeping isn’t as well taught and if that’s more useful I’d look at that after you’ve seen if accountancy is for you.

Also, slightly more controversially, I don’t think everyone who has a professional accountancy qualification (ACA/ACCA/CMA/CIPFA) is actually suited to it. The expectation of accountants at that level is a degree of financial acumen, management skills and a strategic mindset and I’d say the majority of those I’ve interviewed don’t have.

I’m absolutely not saying that’s you - I just think many do the professional quals as a natural progression but don’t think about how well suited they are to the actual jobs they lead to and you end up with.

I interviewed a qualified ACCA just last week and couldn’t even employ her in the most junior role and couldn’t see her as even a mid-level finance professional like me.

I think maybe ACCA isn't suited to me at the moment then, maybe in the future I'll want challenging more but I'm in a bit of a shitty mental health situation and don't want to over face myself and fail. AAT seems well taught and like it leads to a well balanced career?

Could I ask what people with AAT are earning please?

@DaveyJonesLocker

It depends on experience really.

A junior accounts assistant with a little experience would maybe get £25k ish

I’d expect more experience (AP & AR, decent Excel, basic reconciliations, journals, some systems knowledge) £30k

Payroll knowledge would add to this.

However I am not qualified and have the equivalent of AAT but have a great deal of experience and work as a Senior Finance Manager. I manage a team, lead audit, prep statutory accounts, board reporting etc and earn £56k fte (I’m part time) so it’s entirely possible to progress without ACCA but you could get ‘stuck’.

I have two autistic children and chronic health issues so I decided not to prioritise qualifying given I have such an easy ride with my current job.

With my experience if I qualified I’d probably get a £70k plus role without any real difficulty but I don’t have the ability to commit to a role at that level.

Great, thank you so much

@Merryoldgoat

Our highly experienced AAT qualified staff (i.e. has lots of experience but started from the bottom and never wanted do to strategic work or more qualifications) but deals with all the systems stuff, reconciliations, VAT etc is on about £47k I think. They'd be expected to do a full accounting qualification to progress further really.

I think from what you've described AAT is the right option for you for now.

Thank you. From what everyone's said I think I have good experience. I do all the financial stuff. All the invoices and reconciliation, I calculate the vat for the accountant and pay all the taxes, I just don't do the actual submission to gov.

I feel good with the income, thank you for everyone who shared.