AAT and Open University- can anyone explain?

[mishfish]

Hello

Hopefully someone here can explain this to me better than the OU advisor can (they just pointed me in the direction of the exemptions webpage)

I am nearly finished with AAT Professional Diploma (level 4). I am considering doing a degree after but also looking into other options.

With the OU, I can not figure out at what point I can start. I think I am expempt from stage 1, can complete 60 units at stage 2, then complete 120 units at stage 3 and be finished

Does that sound right or have I got it wildly wrong?

Links and screen shot would help

www.open.ac.uk/courses/qualifications/q91-acc#course-details

How many transferable credits do you have? Do you know which course you want to do?

I would have

“An award of 60 points at undergraduate level 2 with an "Equal BA/BSc" can be awarded for the AAT Professional Diploma in Accounting or AAT Level 4 Diploma in Accounting or NVQ Level 4 in Accounting.”

But I can’t work out at what point of the business management (accounting) undergraduate course I would start.

I think I’m thrown because the level 4 AAT grants you entry into year 2 of some accounting based degrees and this says “60 credits at level 2” where the OU website is referring to stages

You'll need to view that against the points requirement for the OU course - what does it say is the total needed to graduate?

You need 360 to graduate.

It’s just the way it’s worded that’s thrown me. I can’t work out if it means 180 credits in total (120 year 1 and 60 against year 2)

60 of the credits for year 2 are
30- financial accounting and
30- management accounting

This will have been covered in the AAT level 4 so trying to work out if you’re exempt from those and have to do the compulsory 60 credit unit then move onto stage/level 3

I'm doing the business degree but have chosen to take the accounting modules. You will be exempt from B292 and B291 definitely, as they are AAT equivilent and exempt you from parts of the AAT qual. That's 60 credits at level 2. So you would need a further 60 at level/stage 2 (equivilent of 2nd year uni). Whether you can skip level 1 altogether, I'm not sure!

Can I ask why you are doing the business with accounting degree when you are AAT qualified and could continue at post grad level with Acca, cima or ATT?

Or do a masters in business or similar?

AAT at level 4 is only equivalent to the 1st full eat of a degrees (HND) I believe so wouldn’t qualify to enter into a masters degree.

I am considering all my options. I have 3 children, 2 aren’t yet at school full time. I’m a self employed part time bookkeeper.

• ACCA I can’t study at the same time as being a self employed bookkeeper, it’s strictly forbidden
• ICAEW I need a training contract for. Most of the training contracts I see advertised require you to have a degree and to be honest, studying and working full time would be a bit too much at the moment
• CIMA is something I can study whilst continuing my self employed bookkeeping, then try to find a job for the relevant experience when I’ve finished 6 of the exams; so I am strongly considering this

I suppose my train of thought was with a degree, i would have an easier time of it finding a training contract/ Potentially better paid job for the further accounting qualifications relevant experience

Ah, so you've got your level 4 but not the work experience to become a full member and practice as an accountant, is that right?

Do you prefer practice or industry? I think in your shoes I'd go down the CIMA route. The accounting bit of the OU Business degree isn't recognised as far as I'm aware, so you'll end up being a level 4 AAT with a business degree. (Similar boat to me but level 3 AAT and business degree). CIMA on the other hand is recognised and should appeal to employers more? Could be wrong about that but it seems more logical to do CIMA if you can work alongside it.

With hindsight I wouldn't have done it my way either

I think I do have the practical experience as I’ve been a self employed book keeper for about 3 years (qualified with the ICB about 6 years ago). I need to look properly into it really

I think my main hesitation is going from something that’s quite comfortable to ended up working full time and studying and burning out.

But on the other hand I think I could potentially go further but don’t want to commit to the above until the little ones are older

@southerncomforts what do you wish you had done? What is your ultimate goal with it all?

I started the business degree in 2013 and dd was tiny, accounting was not on my radar at that point. Then I fell into a job in an accounts department and that coincided with the OU accounting modules, so it just sort of happened. I've ended up working in practice but not as a bookkeeper.

My inital plan was to work in operations or logistics..

Looking back I could have just done AAT then CIMA to get into management accounting. Or just stuck to the business side to try and get into the operations side. Now I'm kinda stuck in the middle.

ATT could be where the money is at though. Depends where you want to be long term .

ACCA I can’t study at the same time as being a self employed bookkeeper, it’s strictly forbidden

My understanding is that you can be a s/e book-keeper alongside being a student member of ACCA as long as all you're doing is "book-keeping" (and payroll). It's the signing off of annual accounts and submission of tax returns that are regarded as being "in practice" and therefore forbidden for those who don't have practising certificates (which you won't get until you're fully qualified and meet the experience requirements). So if you're just doing book-keeping, payroll (and vat returns) and only management accounts, then you're not practising and can continue doing that alongside being a ACCA student.