Advice please on Dh 37 changing career into accoutancy from all you accountanty people

[hercules1]

Dh for several various reasons has never been able to follow the career path he wanted and is now 37. We have now got to the stage where he can no longer do the night job he is doing as it is killing him. He took it because dd came along 31/2 years ago and he left his job he enjoyed as the night job paid a lot more and we could hsare childcare between us.

He is very intelligent and maths is his expertise. He has always scored 98% on exams etc but due to various reasons was unable to finsih his degree abroad and here.

WHat I would like to know is is it feasible for him to start a new career in accountance at the age of 37. WHat is the best way to go about it? We live in outer London btw.

Just to add DH has a HND in statistics and was just one semester from completing his degree in this. His A level equivalent (taken abroad) are excellent. HE has loads of management experience.

Other question - how much money would he get to begin with if he studied acca and how much could he earn up to?

I think he should try it. In theory age discrimination is illegal so he should be as able to get jobs going to new graduates as 22 year olds.

WHat's the best way for him to go about it? Working hwere he currently is it would be nigh on impossible for him to study. He can take a career break and do trading to supplement our income as we cant afford to live on my wage only.
Is it better to start the ACCA exams first and then apply with a firm?

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many firms give you a traning contract that means on top of your wage they pay your college fee, books & exam fees. they also give you a reasonable amount of paid leave to attend college.

that is how aca contracts usually work. But there many acca contracts like that too.

outer london starting salaries are about 18k rising to around 35k ? on qualification - 3 years later

Hi. I am an accountant, so hopefully should be able to give some advice.

My first piece of advice would be not to start the exams without a job. In my experience it is no advantage and in a way makes you less employable, although employers will be reluctant to admit that.

SOmeone may come on and contradict me, but when I recruit people, I want to get what I pay for. So if someone has no experience, the exams are next to useless. Generally speaking you want someone to do the more boring stuff for a while anyway (because someone has to), before they start to take on more responsibility.

A training contract should give all sorts of perks in terms of paying for study and study leave, but they do tend to go to young graduates. THere are other routes in, but my advice would still be to get some kind of accounts-related job before taking on the exams.

It is the sort of profession where getting your foot in the door is the hardest bit. Once you have some experience, you should be able to stay in work and progress through the exams, although progress can be slow, and it isn't really until you qualify that your salary will go up significantly.

The second piece of advice is to research/decide what sort of accountancy he would like to go into. For example, I am a senior management accountant in the public sector. I chose this because I thought it would be interesting - and it is - but it is not as highly paid or 'prestigious' as working for a big firm (not yet, but very senior jobs can be, and there are plenty of them!).

Let me know more info and I can try to direct my advice better, rather than telling you everything i know in one mammoth post!

thanks. Dh said he looked into this last year and will get some exemptions from his HND course. He is unsure at the moment as dd doesnt go to school for another year and as he does a lot of the childcare he wants to see this out.

IT would be hard for us if he is only getting 18k to begin with but for me it would be worth it.

My DH did this a few years back (probably about 10 years ago). He took a job that offered a college day release but paid a pittence so he kept on some of his manual work for a Saturday to boost the earnings a bit, then he got a better job still with day release and we had to move. He has been in various jobs but finally found something that suits him and us and has never looked back.

How old was he 10 years ago?

He was 25, a bit younger than your DH but still older than the average student.

ch, that sounds like law too. The interesting point for me is the ageism. Firms have had to try to get rid of milk round, "graduate recruitment", age bands on job ads etc so in theory someone one with A levels and a good degree from 1982 should be in with as much as a chance as last year's graduates in theory... interesting issue if BBB from 1982 equals AAA in 2007 though. There will be some fun litigation over this stuff.

The downside of going into it later in life is that the starting salary is quite low and it is sustained for quite a while.

That pays off eventually as long term prospects are quite good, although like many professional jobs these days, it is not exactly a golden ticket to riches.

Ten years after starting study, you would be earning approx 35k in a management accountant job. If you excel and get into a more prestigious London practice, this could be more like 70k. But these jobs are sought after and they tend (in my experience of course) to go to 'Stepford Graduates' who are armed with top class degrees. Not to mention the sort of enthusiasm for corporate life that you didn't know existed till you saw the Apprentice.

Not trying to discourage you though, but go into it with realistic expectations. If he enjoys numerate work, then you can't beat it really. It is a great chance to use your brain every day at work, and can be very fulfilling.

I think there are lots of different avenues he could look into - I didn't qualify in the Uk, so I don't fully understand all the differnet qualifications (we had just one Chartered Accountancy qualification where you had to do 3 years articles with a firm and write board exams to be qualified).

The way I see it in this country is that there are other things he could go into if he wanted to. Bookkeeping can be very lucrative, management accounting (CIMA), financial consulting (though he'd need experience), tax specialist (another area with quite high demand) - none of those require the full monty chartered accountant qualification that would require years of studying and articles.

In his shoes, I'd recommend going to see a careers adviser or finance/accounting specialist recruitment person who could give him proper advice on what his future prospects could be.

My DH is currently doing his CIMA exams, being paid for by work-he works in finance team so its all tied in..
Will say though that he is finding it pretty hard work studying and working full on as well..plus trying to do all the family stuff...think it will be worth it in the end though but its a hell of a commitment time and effort wise, specially if he is coming to it later in life so to speak..(DH 30)

(That said since he started the studying 18 months ago we have had our first dd, moved house, am due 2nd DD in 3 weeks and we have our house on the market again...so we arent really helping ourselves in terms of stress really..dont reccomend any of that as well as embarking on a career change!)

Agreed foxinsocks. Accountancy and finance jobs are a very broad church.

If i were a Maths whizz, and good at stats, living in London, I would be tempted to try my luck as a tea boy somewhere in the City and see if I could get a foot in the door there? However, I'm not an expert on that area by any stretch.

The routes into accountancy are definitely well documented in any careers advice bureau.

hercules -just to follow in a little from what foxinsocks was saying there are lots of different routes and qualifiations in. Xenia is rght that age need not be a barrier to getting a job.

If you're husband is interested in tax , check out the institute of taxation wesbite (CIOT - search it under google) as they've got a career section there. They've probably got some linnks to firms /places that may be looking to hire. Inexperience may not be a barrier to entry as your husband should be able to work his way through qualifications etc

Most firms will help assist you with exams (there are 2 grades to the uk tax qualifiaction so if studying all at once seems horrible -which may well do -you can do it in 2 stages).

THanks for all the messages. Very helpful.

DH has now discussed with his employers having a career break and needs to give 4 weeks notice when he is ready.

HE is going to mull it over and even considering becoming a maths teacher - finishing his final semester of his degree and training/working at the same time. Dont know about how feasible that is though or how many posts are availbale to do that.

He would love though i know to work with figures.