Becoming an Accountant

[Bilbo]

Y'alright people!

 

I'm thinking of a bit of a career change, I'm currently a Project Manager and I'm now looking into working towards becoming an Accountant (working firstly as an Assistant Accountant and then hopefully as a fully qualified Accountant) so I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of this or any advice. I work a lot with figures in my current job and it's definitely the bit I like best about it. 

 

I'm 30 years old so it's a pretty big commitment, I plan on doing the ATT and then maybe the ACCA. The only formal maths qualification i have is GCSE Maths however I have 3 A-Levels and a First Class Honours Degree in Media (not related I know), so do you think this would be an issue? Also does anyone know a realistic time frame to become fully qualified? After reading up about it 6 - 7 years looks about the average. 

 

Cheers 

[Captain...]

6-7 years of working your balls off, if you want to do it then go for it, but I look at my friends that have done it and just think it really is not for me. I play football with an accountant that can only play when we get the 8.20 slot, because he can't leave work before 7:30. Do not under estimate how much work it is and how tough the exams are.

[blueonyou]

I have a friend who went through ACCA, it's a long and hard slog and I'd say it's 1. not for the fient hearted and 2. to be successfull you have to be passionate about it, I don't think just "I fancy doing it as it would be good money/secure profession" would be a worthwhile justification.

 

As a Project Manager (assuming you're qualified, Prince etc?) there's a whole host of different careeers you could go into which your PM experience will compliment but will be sufficiently different to give you some variety? you should slot into anything around service management quite easily.

[Jiggers the Fox]

Y'alright people!

 

I'm thinking of a bit of a career change, I'm currently a Project Manager and I'm now looking into working towards becoming an Accountant (working firstly as an Assistant Accountant and then hopefully as a fully qualified Accountant) so I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of this or any advice. I work a lot with figures in my current job and it's definitely the bit I like best about it. 

 

I'm 30 years old so it's a pretty big commitment, I plan on doing the ATT and then maybe the ACCA. The only formal maths qualification i have is GCSE Maths however I have 3 A-Levels and a First Class Honours Degree in Media (not related I know), so do you think this would be an issue? Also does anyone know a realistic time frame to become fully qualified? After reading up about it 6 - 7 years looks about the average. 

 

Cheers 

This is the path I took! I think AAT is a good start as it's a more basic level but really helps you to get to grips with accounting and it's principles. This took me just over a year. But it sets a good foundation as it were.

 ACCA is a big step up from this and took me 2 ad a half years to complete, but that was with college tuition and no fails (thank god). I would definately agreet that the exams are pretty intense and require a hell of a lot of preperation. It's also pretty expensive so handy if an employer is willing to put you through it themselves.

 

 I think doing all this in 4 years was shorter than it would normally be, but it helped having an accountancy A-Level and a lot of time to revise, so I think you would definately be looking at minimum 6 years if you were almost starting from scratch. Worth doing if you are sure it's what you want and can committ to it!

[Trav Le Bleu]

6-7 years of working your balls off, if you want to do it then go for it, but I look at my friends that have done it and just think it really is not for me. I play football with an accountant that can only play when we get the 8.20 slot, because it is divisible by many differing integers. An 8.35 slot however is much trickier propostion that attracts a raft of variable quotiants, which could cause confusion and delay unless certain algorithms are followed strictly. The likelihood that more than 45.6% of the sum total of potential players can make it at that absolute can be written off against the 35.07% who will be stuck in a cross-footing, which may outweigh any existing use value. This is of course all before any time interval concept and may be liable to third party recovery. This is the top line.

 

So, 8.20 it is then?

[StanSP]

Ton of work involved both in the job and away from the office. And that's even when the exams/qualifications are done.

 

I work in the finance department at a local housing association and specifically within the Management Accounts team. Don't underestimate how much pressure and stress can come with being an accountant at certain times of the month/year. Can be very hectic and if you're dealing with various departments it can also become very demanding.

 

The big benefit of being a fully-qualified accountant is the pay packet. Good money but you definitely feel like you've earnt it.

[Alexikokopops]

Ton of work involved both in the job and away from the office. And that's even when the exams/qualifications are done.

 

I work in the finance department at a local housing association and specifically within the Management Accounts team. Don't underestimate how much pressure and stress can come with being an accountant at certain times of the month/year. Can be very hectic and if you're dealing with various departments it can also become very demanding.

 

The big benefit of being a fully-qualified accountant is the pay packet. Good money but you definitely feel like you've earnt it.

 

That's an important thing to remember. My sister does 9 to 5 3 weeks of the month then has a manic week working well into the evening for month end. All depends where you end up.

[Guest ttfn]

I got my ACA a couple of years ago.

PM me if you want some specifics but as others have said its a hard slog.

Still, it pays for the season ticket!

[StanSP]

That's an important thing to remember. My sister does 9 to 5 3 weeks of the month then has a manic week working well into the evening for month end. All depends where you end up.

 

Yep. Here we spread our workload over best part of 2 weeks as opposed to cramming it in 1 week. Not usually allowed holiday in the first 2 weeks of the months because that's when we do our Month-End reporting for the previous month.

 

It's a tough business/industry and is almost constantly challenging throughout the year. If you're in a good team of people though, and a big enough team to provide/receive support, it's not too bad. The good thing about working in Finance and specifically Reporting/Management Accounting is that you get to know all areas of the business you're in i.e. what various department(s) do. You don't really have a choice to be honest!

[Captain...]

A serious question to the accountants, is it not a bit boring? Are you not just doing the same thing day in day out, then doing the same thing month end, then quarter end, then year end. Most of my friends in accounting have gone into the auditing side as they find it more interesting going out and meeting clients. I think I would do my nut just sat in the same office every day crunching the numbers. For a job that requires fvck loads of training it seems a bit repetitive and akin to data entry at times.

[StanSP]

A serious question to the accountants, is it not a bit boring? Are you not just doing the same thing day in day out, then doing the same thing month end, then quarter end, then year end. Most of my friends in accounting have gone into the auditing side as they find it more interesting going out and meeting clients. I think I would do my nut just sat in the same office every day crunching the numbers. For a job that requires fvck loads of training it seems a bit repetitive and akin to data entry at times.

 

You make it 'interesting'. It can get a bit boring, but aren't most jobs quite boring and potentially be repetitive? I find it quite challenging because different problems arise each month/quarter/year and if solved by yourself or someone else, there's your reward. And then when there's a profit at the end of the year everyone's happy .

 

There's a lot of data entry, admittedly.

 

I thought the same as you before I fell in to this role - but it's definitely not as bad as I thought it to be.

[Captain...]

You make it 'interesting'. It can get a bit boring, but aren't most jobs quite boring and potentially be repetitive? I find it quite challenging because different problems arise each month/quarter/year and if solved by yourself or someone else, there's your reward. And then when there's a profit at the end of the year everyone's happy .

 

There's a lot of data entry, admittedly.

 

I thought the same as you before I fell in to this role - but it's definitely not as bad as I thought it to be.

 

 

My job isn't because I do project work, so there are project cycles, but the repetition is every 6-12 months, obviously there are similar aspects with every project and they go through the same phases each time, but there are always new things to learn, new problems and new solutions. I think that someone that is a project manager and use to the cycle of projects may find themselves bored being an accountant. I might be wrong, my ex was an accountant and it would be the same thing every day, purchase invoice matching, reporting, processing expenses, the most exciting things she did was buy stationary as she actually got to talk to someone.

[FoxyPV]

Y'alright people!

 

I'm thinking of a bit of a career change, I'm currently a Project Manager and I'm now looking into working towards becoming an Accountant (working firstly as an Assistant Accountant and then hopefully as a fully qualified Accountant) so I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of this or any advice. I work a lot with figures in my current job and it's definitely the bit I like best about it. 

 

I'm 30 years old so it's a pretty big commitment, I plan on doing the ATT and then maybe the ACCA. The only formal maths qualification i have is GCSE Maths however I have 3 A-Levels and a First Class Honours Degree in Media (not related I know), so do you think this would be an issue? Also does anyone know a realistic time frame to become fully qualified? After reading up about it 6 - 7 years looks about the average. 

 

Cheers 

[FoxyPV]

On a serious note - how do you find being a Project Manager?  It's something I am looking to move into when we move to England.

[StanSP]

My job isn't because I do project work, so there are project cycles, but the repetition is every 6-12 months, obviously there are similar aspects with every project and they go through the same phases each time, but there are always new things to learn, new problems and new solutions. I think that someone that is a project manager and use to the cycle of projects may find themselves bored being an accountant. I might be wrong, my ex was an accountant and it would be the same thing every day, purchase invoice matching, reporting, processing expenses, the most exciting things she did was buy stationary as she actually got to talk to someone.

 

Fair enough but my point basically was that some jobs have varying degrees of repetitiveness within them.

 

And there's different aspects to working in accountancy. For example I don't touch anything to do with purchase invoice matching in my current role (I have done it for a couple of days, was mind-numbing) or processing expenses. I do a lot of management reporting which involves budgets. And within that I get to talk to a lot of people around the company. I also handle tenant deposits which gives a bit of variety away from the budgetary stuff. I find the deposits stuff more exciting (relatively) sometimes because each tenant is different and has their own problems or not.

 

I think a lot of jobs rely on what you make of it. You can let it be boring or you can try and jazz it up a bit within reason. Luckily I'm in a good team with a good boss who thankfully doesn't micro-manage and just lets me get on with my job.

[Captain...]

Fair enough but my point basically was that some jobs have varying degrees of repetitiveness within them.

 

And there's different aspects to working in accountancy. For example I don't touch anything to do with purchase invoice matching in my current role (I have done it for a couple of days, was mind-numbing) or processing expenses. I do a lot of management reporting which involves budgets. And within that I get to talk to a lot of people around the company. I also handle tenant deposits which gives a bit of variety away from the budgetary stuff. I find the deposits stuff more exciting (relatively) sometimes because each tenant is different and has their own problems or not.

 

I think a lot of jobs rely on what you make of it. You can let it be boring or you can try and jazz it up a bit within reason. Luckily I'm in a good team with a good boss who thankfully doesn't micro-manage and just lets me get on with my job.

 

Oh for sure, I'm not trying to say it is a boring job, it's just the perception is that it is quite boring, which is why I was asking. Sometimes I wish I knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going to be for the next 10 weeks so I could actually plan and buy tickets for things mid week, maybe have a hobby but then I also know I would get bored very quickly, I might change when I grow up and settle down and have kids, but at the moment I enjoy the chaos.

[Jon the Hat]

It is hard work, but can be worth it assuming you have some imagination.  No point in becoming qualified to do the dull stuff.  With your PM experience you might well end up working on finance projects which can be as interesting and challenging as any other.

 

Are you single?  Have any kids?  Don't underestimate the time you will need for study.  Hard with a family.  Also note that it is much quicker if you attend decent courses from BPP or Kaplan.  The know the subjects and what it takes to pass exams.  Worth it as  well becuase first time passes are required to work in high profile companies, and are used to down select candidates almost everywhere.

 

I am 10 post qualified CIMA working as an FP&A director in a listed company.  Team of 12, and every day is different.  Sometime boring but not often.

[StanSP]

Oh for sure, I'm not trying to say it is a boring job, it's just the perception is that it is quite boring, which is why I was asking. Sometimes I wish I knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going to be for the next 10 weeks so I could actually plan and buy tickets for things mid week, maybe have a hobby but then I also know I would get bored very quickly, I might change when I grow up and settle down and have kids, but at the moment I enjoy the chaos.

 

Yeah the common perception is that.

 

It does get very chaotic in this office sometimes. Especially from tomorrow onwards for us. We have 'budget challenge' meetings with every head of department and involves FD, Head of Finance and CEOs. My first time being part of them and all part of the learning curve for me. Apparently it gets quite heated! The downside being that some of them are 3+ hours long

[Jon the Hat]

Yeah the common perception is that.

 

It does get very chaotic in this office sometimes. Especially from tomorrow onwards for us. We have 'budget challenge' meetings with every head of department and involves FD, Head of Finance and CEOs. My first time being part of them and all part of the learning curve for me. Apparently it gets quite heated! The downside being that some of them are 3+ hours long

 

One thing I have learnt is that budget meetings fill the time you give them.  Take an hour or a day and you get to the same outcome.

[StanSP]

One thing I have learnt is that budget meetings fill the time you give them.  Take an hour or a day and you get to the same outcome.

 

The ones I've been in have always overflown .

 

I do agree. It's never less than the time alotted.

[Bilbo]

Thanks a lot for all the replies, really appreciate it. I've got a house which I live in with my Mrs and we aren't planning on having kids for 4/5 years so i guess i could manage to do the makority of the qualifications without being woken up at 2am! Those that are Accountants would you consider yourselves extremely good at Maths? I feel I'm good at managing figures but I was never what you would consider a Math genius at school.

For those of you asking about Project Management it's never a dull day because you ate constantly working on new projects. I managed to do my Prince2 qualification in a week intensive course, wasn't too taxing but I'd definitely get the e-learning software a couple of weeks before you start the course.

[Itsthejoeker]

I'm looking at project management as a possible career bath, currently doing a HND in Business, would you recommend doing Prince2? anything else?

[Bilbo]

I'm looking at project management as a possible career bath, currently doing a HND in Business, would you recommend doing Prince2? anything else?

One thing I would recommend is looking at whether you want to PM in a particular field eg software implementation, engineering, IT etc and if you do make sure you have a Degree or experience as well as Prince2 (I'm finding this a struggle when looking at moving industry, a lot of people think you don't need specific knowledge about what what you are PMing but just look at the job specs on any recruitment website). You can work as a PM for an agency and they will put you on different projects. I have a mate who has just finished implementing a taxi app booking system and is now part of a team building a bridge, but the majority of these agencies are in London.

[Monk]

Any idea what kind of accountancy you want to do? Saying you want to be an accountant could mean a wide range of stuff really.

 

I went through a phase of wanting to do my CIMA or ACCA, realised it's just a piece of paper, and focused on getting good experience instead and never looked back really.

[Monk]

I'm looking at project management as a possible career bath, currently doing a HND in Business, would you recommend doing Prince2? anything else?

 

Look into Six Sigma, and joining the PMI to do some of their qualifications.

 

Prince 2 is easy and definitely worth doing.