CIMA/AAT question

[Zero Liability]

Question for the accountants here (or anyone else) who may be familiar with this stuff.

I am considering gaining an accountancy qualification. Up to now I was considering the graduate roles on offer from the Big Four and some of the top mid tiers. I've also been looking into industry accountancy roles, however, which typically grant the CIMA, as opposed to the ACA and, to be honest, management accountancy sounds more interesting to me than audit, tax or compliance, and develops a wider, more transferable skill-set.

It has been a while though since I have done maths courses of any sort, so I am curious, what sort of level of numeracy do management accountants require compared to practice accountants? My background is an UG degree in econ and philosophy, which was followed up by a Masters in management.

And for the BAs here, if I were to branch out later as a BA, what level of numeracy would I be looking to attain? Do you find the CIMA useful in these sort of roles?

Finally, given that I will primarily be applying to grad roles, which tend to fully fund the ACA or CIMA, is there any benefit in doing the Certificate in Business Accounting over the (significantly cheaper) AAT (lv2)? The main reason I am considering the AAT is to enhance my skill-set and gain a grounding in accountancy beforehand, which would broaden the number of roles available to me outside of the traditional grad routes, and also because I am as yet not 100% decided on whether to pursue tax accountancy or management accountancy.

Any constructive thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

[captainham]

Any constructive thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

Accounting forum might be a better place for this...

[Alias]

Question for the accountants here (or anyone else) who may be familiar with this stuff.

I am considering gaining an accountancy qualification. Up to now I was considering the graduate roles on offer from the Big Four and some of the top mid tiers. I've also been looking into industry accountancy roles, however, which typically grant the CIMA, as opposed to the ACA and, to be honest, management accountancy sounds more interesting to me than audit, tax or compliance, and develops a wider, more transferable skill-set.

It has been a while though since I have done maths courses of any sort, so I am curious, what sort of level of numeracy do management accountants require compared to practice accountants? My background is an UG degree in econ and philosophy, which was followed up by a Masters in management.

And for the BAs here, if I were to branch out later as a BA, what level of numeracy would I be looking to attain? Do you find the CIMA useful in these sort of roles?

Finally, given that I will primarily be applying to grad roles, which tend to fully fund the ACA or CIMA, is there any benefit in doing the Certificate in Business Accounting over the (significantly cheaper) AAT (lv2)? The main reason I am considering the AAT is to enhance my skill-set and gain a grounding in accountancy beforehand, which would broaden the number of roles available to me outside of the traditional grad routes, and also because I am as yet not 100% decided on whether to pursue tax accountancy or management accountancy.

Any constructive thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

Erm...what does your accountant say/think?

[Zero Liability]

Well I thought there may be some accountant contractors on here? Or BAs who may have done the CIMA? I'll ask my accountant as well.

[SarahL2012]

ACA - still often seen as the most prestigious accounting qualification because of the robust training programmes the big 4 operate. The majority of students in the big 4 are in audit while they are doing their qualifications -,fairly routine work, but you should get to see a variety of different industries & from quite early in you are dealing with senior execs at their clients. Very few people hang around when qualified - they head off into finance manager / financial controller roles in industry (those audit clients often being a good source of jobs).

CIMA - usually offered to trainees in industry. Not as consistent from a training point of view because only the best of companies make the effort to move their students around to get experience in different areas of finance. I think you can take longer to pass the exams than with ACA, so it is easier for more mature students who have families etc to factor in. If you go down the CIMA route then ask a lot of questions of the employer to understand training programmes and exactly what support is paid for & what study leave you'll get.

AAT - I know quite a few people who work in small accounting firms doing bookkeeper type work who have just AAT and none of the other exams.

There is also ACCA which is more on the technical accounting side - not one I can talk about because I've never offered it to students.

Down the line ACA from the big 4 can still demand a salary premium.


As for the maths? All pretty basic really - it's more about analysing data, interpreting rules & drawing conclusions than anything complex from a mathematical perspective. Being about to use Excel well is a better skill these days.

What exactly are you looking to do long term?

[SueEllen]

I know different people who ended up with different accountancy qualifications.
Like already said where do you aim to work?

[Zero Liability]

What exactly are you looking to do long term?

Thanks for the breakdown. It depends on how long term you mean. My original plan was to become qualified with one of the Big Four, or the nearby mid tiers given how competitive entry to the Big 4 is, and work a good number of years there to gain experience within tax, and later moving back into freelancing, potentially emigrating to NZ at some point. I've been re-considering it, however, since tax is highly specialised and specific to the legal jurisdiction you operate in, and I don't really want to limit my opportunities this early on. So I take it the audit ACA route is a fairly good way to branch out later on and go into industry, however would this be the case even with the mid tiers just below the Big 4?

Regarding Excel, it is an area I am looking to gain further expertise in so I will probably be taking courses in it to refine my understanding of it. I think given what you've said it may be better to focus on grad schemes offering the ACA, though I would still consider taking the AAT as a failsafe.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

If you are only interested in working in industry then CIMA will be the better option for you. ACA is mainly practice based and is unlikely to suit you.

ACCA on the other hand contains a mixture of both and in a sense leaves more doors open for somebody who is not entirely sure which route to follow career wise.

AAT is a technician level qualification but it is a great qualification to have before following either of the chartered routes above as you learn all the foundations of financial and management accounting which gives you a nice head start. I did the AAT before doing my ACCA and from my own experience it made that step up much easier compared with friends & colleagues who didn't and struggled.

Oh, and the AAT also gets you 5 exemptions on the CIMA papers or 3 on the ACCA papers!

[MicrosoftBob]

AAT can be a good first step, complete that and it can be used towards getting CIMA or ACCA

Or you could be like me get your AAT and decide it's not for you and move on

As has been said ACCA leaves you with the most options

[tarbera]

can you clarify ??

Thanks for the breakdown. It depends on how long term you mean. My original plan was to become qualified with one of the Big Four, or the nearby mid tiers given how competitive entry to the Big 4 is, and work a good number of years there to gain experience within tax, and later moving back into freelancing, potentially emigrating to NZ at some point. I've been re-considering it, however, since tax is highly specialised and specific to the legal jurisdiction you operate in, and I don't really want to limit my opportunities this early on. So I take it the audit ACA route is a fairly good way to branch out later on and go into industry, however would this be the case even with the mid tiers just below the Big 4?

Regarding Excel, it is an area I am looking to gain further expertise in so I will probably be taking courses in it to refine my understanding of it. I think given what you've said it may be better to focus on grad schemes offering the ACA, though I would still consider taking the AAT as a failsafe.

So you did o level maths many years ago, then became a 'Programmer or tester freelancer' and now you think accountancy seems a simple option and giving it a bash.? - or do you also have an accountancy background in your current role.? - This will help with our advice

Also when you say 'on offer from the big four' Is that an actual offer to you?