Accountant Qualifications

[Sockpuppet]

Don't worry about it to much. My accountants are AFA, which to be honest I have no idea what that is or if it's any good. But it wouldn't matter if they were ACCA or ACA because I always go and ask them a question knowing the answer (or have a rough idea of how it works) and anything I get told by them I double check with another source.

My last accountants were certified chartered accountant who got my invoice wrong 3 years in a row. Each year the same issue they calculated VAT wrong so that the Net + VAT didn't equal the total. Not once, but three years! Each time I pointed it out to them when I collected the invoice but they carried on making the same mistake. That is why I left.

At the end of the day I'm a contractor, I put in roughly 20 invoices a year and maybe 100 receipts and a fifth of what's left to the Government. Its not as if I need KPMG I do all my VAT myself and my PAYE and know a fair bit about IR35 having done this for the last 8 years. In short the accounts are my problem so I make it my business to be able to complete them myself, I just let my accountants check them. Last year I think I had 6 journal entries that needed to be done for depreciation, corp tax and accruals to the year end accounts. None were because I'd made a mistake.

Also I've never been trained to do my job. Still doesn't stop me being bloody good at it. Qualifications while a good in some ways are lacking in others.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

As would I Odd that...

Depressing thing is, as I approach late 40s and look at career #2, its the same my-qualification-is-better-than-yours all over again in another word.

When I was training, ACCA passes didn't get you any ACA exemptions - but if people fail ACA they can take other credits to the ACCA exams :-)

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

CIMA is more industry based and ACA is more practice based. ACCA gives you the best of both worlds, but then I would say that..

As would I Odd that...

Depressing thing is, as I approach late 40s and look at career #2, its the same my-qualification-is-better-than-yours all over again in another word.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

This explains it best:

First let me say how very pleased I was to be asked on the 4th inst. to write an article on why accountancy is not boring. I feel very very strongly that there are many people who may think that accountancy is boring, but they would be wrong, for it is not at all boring, as I hope to show you in this article, which is, as I intimated earlier, a pleasure to write.

I think I can do little worse than begin this article by describing why accountancy is not boring as far as I am concerned, and then, perhaps, go on to a more general discussion of why accountancy as a whole is not boring. As soon as I awake in the morning it is not boring. I get up at 7.16, and my wife Irene, an ex-schoolteacher, gets up shortly afterwards at 7.22. Breakfast is far from boring and soon I am ready to leave the house. Irene, a keen Rotarian, hands me my briefcase and rolled umbrella at 7.53, and I leave the house seconds later. It is a short walk to Sutton station, but by no means a boring one. There is so much to see, including Mr Edgeworth, who also works at Robinson Partners. Mr Edgeworth is an extremely interesting man, and was in Uxbridge during the war. Then there is a train journey of 2 2 minutes to London Bridge, one of British Rail’s main London terminal, where we accountants mingle for a moment with stockbrokers and other accountants from all walks of life.

I think that many of the people to whom accountancy appears boring think that all accountants are the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some accountants are chartered, but very many others are certified. I am a certified accountant, as indeed is Mr Edgeworth, whom I told you about earlier. However, in the next office to mine is a Mr Manners, who is a chartered accountant, and, incidentally, a keen Rotarian. However, Mr Edgeworth and I get on extremely well with Mr Manners, despite the slight prestige superiority of his position. Mr Edgeworth, in fact, gets on with Mr Manners extremely well, and if there are two spaces at lunch it is more than likely he will sit with Mr Manners. So far, as you can see, accoun- tancy is not boring. During the morning there are a hundred and one things to do. A secretary may pop in with details of an urgent audit. This happened in 1967 and again last year. On the other hand, the phone may ring, or there may be details of a new superannuation scheme to mull over. The time flies by in this not at all boring way, and it is soon, when there is only 1 hour to go before Mrs Jackson brings round the tea urn. Mrs Jackson is just one of the many people involved in accountancy who give the lie to those who say it is a boring profession. Even a solicitor or a surveyor would find Mrs Jackson a most interesting person. At 10.00am, having drunk an interesting cup of tea, I put my cup on the tray and then…( 18 pages deleted here – Cojak .) .. and once the light is turned out by Irene, a very keen Rotarian, I am left to think about how extremely un-boring my day has been, being an accountant. Finally may I say how extremely grateful I am to your book for so generously allowing me so much space.

TLDR- I have a life instead

[stek]

This explains it best:

First let me say how very pleased I was to be asked on the 4th inst. to write an article on why accountancy is not boring. I feel very very strongly that there are many people who may think that accountancy is boring, but they would be wrong, for it is not at all boring, as I hope to show you in this article, which is, as I intimated earlier, a pleasure to write.

I think I can do little worse than begin this article by describing why accountancy is not boring as far as I am concerned, and then, perhaps, go on to a more general discussion of why accountancy as a whole is not boring. As soon as I awake in the morning it is not boring. I get up at 7.16, and my wife Irene, an ex-schoolteacher, gets up shortly afterwards at 7.22. Breakfast is far from boring and soon I am ready to leave the house. Irene, a keen Rotarian, hands me my briefcase and rolled umbrella at 7.53, and I leave the house seconds later. It is a short walk to Sutton station, but by no means a boring one. There is so much to see, including Mr Edgeworth, who also works at Robinson Partners. Mr Edgeworth is an extremely interesting man, and was in Uxbridge during the war. Then there is a train journey of 2 2 minutes to London Bridge, one of British Rail’s main London terminal, where we accountants mingle for a moment with stockbrokers and other accountants from all walks of life.

I think that many of the people to whom accountancy appears boring think that all accountants are the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some accountants are chartered, but very many others are certified. I am a certified accountant, as indeed is Mr Edgeworth, whom I told you about earlier. However, in the next office to mine is a Mr Manners, who is a chartered accountant, and, incidentally, a keen Rotarian. However, Mr Edgeworth and I get on extremely well with Mr Manners, despite the slight prestige superiority of his position. Mr Edgeworth, in fact, gets on with Mr Manners extremely well, and if there are two spaces at lunch it is more than likely he will sit with Mr Manners. So far, as you can see, accoun- tancy is not boring. During the morning there are a hundred and one things to do. A secretary may pop in with details of an urgent audit. This happened in 1967 and again last year. On the other hand, the phone may ring, or there may be details of a new superannuation scheme to mull over. The time flies by in this not at all boring way, and it is soon, when there is only 1 hour to go before Mrs Jackson brings round the tea urn. Mrs Jackson is just one of the many people involved in accountancy who give the lie to those who say it is a boring profession. Even a solicitor or a surveyor would find Mrs Jackson a most interesting person. At 10.00am, having drunk an interesting cup of tea, I put my cup on the tray and then…( 18 pages deleted here – Cojak .) .. and once the light is turned out by Irene, a very keen Rotarian, I am left to think about how extremely un-boring my day has been, being an accountant. Finally may I say how extremely grateful I am to your book for so generously allowing me so much space.

[kevpuk]

I hope you mean metaphorically and not literally NLUK

Most taste good with a side of fries

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Qualifications are also not a guide as to your accountants level of risk. We have guys here who's accountants told them to claim TV's, cars and so on, others are as tight as anything. Grill your accountant regardless of his qualifications.

I hope you mean metaphorically and not literally NLUK

[northernladuk]

Qualifications are also not a guide as to your accountants level of risk. We have guys here who's accountants told them to claim TV's, cars and so on, others are as tight as anything. Grill your accountant regardless of his qualifications.

[kevpuk]

Echoing what others have said, really ^^

I actually got a fair way through the ACCA qualifications, years back in permie~land. 1 paper outstanding on Level 2, just about to head into Level 3 - I think the papers/levels are no longer the same, mind....

Anyway, I found that the exams and courses gave me a very solid grounding in all manner of things, but would not profess to be an Accountant in any way. I am familiar with concepts, and like to actually understand what is going on with MyCo as much as possible, but leave the 'proper' bits to my trusted InTouch chums

Qualifications in anything don't make you good at something, or right for it - they simply demonstrate capability to perform to a certain defined standard - bit like Cycling Proficiency Test; I am proficient on paper, but rarely prove to be in practice

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

CIMA is more industry based and ACA is more practice based. ACCA gives you the best of both worlds, but then I would say that..

As Clare says, it proves you can do it. There are plenty of good accountants without qualifications and plenty of bad ones with qualifications.

[Clare@InTouch]

CMA tends to be a management accountant as CIMA is more aimed at industry than practice. There's little difference between ACA and ACCA. AAT is enough to give a good grounding in the basics and be more than capable of preparing a simple set of contractor accounts. Add on a tax qualification like ATT or CIOT for good measure.

Qualifications are not an indication of how good someone is at their job though, it simply proves someone can pass exams in my view. Darren Upton is a prime example. There are load of non-qualified excellent accountants, and no doubt loads of qualified muppets. The same as any job really.

[definitionofself]

Hey guys

This is my last question on accountants, thanks very much for your replies to date I really appreciate it

Is there a major difference between qualifications for example would you rather have a CMA or a ACA doing your books and returns?

Many Thanks

Andy