Hello everyone,

My name is Paul, I am 21, and currently in my final year at Teesside Univeristy, studying ‘BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance’. I am hoping to go on to study ‘Msc International Management’ in September for a year, then study for either CIMA or ACCA.

I just stumbled upon this webiste about 10 minutes ago and it looks interesting. I look forward to chatting with some of you!

Paul.

WElcome to the forums.

How are you finding the course so far?

Bluewednesday - March 15 2010 05:21 AM

WElcome to the forums.

How are you finding the course so far?

Thank you!

The course is very good! I can’t wait to finish in a couple of months though and then start my masters.

So what’s your plan afterwards - practice or industry?

Bluewednesday - March 15 2010 02:30 PM

So what’s your plan afterwards - practice or industry?

Up until about a year ago I would have said practice. However, I feel different now, I am more inclined to go into industry initially after university. I am not going to limit myself to applying for accountancy roles, if I can get anything like a trainee management or a buyer job, I would be happy to put myself through ACCA and then perhaps go back to Teesside University and study for an MBA, part-time, whilst working. Hopefully that would put me at the age of about 27, at which time I feel that I would be in a good position to set up on my own offering accountancy and financial services, or perhaps stay in industry.

Do you work in practice or industry? And what would you reccomend?

I work in practice and love it!

Please factor work experience in your plans, having done ACCA I can tell you that the exams don’t reflect real life i.e. the client coming in with a carrier bag full of unsorted receipts and if you want to set up on your own then ACCA requires 3 years experience (2 post qualifying) with a registered employer.

Bluewednesday - March 16 2010 04:32 AM

I work in practice and love it!

Please factor work experience in your plans, having done ACCA I can tell you that the exams don’t reflect real life i.e. the client coming in with a carrier bag full of unsorted receipts and if you want to set up on your own then ACCA requires 3 years experience (2 post qualifying) with a registered employer.

Do you have your own practice then? I would love something like that myself in the next 7-10 years! I didn’t know that two of the three years were post qualifying. Perhaps if I keep on saving now I might be able to get offer my services at a low wage to an employer, whilst studying for an MBA for 2 years!

I am one of the very rare people who have absolutely no intention or wish of working for myself.  I love the security of someone else taking all the risks!

If working for yourself is your desire you might be better off with CIMA as there are less stringent practicing requirements.

Bluewednesday - March 16 2010 08:45 AM

I am one of the very rare people who have absolutely no intention or wish of working for myself.  I love the security of someone else taking all the risks!

If working for yourself is your desire you might be better off with CIMA as there are less stringent practicing requirements.

Thanks, I will certainly have a look at CIMA over the weekend then, I wasn’t aware of that. I guess it’s still over a year until I will be doing any of them so I still have a lot of time to choose!

Hello and welcome to the forum.

As a counter to BlueWednesday, I’m a CIMA student working in industry for a large company, although we’re both AAT members as well.  I do know what she means about liking the security of having someone else to take the risks, but I have thoughts of taking on some private clients post-qualification.

I’m also one of the few people on here who have a degree in Accounting and Finance from a UK university (I graduated last year).  Take a look at how many exemptions you might get on CIMA/ACCA on the basis of your degree: it’s usually a lot.  If you want to do an MBA, you may be interested in CIMA’s broader business focus and MBA fast-track programmes here.

Hello Jamie nice to meet you. Thank you for the link. I will have a check with my university tomorrow and see about the MBA fast-track, they are on the list of participating universities though!