AFM or ATX-IRL?

Hi all,

I’m wondering which of the above I should take. I have no ambition becoming a tax advisor or go into auditing practice, prefer to stay in industry where I currently am. But on the other hand, I’m better with calculations than with theoretical stuff and models and so on. To give an idea:

(exempt for BT/MA/FA/LW based on my Dutch BSc in Accounting)

Dec’22: PM* 66%
Mar’23: FR* 82%
Jun’23: FM* 60% and TX-IRL 66%
Sep’23: AA 45%
Dec’23: AA 51%
Mar’24: SBR-IRL 60%
Jun’24: skipped because I was nowhere near ready + we had a big project at work
Sep’24: SBL 28%
Dec’24: APM 29% — found Open Tuition during my prep for this (and thanks Ken Garrett for your lectures)
Mar’25: SBL 51%
Jun’25: APM – pending

* was revision from my Dutch BSc qualification (didn’t get the exemptions I should have gotten)

As you can see I took two exams in June 2023. The books weren’t that thick so I thought I should be alright. Which I was, but it also was an approach that I wasn’t going to repeat: because I spent most of the time on TX-IRL (and having moved from the Netherlands only the year before, Irish taxes were completely new to me) I prepared for FM in something like 2 days :).

So am I going for AFM (for which I won’t be able to sit the exam in September due to being on a ferry to Wales that day) or for ATX-IRL (for which there are unfortunately no lectures on OT so I’ll have to rely on the wonderful Paula Byrne). I found APM was rather disappointing/frustrating compared to PM because it involves barely any calculations, and I’m afraid AFM will be equally disappointing/frustrating. Does ATX involve many calculations because I can’t quite foresee what else would be in there?

I’ll also look at the syllabi, and some past exams, but maybe someone here can say something meaningful about it too.