Forums › ACCA Forums › General ACCA Forums › A UK salary question from a newcomer
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- September 22, 2013 at 4:50 pm #141022
Hi all,
I’m really new to this. I guess many here been through these issues before, so I wonder if I can explain my situation and seek advice.
I’m in a well paid job as a leader in education (I also teach A level maths). At the moment I earn approx £45k.
I’m keen to make the transition to accountancy as soon as I can reasonably can, but want to limit the severity of the pay cut I’ll need to take. I appreciate that I can’t dodge that bullet altogether, but I presume that going in part-qualified may mean a better salary to start with.
So – I’m self-studying like a trojan, and am aiming to have F1-F3 under my belt by Xmas. That then leaves me with the long slog to the June exams (during which, of course, I’m also working full-time in the day job) because I can’t (if I’ve understood this right) do any other modules as CBEs and therefore am stuck with everything else being in the June/Dec slots as written exams.
I presume that, though this may be an unanswerable question, that the most I can reasonably do in one sitting is three exams. If things went perfectly, this would give me F1-F6 by the time I got the results back (end of Aug 2014?).
Now, at what stage do I want to start applying for a job in the industry? I don’t especially want to go in at less than, say, £28k – but is this impossible/highly unlikely if I only have F1-F6 to my name? Or could I go for this after F1-F3? Or only later?
And is taking on F4,5 & 6 at the same time do-able? Or lunacy?
Any thoughts gratefully received!
September 23, 2013 at 12:45 pm #141062Hi There
I thought id give my 2 penny 2 you.
I understand you want to move into accountancy but there are alot of factors that are involved in the qualification. The first thing is is that its not just about passing the exams you have to have at least 3 years accountancy experience to become a fully qualified accountant and satisfy alot of conditions in the PER matrix
As for expecting a salary of 28k i think that it depends on the type of industry you want to go in and where about in the country it is.
I might be wrong but with not much accountancy experience, i think that if you get a job say like assistant accountant of finance assistant i think you you do well do get 28k.
As for the exams F1-F3 should be straight forward and should prove not many problems.
However then when you step up a level the knowledge and work requirements also step up. Im not saying it cant be done but all depends on the individual i know many who have full time job and kids and take 3 exams per sitting. However myself personally i find that taking 2 is a max for me to help get the best our of myself.
I would highly recommend the notes and lectures on this site though.
Any questions just give me a buzz
September 23, 2013 at 10:29 pm #141106Hi,
I couldn’t give you a definite answer as I am quite new to the ACCA but my advice would be to look at job websites etc for your location and see what jobs are advertised, what experience they require for certain salaries etc. This may give you a better understanding of what’s expected.
Good luck
SarahSeptember 23, 2013 at 10:51 pm #141107Thanks to both for help and input.
I have indeed had a bit of a trawl round sites, but it’s not always easy to understand… I’ll continue to look on job sites, but is it essentially true that the highest level I can realistically go in at (for want of a better way of phrasing it) is Assistant Accountant? As, by definition, I’ll be unqualified…
Cheers
December 25, 2013 at 8:56 am #153441man this sucks
December 25, 2013 at 7:01 pm #153456Helpful input from Hussain!
Look in the back pages of accounting magazines – they will give you an idea of salary levels for first year intakes. Or go down to your local careers office or recruitment agency. In fact, look at the recruitment agency websites.
Of course, a lot depends on where in the world you are located.
As an educator by profession, I would have thought that you could aim for three exams per session.
Good luck
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