# Taxation exams or ACCA



## Flick (13 Sep 2006)

Hi all,

I'm currantly considering a career change. I am very much interested in taxation and having been doing some research into this and reading various posts on this board.

My question is would i be better doing taxation exams first and ACCA after (increase my employability) or do ACCA and then specialise by taking tax exams? 

I work in insurance (liability) so would be a big shift .

many thanks in advance


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## Winnie (14 Sep 2006)

In the big 4 firms the people in the tax departments do both the ACA and the tax - I think that the ACA ones are done first & then the tax ones.  
Tax is a very narrow field & it is better to have a general accountancy qualification to fall back on


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## Jockey (14 Sep 2006)

In my opinion you would be better off doing the accountancy exams first then then the tax exams because if you do the tax exams first you are limiting your employment opportunities. I am currently doing the ACCA exams and afterwards plan to do the AITI exams. The ACCA has two taxation modules anyway which will give you broad enough knowledge of taxation.


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## Glenbhoy (14 Sep 2006)

You get exemptions from several tax exams if you've already qualified as an accountant - not sure how many, or which qualification you need - certainly being a qualified ACA gets you exemptions.
That would imply that it's better to do the accountancy first.  Ideally you should try and do it via tax department in an accountancy firm, be it big 4/top 10 whatever.  Keep at it anyway as there is and always will be a requirement for tax specialists - now, why didn't i do that?


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## Taximan (14 Sep 2006)

My recommendation is that you do the ACCA first as you will get a decent introduction to tax in it but you will also get a much broader education in business then you will with the AITI exams. The ACCA exams are fairly testing but if you have the ability to study intensily for a short period of time 3 weeks are so and attend  your lectures you will easily get them. 

If you can take the financial hit I would do the ACA exams instead of the ACCA the exams IMO are  slightly easier and you will get decent study leave to sit them if you can stomach the indentured servitude. Internationally the ACCA is v.well recognised biggest accountancy body in the world by a long way.

If you are an accountant you will get exemptions from PART 1 of a 3 part course in the AITI. Part one is fairly basic but their is a big jump up in Part 2 and Part 3. the standard of candidates is usially very high the class is a mix between qualified accountants, qualified solicitors and people who work directly in Tax. There are no mugs in the final Part 3 of tax they are all proven studiers and the pass rate is only 50%. 

You also might find you don't like tax as much as you thought the ACCA will give you a broader base to get employment from. Also you can give tax advise as an accountant their is no req to be AITI, their should be IMO as the only thing you learn in accountancy about tax is the calculations and how to do them it is quite limlted which you realise when you do the AITI exams.        

Finally the ACCA exams are cheap and you can finish them fairly quickly. The AITI is expensive well over €2000 a year. An insurance co should pay for your accountancy exams might be harder for them to justfy tax exams.

 Best of luck


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## Flick (14 Sep 2006)

Thanks all for the comments.. I was considering the ACCA route and, as u say taximan, it will give me a better taste as to whether taxation is still the route of choice.. 

Does anyone work in the area of taxation? how do they find it?


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## Betsy Og (19 Sep 2006)

I work in tax. Re how it compares to audit just ask anyone in any firm how many people go from audit into tax and vice versa. People in tax tend to stay in tax and people in audit are generally gagging to get out at the end of their contract and some join tax. 

I'm not saying theres anything intrinsically brilliant about tax but theres a bit less s*ite work of mindnumbing number cruching and checking and counting and double checking and ....... all the things that make audit such a great job. Of course as you rise a bit in the work of audit you'll rise above the worst of it.

Hours and location of work tend to be better than audit though deadlines are obviously peak times and overtime is the norm at those times.

So while theres a fair bit of "doing" in tax (particularly on the compliance side), there tends to be a bit more thinking before doing. This isnt universally good news because the risks are higher of messing up, the tax code(s) are complex, interact unusually at times and can be a minefield. So you'd want to have the aptitude for it - i.e. if you're happier keeping things straightforward then you might be happy out doing audits, accounts preparation and the general "projects" that can come the way of audit staff.

Did ACA and tax but worked in tax. Significant difference between the big Dublin firms (very specialised or "pidgeon holed") and everywhere else (where need a broad range). Neither is better than the other but being specialised more or less limits you to Dublin. You can "break out" but it takes time and big effort in early days of the more general role.

For the money you need to do consultancy, compliance, while a necessary staple diet, is never going to light up the bank account ....


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## Trent (19 Sep 2006)

Having done ACA, it expempts you from Part One of the Three Part AITI exams. In fact, you only need to have gotten through the Professional Three level (penultimate stage) of ACA's to be exempt. 

As already mentioned, a lot of people in tax do both together. ACA affords you generous study leave too.


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