I am new to this forum and would like some advise please. I have recently joined as a student at the ICB and i am looking at doing the exams. I am currently working in a Purchase Ledger position been with the company 11 years but in accounts for 6 months. I have some course material and intend to go it alone without doing a course. I am hoping that experience gained in Purchase Ledger will be enough. Am i doing the right thing?
I would say that Purchase Ledger experience will help, but the course covers all aspects of bookkeeping including sales ledger, general ledger, bank accounts and bank reconciliations etc.
The level 1 exam is a home based exam and is fairly easy. The other exam is centre based and obviously a little more difficult then the level 1. I did not have any of the course material and just took both exams. I went to an ICB Revision seminar for the level 2 exam.
If you have only 6 months experience in just purchase ledger it may be difficult learning everything yourself - if you are trying to keep costs down without paying for the course then my advise is buy the level 1 past paper (maybe a few past papers £5 each from ICB) and Business Accounts by David Cox (a text book that is approx £20) and once you feel confident then you will be able to do the actual.
Level 2 my advise would be get past papers, maybe check to see if you have ICB revision seminar in your area (this is over a day in a hotel or similar venue where lunch is normally included in the price) then when you are confident you can book for exam. I would say that if you struggle with the past papers on level 2 and cannot get all the information from text book you may want to consider a course for that - there are a lot of open learning colleges which are all through correspondence - you get sent all the different modules and there are assignments you send in (not towards your exam) they just get marked by a tutor so you know areas you are getting right and areas which you are not and you need to relook at.
Hey My second post on this forum but have been checking it for the last 6 months- there's some some good stuff that people contribute so thanks too many!
LS I am in a similar position to you, been working in a purchase ledger postion for exacly the same amount of time as you! I have completed ICB level 1- and have just sent off my paper for ICB Level 2 (Computerised). I was planning to sit my ICB Manual (Level 2) in June as well and can certainly recommend Business Accounts by David Cox as well.
I did the same as Alison suggested buying the past papers although apparently the style of the paper changed in January- so might be an idea to get the latest one.
The ICB revision seminars have all been cancelled! This was to my frustration after booking one in Ipswich- but the ICB rang me and said they have cancelled all of them because of lack of demand- a real shame! Keep up the good work and I think you are definately doing the right thing!
-- Edited by niallkc on Monday 23rd of March 2009 01:59:42 PM
I would also recommend Business Accounts by David Cox as it covers most of the material for ICB level 2 and for other very valuable and well recognised qualifications such as OCR ,IAB and GCSE in Accounting. There is also an excellent related website to the Business Accounts book, www.osbornebooks.co.uk and has some good materials for self study.
I am thinking of joining the ICB. I have three years accounting experience from sales to purchase ledger to bank rec and trial balance and i am wondering if any one has a copy any study materials which they no longer need.
