Advice please - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

tinaj · Newbie

Advice please

Wella · Expert

Hi Tina

Welcome

You would need to complete all the ICB exams, up to level three, as a minimum. To work under the umbrella of the ICB for money laundering and discounted professional indemnity insurance, you need to complete both manual and computerised.

You can start practising with both level two exams but only to the trial balance stage.

I would suggest doing the manual courses first, as this will make the computerised much easier as you only have to worry about the software side of things and will help you understand what the software should be doing.

Obviously as you have started the level two computerised course, complete that then do both manual exams

You can advance from there with Payroll, Self assessment, Legal bookkeeping and Level four. For what you currently want to do, both level three exam are what you need

I would recommend Ideal Schools from a personal point of view. Ther are other good ones around too. I do not need to tell you to stay away from HLC!!

http://www.idealschools.co.uk/default.aspx

HTH
Bill

-- Edited by Wella on Wednesday 9th of February 2011 09:07:51 AM

Noola · Senior Member

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear you have Fibromyalgia I was diagnosed in 2009 :(

I have no advice sorry but just wanted to wish you luck in your studies x

Peasie · Expert

Wella wrote:
For what you currently want to do, both level three exam are what you need

This is what I thought until I read this bit on the ICB website

http://www.bookkeepers.org.uk/Membership/Joining_by_Examination

I'm half way through my level III course and haven't got to Limited Companies yet but I assume "Draft Final Accounts for Limited Companies and Paernerships" means there is another stage to go (by an accountant). Am I misunderstanding the word "Draft" because down below that bit it says "Final Accounts for Sole Traders".

Wella · Expert

Hi Peasie

I am with you on this, and am getting confused. The word "Draft" seems to be a recent introduction.

That link you posted takes you to a fairly new page on the site, which I have not seen before.

If you look at the syllabus for level three exam, it makes no mention of draft, and item 3 in the last section Limited Companies says "Produce a set of final accounts for a limited liability company".

That not withstanding, I do understand the limitations and requirements for limited companies that require audited accounts. However a ltd company that has a turnover of less than £5.6 million and balance sheet value of less than £2.8 million do not require audited accounts.

Bill

tinaj · Newbie

Thankyou all for your advice, That is how i thougt i needed to go, so you have confirmed it all thankyou,
I had made a few phone calls yesterday and had been told by one person that if i did all three of each that would get me to the satge i wanted to be however another person, told me i would have to do the 1,2,3 on both then do another 4/5 years accountancy to be able to do final accoutns for small limited company's ect .
i have found the complete course inc payroll on training link, who i also called and have rearranged it and reduced it as already doing the 1 manual and 2 computerised. HLC wanted to charge just under £2000 for maual 2 and 3 , comp 3 and payrol , these are charging1285 inc exams ! big difference !!
tina

tinaj · Newbie

Noola wrote:

Welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear you have Fibromyalgia I was diagnosed in 2009 :(

I have no advice sorry but just wanted to wish you luck in your studies x

Hi Noola , thankyou,
yes i was only diagnosed on 16th dec last year so am still struggling with trying to find a way of life whilst living on the cocktail of medication i have been given. Hence having to give up my hairdressing business !

Peasie · Expert

Wella wrote:
Hi Peasie

I am with you on this, and am getting confused. The word "Draft" seems to be a recent introduction.

That link you posted takes you to a fairly new page on the site, which I have not seen before.

If you look at the syllabus for level three exam, it makes no mention of draft, and item 3 in the last section Limited Companies says "Produce a set of final accounts for a limited liability company".

That not withstanding, I do understand the limitations and requirements for limited companies that require audited accounts. However a ltd company that has a turnover of less than £5.6 million and balance sheet value of less than £2.8 million do not require audited accounts.

Bill

I think the page has always been there - they've just added this new bit to the top of it. Obviously decided against implementing my suggestion of drawing attention to new/amended pages. The funny thing is the page was introduced to clarify things.

Maybe if the have a page spelling things out as clearly as they have for voluntary treasurers and MLR. The February newsletter must be due around now so maybe things will be made clear in it.

ICBUK · Guru

Hi Guys,

Tanji, Training Link have said they do not include exam fees so just double check you have something in writing to say they do. Having said that the exam fees for what you mentioned are only £285 so it would be £1570 so still cheaper than HLC.

Re the membership can and can't do's:

I think it is the difference between education speak and membership/industry speak. It can get confusing. That page is new so should appear in this months newsletter as per Peasie's suggestion before.

I will see if I can get clarification from both the education and membership councils to discuss this.

Technically though isn't the difference between draft and final just the directors signature? This is probably a problem with industry terminology, as mentioned before on here the term 'signing off' can vary depending on the individual.

This is an area which ICB members are covering more so I will get more explanation on the subject.

tinaj · Newbie

ICBUK wrote:

Hi Guys,

Tanji, Training Link have said they do not include exam fees so just double check you have something in writing to say they do. Having said that the exam fees for what you mentioned are only £285 so it would be £1570 so still cheaper than HLC.

Re the membership can and can't do's:

I think it is the difference between education speak and membership/industry speak. It can get confusing. That page is new so should appear in this months newsletter as per Peasie's suggestion before.

I will see if I can get clarification from both the education and membership councils to discuss this.

Technically though isn't the difference between draft and final just the directors signature? This is probably a problem with industry terminology, as mentioned before on here the term 'signing off' can vary depending on the individual.

This is an area which ICB members are covering more so I will get more explanation on the subject.

hi thankyou, yesas i only need to do some of the package not the whole thing , the person i spoke to found a price for me so it was £1075 for the courses and then £210 for the exams i have left to do .

Wella · Expert

Thanks James

Who would have thought a simple word like Draft could cause confusion?

The Oxford Dictionary of Accounting define Draft (3) as "A preliminary version of a document before it has been finalised".

In my mind (and Peasies, I guess) that means they are not the finished documents

Final Accounts is defined as "The annual accounts produced at the end of a company's financial year as opposed to any interim accounts produced during the year"

To me that means job done

You can see that if using these definitions, it can cause concern regarding the completion of financial statements

Bill

-- Edited by Wella on Wednesday 9th of February 2011 12:58:00 PM

RuthA · Senior Member

I'll be waiting for James's answer, too.

At the moment all my of limited company clients go to accountants to finalise their accounts, submit them to companies house etc as I had interpreted it as I can't do that, but I would be thrilled if I could!

sakthi · Member

hai Tina,

Iam Also New Here> Can you accept me as your friend?

but have no advice...
Sorry..

iam here for know about bookkeeping.

semsley · Guru

One could also use the word "draft" as a verb as in to draft eg to mean to draw up rather than "draft" as a noun as in the/a draft copy before a final one.

Peasie · Expert

semsley wrote:

One could also use the word "draft" as a verb as in to draft eg to mean to draw up rather than "draft" as a noun as in the/a draft copy before a final one.

If they are using it as a verb then they should be consistent as the verb is not used when talkinjg about Sole Traders. "Prepare" might be a better word.

Prepare draft final accounts for Limited Companies, Partnerships.

Prepare final accounts for Sole Traders.