Question:
I'm an AAT qualified accouning technician working in practice in Cumbria. My employer isn't prepared to let me do any further qualifications, and so I'm stuck on £14,700 per annum. Am I being seriously underpaid, and what job should I go for if working in practice is such crap money?
Answers:
What is your charge out rate? If it is a lot more than £30 an hour, then perhaps your employer is being exploitative, and should be paying you more.
Qualifications do not necessarily mean better pay. Employers love people who are great at their job, and they hate paying for paper qualifications. I know plenty of AAT qualified people who are making as much money as ACAs/ACCAs, simply on the strength of their abilities and experience.
Before you sign on with any agencies, why not do the simple thing and ask your employer 'What do I need to do to earn a salary of £X (name your figure!)' That shows a pro-active attitude, which your employer will respect, and will put the onus back on to them. If they are vague and woolly, it is time to move; if they give you a defined career path, it is worth staying.
Also, consider www.lonsdale.co.uk
Good luck
why cant you do the qualifications in your own time and then bugger off to another company that will value your development?
i'd leave anyway
Yeah - not good at all.
I was on 48k.
Claire I would say you are definitely underpaid. I too am a qualified accounting technician. When I first completed the qualifications I was earning approx 17k. When I left work 5 years ago to become self-employed I was up to £23k.
You could earn far more money by looking for a job outside of practice. There are plenty of opportunities in so many industries and with a good background in practice you should be able to adapt quickly to different accounting set ups. Maybe it would be worth getting yourself an appointment with Reed Accounting and see what kind of jobs there are available in your area. You may find that initially you have to start on a similar salary to what you have now but with a large enough company you will get the chance to prove yourself and progress much quicker.
Good luck
yes i would of thought you should be on 20000 a year i think your company having a laugh
Register with an agency, for either temporary or permanent work and get the wage you deserve!
Industry pays better than practice and many industry employers will bay and give you time off to study, but generally this is ACCA or CIMA as they are more industry based than the CA qualification. In my experience the ACCA is the best if you are from practise as this tends to be more of a mix, CA is for practise, CIMA for industry and ACCA a mix of the 2. You are definately underpaid, although it depends what job you are doing, if you are a junior and they have not got room to promote you yet then maybe that's why, however provided you know your stuff you could get a job earning 20k+ elsewhere, so I would look elsewhere. There are loads of good Accounting agencies, Reed, Robert Half, Nigel Lynn Associates, check out the AAT magazine they should all be advertising so you can give them all a call and register with no more than 2 in your local area. It's important to get a good rapport with an agency, if you register with 2 many, it can annoy. An employer will approach many agencies to get a good range of candidates and nothing looks worse than the same candidate popping up from too many different agencies.
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