Course Overview
The Association of Accounting Technicians is well recognised and respected as a professional membership body throughout a wide range of businesses and requires its members to have a professional and ethical approach throughout their accountancy and finance careers.The AAT Professional Diploma in Accounting offers you technical training in accounting and is ideal if you are wishing to pursue or progress your career in accountancy and/or finance.?The purpose of this qualification is to enhance the skills developed from the AAT Advanced Diploma in Accounting (Level 3), enabling you to maximise opportunities in your current or new employment.
What will I learn?
The AAT Professional Diploma in Accounting comprises four mandatory units and two specialist units selected from a choice of five options:
The mandatory units are:
Management Accounting - Budgeting: you will learn to adjust, flex and interpret budgets to provide more meaningful data for performance management.
Management Accounting: Decision and Control: you will develop your knowledge of cost behaviour, cost analysis, standard costing and contribution theory.
Financial Statements of Limited Companies: providing you with the skills and knowledge for drafting the financial statements of single limited companies and consolidated financial statements of groups of companies. You will acquire a proficient level of knowledge and understanding of international accounting standards and will gain a sound appreciation of the regulatory and conceptual frameworks that underpin the preparation of limited company financial statements.
Accounting Systems and Controls: enabling you to demonstrate your understanding of the role of the accounting function in an organisation and the importance of internal controls in minimising the risk of loss.?You will undertake an evaluation of an accounting system to identify weaknesses and assess the impact of those weaknesses on the operation of the organisation.
The optional units are:
- Business Tax
- Personal Tax
- External Auditing
- Cash and Treasury Management
- Credit Management
Please note that not all the option units may be available at all campuses, or as taught units.
For more information on the option units, please refer to your course tutor.
Study, Assessment and Qualifications
During weekly classes your tutor will introduce you to the skills and knowledge needed for each unit, using a variety of resources including lectures, handouts and e-learning via the college virtual learning environment. Time in class will always include the completion of practice questions to consolidate knowledge, and this will be reinforced by home study.
Homework will be set most weeks, and you will also need to allow time for reading and working through questions in your textbooks.
Regular attendance in class is essential to maximise your chance of success. Students should also be aware that the demands of the Professional Diploma will require considerably more time spent on home study than was necessary at Level 2 and Level 3.
Students must successfully complete the three mandatory unit assessments and one synoptic assessment plus unit assessments for two optional units to achieve this qualification. The synoptic assessment will be available at set times of the year as determined by AAT and will assess knowledge from the four mandatory units. This is the only unit in which Accounting Systems and Controls will be assessed.
Individual unit assessments are not graded, however, you will receive an overall grade for the qualification of Pass, Merit or Distinction.
Entry Requirements
Students must have completed the AAT Level 3 qualification to be accepted on to the AAT Professional Diploma in Accounting at Wiltshire College.
Written communication forms an increasingly important part of the AAT qualifications and is a requirement in all units of the Professional Diploma. For the best chance of success, it is recommended that students should have a good standard of both English and Maths before starting the course with a GCSE at grade C in both subjects, or equivalent.
If you do not have formal qualifications in English and Maths, please discuss your situation with the course tutor before enrolment.
Note:
Any student who has been involved in bankruptcy proceedings, IVA or other arrangements with creditors should contact AAT before enrolling on the course. Such arrangements will not normally prevent you from studying AAT, however it may not be possible for you to sit assessments until the arrangements have expired.
Additional Costs and Information
The course fee includes all tuition and the cost of your first attempt at each assessment.
You will need to buy textbooks costing approximately £137 - your tutor will tell you what textbooks to buy at the start of the course.
You will need to be registered with AAT before you can sit any assessments. For students who have previously been registered, the cost for annual student membership will be around £100.
Should you need to re-sit any assessments, you will need to pay a re-sit fee of approximately £55 per assessment.
You will need to bring paper, pens and pencils and a calculator to each class. You will also need a large folder, such as a lever-arch file, to keep your handouts and notes in good order.
