In the current difficult job market, many people have found that when applying for a job they might have previously been well suited for and have been offered, they are now facing stiff competition from dozens of others who have more relevant skills and experience. Therefore, to make sure you have the best chance of finding a job that you want, it can be wise to invest in taking a home learning course. However, any course you do take should be carefully selected to be firstly recognised by a relevant professional body, and secondly, relevant to the type of role that you're looking for. For this reason, HomeLearningCourses offers a number of different courses aimed at different levels and slightly different areas, recognised by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), and by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB).
For people who are looking for knowledge of bookkeeping basics that can be put into practice right away, the ICB Practical Bookkeeping courses are ideal. The intermediate course available offers ICB level 1 and level 2 recognition, and covers aspects of bookkeeping such as double entry, VAT, expenditure and income, depreciation, adjustments, suspense accounts, credit control, and other relevant day to day knowledge. This can be useful for someone new or relatively new to the field, as well as for those who manage or own their own business to have an overview of what is required. The advanced course available covers the ICB level 3 Diploma requirements, and includes advanced topics such as stock valuation, using incomplete information, ratios, special transactions, and background on company regulation, as well as other areas.
In practice, most people involved in bookkeeping will require some level of proficiency with common software packages, and the most popular of these are provided by a company named Sage. HomeLearningCourses offers a special course in Sage Computerised Bookkeeping for this purpose, which requires no prior knowledge of bookkeeping - although you will find the knowledge from the Practical Bookkeeping courses will be demonstrated in how the Sage software works. This course covers things like day books, VAT, profit and loss, banking, invoicing and other areas that are commonly processed using Sage Instant Accounting. At the end of this course, you can choose to sit for Sage's own Certificate of Competency, or an ICB Certificate in Bookkeeping. For people working in human resource departments, a knowledge of payroll software can be as useful as it is to those in accountancy, and therefore, there is a course available in Sage Instant Payroll, which is the industry standard in calculating wages, dealing with Income Tax and National Insurance, Pensions and other related matters, and the course leads to an ICB Level 3 Diploma in Payroll Management.
For people who seek a long term more general career in accounting, AAT qualifications can be an ideal entry route. There is a level 2 Certificate for Accounting Technicians, and a level 3 Diploma for Accounting Technicians available, which allows you to build up your knowledge, and covers many of the areas required for basic bookkeeping. This type of qualification can be used later on as one of the requirements for chartership with a professional chartered accountant body such as CIPFA, ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA or ICAEW.
