0:07 [Music]
0:09 in this video I'm going to tell you
0:11 about the Dark Side of Acca
0:13 qualification look I'm not against Acca
0:15 I've been teaching it for the last 28
0:17 years so as your Mentor it's my
0:20 responsibility to tell you not only the
0:23 advantages of Seca but the drawbacks as
0:25 well while ACCC is an internationally
0:28 recognized accounting certification
0:30 which is accepted in many countries
0:33 it has many limitations so let's explore
0:35 the challenges you'll come across while
0:37 pursuing this part the best part of this
0:39 video is that I'm not going to only talk
0:41 about the Dark Side of Acca I'm going to
0:44 give you useful suggestions how to
0:46 overcome those obstacles so if you're
0:48 considering Acca or you're currently
0:51 enrolled stick around you may want to
0:53 hear this hi I'm the Commerce specialist
0:54 welcome to my channel where I cover
0:56 learning outcomes of various academic
0:58 qualifications and professional
1:00 certifications including life-changing
1:02 business ideas and hacks the very first
1:05 drawback ACC has is that it's timec
1:08 consuming and it's
1:11 expensive now when I say timec consuming
1:15 it has 13 papers you have to pass 13
1:18 papers to get certified and the average
1:20 time for most of the students to
1:25 complete Acca is around 3 to 4 years I'm
1:27 not talking about the above average
1:30 students who may completed in 2 2 and A2
1:33 years but generally on an average
1:35 students take around 3 to 4 years to
1:37 complete this qualification the other
1:39 issue with Acca is that it's very
1:41 expensive you have to pay initial
1:44 registration annual subscription you
1:46 have to pay for the exam fees of the
1:48 paper and obviously you have to pay the
1:50 tuition fees so we are talking about
1:52 tution fees of 13
1:56 papers exam fees of 13 papers unless you
1:58 qualify you have to pay annual subscription
2:00 subscription
2:02 and if you fail in any of the papers
2:06 which is quite normal you have to pay
2:09 again for the exam fees here I emphasize
2:11 I'm not talking about those students who
2:13 do it super quick because exceptions
2:15 cannot be taken as examples so the
2:18 drawback we just talk about is that it
2:20 is expensive and timec consuming what
2:22 can you do about
2:26 it the best way to come out of it is
2:30 that there should be a minimum time Gap
2:33 between you completing the cabus and
2:36 appearing in the exam the bigger the
2:39 time gap between completing your cabus
2:42 and giving the exam the higher the
2:44 probability that you're going to fail
2:47 and if that happens it's going to extend
2:49 your Acca period you're going to take
2:52 longer to complete it and obviously it's
2:54 going to cost you more I always
2:58 recommend my students do not abuse accs flexibility
3:00 flexibility
3:02 of giving one paper at a time if you do
3:04 that you'll end up completing Acca in
3:07 Donkey years other issue with this
3:10 qualification is the passing
3:14 percentage though Acca clearly says that
3:16 the passing marks is
3:20 50% but getting this 50% is a task
3:23 understand that Acca is primarily in
3:26 English most of the Asian students find
3:29 difficult passing Acca not because of
3:31 the subject but because of the language
3:35 barrier because most of the ASN students
3:37 English is not their mother tongue for
3:39 students who have English as their
3:41 mother tongue they don't have much
3:43 difficulty but for others they really
3:46 have to work on their language skills
3:47 because if you cannot understand the
3:50 question how would you solve it let me
3:52 tell you don't get carried away with the
3:55 passing percentage which is 50% as I
3:58 told you 50% scoring 50% is a task ACC
4:00 is a tough qualific ific ation you
4:02 really have to earn it it requires
4:05 serious commitment consistency and
4:07 perseverance which most of the students
4:09 lack most of the student think that if
4:11 they enroll in Acca they will come out
4:14 certified but that's not the case you
4:17 really have to work hard to pass the
4:19 exam especially certain papers I don't
4:22 want to name them so now what you can do
4:25 to overcome the difficulty level of Seca
4:29 papers my humble suggestion to you is do
4:34 not not attempt to study Acca paper on your
4:34 your
4:38 own unless you are a super genius you
4:41 are way above average you have
4:43 accounting background now here I want to
4:46 tell you most of the students they think
4:47 they have studied Accounting in their
4:49 college or school so yes they know
4:52 accounting let me tell you the way to
4:54 approach Acca syllabus is entirely
4:56 different than what you have studied in
4:58 your school and college so even if you
5:01 have the background around make sure you
5:03 study with a specialist you have to do a
5:06 lot of research find who is the
5:08 specialist in that particular paper
5:10 obviously if you study with a specialist
5:12 it's going to cost you but don't look at
5:17 it as a cost look at it as an investment
5:19 it's an investment which will give you
5:21 lifelong returns so I'm giving you a
5:24 disclaimer I'm not promoting myself but
5:27 I'm just giving you an example here many
5:29 students contact me and in the end they
5:32 says uh sir you are very expensive so
5:35 let me tell you yes I am expensive I am
5:37 not selfposting but I'm telling you
5:39 quality will never come
5:43 cheap you may find teachers who are just
5:45 starting to teach Acca they
5:47 experimenting on you you may find
5:49 teachers who have accounting
5:51 qualification but they may not have
5:53 relevant certification to teach a
5:55 professional qualification and there are
5:58 many in the market you you won't have
6:00 difficulty finding that there are many
6:04 in the market so I want you to
6:07 decide is it right to study with an
6:10 inexperienced teacher with a
6:14 quack what happens in the end in the end
6:17 you don't finish the syllabus you don't
6:20 know the content well and finally you
6:22 end up failing the paper when you fail
6:24 the paper you not only lose your money
6:26 you lose your time you lose your
6:28 motivation and
6:30 self-confidence and by repeatedly trying
6:32 to do so you arrive at a conclusion that
6:35 ACC is not my piece of cake so my advice
6:36 to you is study with a specialist I'm
6:38 not talking about myself study with
6:40 anybody who has been there who has done
6:43 that who has the experience so that you
6:46 get rid of the paper in the first go
6:47 other issue with ACC qualification is
6:50 since the exams are very rigorous along
6:52 with it comes immense stress the
6:54 pressure to perform well is immense
6:56 especially when you're juggling with
6:59 work study and personal life and this
7:02 leads to burn out for many students and
7:05 let's not forget the stress of resetting
7:08 the exam if you fail my suggestion to
7:11 beat stress is a foolproof preparation
7:13 with a specialist make sure you have
7:16 completed your syllabus you have done
7:19 your revision kits you have done all the
7:21 practice material you have done the
7:25 three marks and never sit in an exam
7:28 unless you score 70 plus in your mock
7:31 exams one issue with Acca qualification
7:35 is that yes even after completing Acca
7:37 sometimes you may feel disconnected with
7:39 the world many students find it
7:42 challenging to apply what they learn in
7:46 books on practical situations while Seca
7:47 gives you the knowledge but the
7:50 application of that knowledge might be
7:53 difficult without hands-on experience
7:57 what best you can do is choose your
8:00 faculty choose your tutor choose the
8:03 person you're studying with and make
8:06 sure that person has been in the
8:09 industry if your tutor does not have the
8:12 Practical experience for example if
8:14 you're studying audit and your teacher
8:17 is just ACC qualified he or she has not
8:21 done audit themselves how can they tell
8:23 you about the practical application they
8:25 can only tell you what's there in the
8:28 book so research in this area is your
8:30 responsibility make sure your teacher is
8:34 from the industry and fully certified so
8:36 that you can get the best of both worlds
8:38 another problem with ACC qualification
8:42 is though it is globally recognized but
8:45 most of the time it does not match with
8:48 the local requirements of a specific
8:50 country while this qualification is
8:53 highly recognized in many countries but
8:55 at the same time other countries don't
8:58 know about Acca what is Acca some call
9:01 it AKA I mean many people tell me what
9:04 is AKA because I've traveled different
9:07 countries so I'm just telling you this
9:09 issue can limit your job prospect
9:11 especially if you're targeting a
9:14 specific local market the other problem
9:15 is the Big
9:18 Brother the big brother is you know Acca
9:21 called Chartered
9:23 Accountants Big
9:28 Brothers now most of the countries have
9:30 their own chartered account
9:32 including UK UK have Institute of
9:33 Chartered accountant of England and
9:34 Wales which produce Chartered
9:36 Accountants India has Institute of
9:38 Chartered Accountants of India Pakistan
9:40 has insur chared accountant of Pakistan
9:44 so on so forth so if you are an Acca
9:47 let's suppose you are in Acca and you're
9:49 trying to find job in
9:52 India let me tell you I'm not
9:55 demotivating you in organization where
9:59 ca means charted accountants hold top
10:03 designations and positions they never hire
10:04 hire
10:08 secs they form Lobby and they only hire
10:10 Chartered Accountants so it is difficult
10:14 for ACC to get into those
10:17 organizations if at all they hire you
10:19 they make sure that you don't get a
10:21 dominating position a top position it
10:23 will always be held by them so I'm not
10:25 only talking about Chartered Accountants
10:27 even I'm talking about CPS so
10:29 organization where there are chartered
10:30 account accountant and
10:33 CPAs if you're trying to get a job into those
10:35 those
10:37 organization bright chances are that you
10:40 will not be able to make it if at all
10:43 you are able to make it you will get you
10:46 will not get the desired position or
10:48 quick career progression because there
10:50 is always a chared accountant sitting on
10:54 top and making sure that you don't
10:55 progress I'm not against Chartered
10:57 Accountants or CPAs but I'm just telling
11:00 you the Ugly Truth so what can you do
11:03 about it on a lighter note do the same
11:05 if you are an Acca working in an
11:07 organization you dominate the finance
11:10 department make sure you don't hire CPAs
11:12 or other chared accountants on a serious
11:14 note what you can do is make sure that
11:16 you have additional skills some
11:18 additional certifications in data
11:21 analytics business modeling uh
11:23 blockchain you know the Contemporary
11:25 ones which are related to accounting and
11:27 finance so that you're able to counter
11:29 the difficulties another Dark Side of
11:32 the story is that while Acca is getting
11:35 more and more popular day by day at the
11:37 same time the supply of
11:40 accca is increasing and the basic rule
11:43 of economic if the supply is high the
11:47 demand goes less if every second person
11:48 is an
11:52 Acca obviously there are so many acas
11:54 and they're chasing fewer
11:57 jobs so there will be Cutthroat
12:00 competition and this over Supply of Acca
12:03 makes it harder to stand out especially
12:05 when you're starting out so what's my
12:09 suggestion here yes it's a reality that
12:11 there are so many accs certified
12:14 professionals already in the market and
12:17 you are about to become one what you can
12:23 do is you must work on your skill sets
12:25 now when I say skill sets I'm talking
12:27 about soft skills I'm talking about
12:29 technical skills I'm talking about
12:32 certification some courses which are
12:34 relevant to accounting and finance what
12:38 I would advise you is just hunt and
12:41 Target Target one specific industry one
12:44 specific company check what softwares
12:46 are used there what skill set are
12:48 specifically required in that industry
12:52 in that company try to polish them
12:54 before you apply there once you apply
12:57 them they look at okay this person is
12:59 not only ACC certified but has the
13:02 specific skill set whether it be soft
13:05 skills or technical skills which are
13:06 pertinent to their company their
13:09 industry and I can assure you you will
13:12 be hired other issue facing this ACC
13:15 qualification is the lack of
13:18 specialization now if you ask me last 28
13:21 in fact 28 plus years I'm into teaching
13:23 this qualification is like if somebody
13:26 tells me that he or she is an Acca the
13:28 way I look at them is they will have
13:31 expertise in audit financial reporting
13:33 and maybe taxation this is what I look
13:35 at even if you look at the optional
13:36 papers we talking about Advanced
13:39 taxation Advanced Financial Management
13:41 Advanced Performance Management and
13:44 advanced audit what about forensic data
13:46 analytics business modeling and there
13:48 are so many new niches which are coming
13:51 now which requires a lot of attention
13:53 which is catching attentions of
13:57 Industries and employers do you have
13:59 that skill set the answer is no
14:02 here you and I cannot do much Acca has
14:04 to play a role here let me tell you Acca
14:09 is also suring researching about new
14:11 trends and they're trying to incorporate
14:13 into the curriculum though you can't do
14:15 much about it but you got to be
14:16 proactive in this area and as I said
14:19 earlier you got to have additional and
14:22 contemporary skill sets as a fully certified
14:23 certified
14:26 accca sometimes you find it difficult to
14:30 get a job why because you don't have the
14:33 experience if you compare yourself with
14:35 Chartered Accountants they already have
14:38 by default 4 years of practical
14:39 experience so when you compete with
14:41 chartered accountant in fact I would say
14:43 there is no competition many employers
14:46 value experience just as much if not
14:48 more than your qualification if you're
14:51 just starting out you may find the need
14:53 to prove yourself in your organization
14:56 before advancing despite holding Acca
14:59 qualification now my recommendation how
15:02 how you can beat this Gap the Gap I'm
15:04 talking about is like you SEC having no
15:07 experience and C is having four years of
15:10 training what you can do is as soon as
15:14 you finish your first nine papers make
15:16 sure by this
15:20 time you have somebody in your network
15:22 who's working in the big four or big
15:26 seven it is mandatory for all accs
15:29 students to work in
15:32 big four or big seven audit
15:36 firms at least for a couple of years
15:38 once you are done with this you are a
15:40 hot cake now you can go into any
15:43 industry of your choice but if you ACC
15:45 qualification without experience is
15:48 nothing I'm not demotivating you I'm
15:50 just telling you the truth another issue
15:52 ACC students face is the exam structure
15:55 you know that recently all the exams are
15:57 online what about students who are
15:59 computer shy what about about students
16:04 who don't have a very high typing speed
16:06 what about students who are not very
16:10 well worse with Excel with spreadsheets
16:14 so here what you can do is make sure you
16:18 have enough practice on simulators I'm
16:21 talking about using Acca study Hub or if
16:23 you're studying with a professional
16:26 teacher they will provide you with
16:29 proper Acca marks marks with which are
16:32 on a similar software so that you you
16:34 understand on the day of exam what to
16:37 expect on the screen what tables to use
16:39 where are the tables where are the
16:41 calculators how to type where to type so
16:44 on so forth and one pro tip I would like
16:46 to give you is if you want to excel in
16:50 your ACC exams apart from knowing the
16:54 cabus you have to be very very good at
16:58 your typing speed and you should be very
17:01 Prof icient in Excel the last issue with
17:03 Acca is unclear return on
17:06 investment and what do I mean by
17:09 that look while ACC can open doors to
17:11 many opportunities the return on
17:12 investment is not always clear
17:15 especially when you look at the cost of
17:17 completing the qualification and the
17:19 amount of time invested into the
17:21 qualification so when you look at these
17:24 two it does not always guarantee a
17:27 highly paying job right away so you have
17:29 to have that patience
17:32 many Acca students find themselves
17:35 working in roles which does not justify
17:38 the time and money they have spent
17:39 earning the
17:42 certification the key here is patience
17:46 what I suggest to all my student is you
17:48 have to be very careful when you're
17:51 selecting an industry and a company
17:53 within an
17:56 industry make sure the company you're
18:00 choosing understands the value of AC CCA
18:03 has a clear progression path do not get
18:06 carried away if you get a job in a small
18:08 company even if it is high paying but
18:10 let me tell you smaller companies
18:13 doesn't have hierarchies they don't have
18:15 career progression paths they don't have
18:18 adequate succession planning so you may
18:20 get stuck in a particular role for a
18:23 long time without adequate promotions
18:25 and incentives so guys I've tried to
18:27 highlight most of the issues facing this
18:29 qualification while a CC qualification
18:31 is highly respected but it's not
18:34 sunshine and rainbows all the time my
18:37 suggestion to you is let not these
18:40 drawbacks and the darker side of Acca
18:42 scare you as every qualification has its
18:45 pros and cons what you have to do is
18:48 follow the suggestions I've given you
18:50 definitely you will overcome these
18:52 issues so guys do let me know whether
18:54 you agree with the limitations I've just
18:56 discussed with you also let me know how
18:57 you found my suggestions to overcome
18:59 these challenges guys if if you're not
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19:15 benefit thank you so very much for your
19:19 precious time love you all [Music]
