The association of Accounting Technicians is the leading awarding body for skills-based accounting qualification. The programme consists of three levels. Students develop the relevant and practical accounting skills and gain recognition in their development.

There are two routes through which students can attain this qualification:

1. The National Vocational Qualification – students are awarded certificates upon successful completion of each level. Students are assessed in the major areas using both skills test and central assessment.
2. Diploma Pathway- students are awarded Certificate upon completion of level one, Advanced Certificate upon completion of level two and Diploma upon completion of level three. Students are assessed in the major areas using Central assessments only.

National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Route

Course Descriptions

Level One -The accounting course at the foundation level is divided into four units:

ACCT111 Recording Income and Receipts (3 credits)
This unit requires the student to prepare and code sales invoices and credit notes accurately and check them against source documents. Students should make the relevant entries in the books of prime entry and main and subsidiary ledger, both in a manual and computerised system. A further aspect of this unit is the requirement to prepare statements of account to be sent to debtors, in both a manual and computerised system, and to communicate with debtors regarding queries and outstanding debts.

The student is also required to provide evidence of checking receipts against supporting information and making the appropriate entries in the cash book and ledgers, both in a manual and computerised system. The completion of paying-in documents in respect of cash, cheques and an automated payment is a requirement of this unit, and reconciliation of the amount to be deposited to the relevant records. Any unusual features which occur should be identified and resolved, or referred on.

ACCT112 Making and Recording Payments (3 credits)
Students are required to check supplier invoices and credit notes against relevant documents, code them, and identify available discounts. The relevant entries in books of prime entry and ledger accounts should be made. The student is asked to deal with a range of discrepancies and communicate with suppliers appropriately.

This unit also requires the student to calculate and schedule payments and obtain the necessary authorisation. The appropriate method of payment and timescale should be selected and entries made in manual and computerised format. Queries should be resolved or referred on and security and confidentiality procedures followed.

ACCT113 Preparing Ledger Balances and Initial Trial Balance (3 credits)
Students are required to update the cash book and ledgers with any credit transfers, standing orders, direct debits and bank charges, before totaling and balancing the cash book. A comparison of the cash book and bank statement should take place and any differences highlighted by the matching process should be identified through the preparation of a bank reconciliation statement.

It further requires students to total and balance accounts and reconcile control accounts with subsidiary ledgers. Cash in hand should be reconciled with the subsidiary records and control account. Any discrepancies arising from the reconciliation can be resolved by the student or referred on. Adjustments to correct errors and write off bad debts should be carried out and document storage and confidentiality issues observed. The unit culminates with the  student drafting an initial trial balance, identifying any
imbalance, and rectifying the imbalance through adjustments and through a suspense
account.

ACCT114 Supplying Information For Management Control (3 credits)
This unit requires the student to be able to distinguish cost centres and, where appropriate, profit centres and investment centres, and identify the elements of cost and extract information relating to material, labour and expenses. Coding of income and expenditure and reporting errors are also part of this unit.

Students are also required to extract information from a particular source and compare with actual costs and income. Discrepancies between the information extracted and the actual data are to be reported. Performance needs to be undertaken in line with organisational requirements, in the appropriate format and with confidentiality requirements adhered to.

Level Two
ACCT211 Maintaining Financial Records and Preparing Accounts (6 credits)
This unit relates to the maintenance of accounts from the preparation of an initial trial balance through to the production of a set of final accounts.  Students are required to extract and manipulate information to prepare trial balances, extended trial balances, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets of sole traders and partnerships. As part of the processes it may be necessary to make adjustments and corrections to information and carry out reconciliation's to ensure accuracy in the maintenance of the records. The knowledge and understanding refers to restructuring accounts from incomplete evidence, and this will be used in the examination as a means of testing a number of the performance criteria.
At all stages, it is necessary to follow the organisation’s policies and procedures and to ensure that discrepancies, unusual features or queries are identified and either resolved or referred to the appropriate person. Communicating in an appropriate and understandable manner, whilst at the same time maintaining confidentiality, is essential in carrying out tasks, handling queries and making suggestions for improvement in the record keeping of the organisation.

PRR212 Preparing Reports And Returns (6 credits)
This course exposes students to the procedures involved in the  preparation of reports for internal use. The reports in question are those that assist managers in evaluating and controlling organisational
performance. It also equip them with the requisite skills concerned with reporting to external bodies. The information may be required in accordance with industry regulation, or in pursuit of grant finance, or
simply to facilitate information gathering by bodies such as trade associations, or for inter-firm comparison. Students will also be equipped to prepare periodic VAT/GCT returns for submission
to Customs and Excise/Tax Department..

ECR213 Recording And Evaluating Costs And Revenues (6 credits)
The purpose of this course is for students to demonstrate competence in and understanding of costing techniques for direct materials and direct labour. This will include:

• An implicit understanding of the classification of direct costs and their behaviour.
• The construction of a system for the coding of costs.
• Relationship between the costing systems for direct costs and the accounting system.
• An understanding of job, batch, unit and process costing systems.

Materials

• The classification of materials into raw materials, work in progress and finished stock.
• The valuation of issues and stock using First In First Out, Last In First Out and Weighted Average Cost.
• The recording of costs of materials in the accounting records.

Labour

• Methods for and calculation of payments for labour.
• The recording of labour costs in the accounting records.

It also involves the recording and analysis of  information relating to the allocation, apportionment and absorption of overhead costs and preparing and evaluating estimates of costs and revenues.

WWC214 Working With Computers (6 credits)
For this course the student has to prove understanding of manual accounting methods and, where appropriate, of computerised methods. It therefore,covers the generic aspects of using IT which would otherwise have be to repeated many times in the individual units. This unit is part of the level one standards, but will also have to be achieved by those candidates who are direct entrants at Intermediate level (this is the same approach as for the Health and Safety unit).This element also requires the candidate to make visual safety checks before turning on the computer, to use passwords and access, save and print data. Students are also exposed to the use of Accounting Packages to prepare accounts and reports.

HSPWE215 Contribute To The Maintenance Of A Healthy, Safe And Productive Working Environment (3 credits)
The health and safety Unit appears at all three levels of the accounting qualification framework. However, an individual student will only be assessed once for health and safety and this assessment may take place at any time and at any level of the AAT scheme. The results of the health and safety Unit will then automatically be accredited from one level to another as the candidate progresses through the AAT scheme. ‘Monitor and maintain a safe, healthy and secure working environment’-students are expected to
uphold organisational work practices to ensure that they conduct themselves and operate in an environment conducive to current health and safety legislation. This good conduct would include the student identifying and correcting any hazards to themselves or others, and reporting issues as appropriate to other persons authorised to deal with health and safety matters. Students are also expected to follow emergency procedures (including illness, accidents, fire, evacuation and breaches of security) in accordance with organisational policy.

 Monitor and maintain an effective and efficient working environment-
The knowledge and understanding for this element relates partly to the student’s own work area, but also refers to the impression created by the personal work area on others. Similarly, students are required to demonstrate respect for others in the way they work. A particularly specific item of knowledge and understanding requires students to understand manufacturers’ instructions and organisational procedures for working with equipment.

APE216 Achieving Personal Effectiveness (6 credits)
Planning and organising own work-
This element is concerned with the student’s ability to use planning aids to plan and monitor their own work and to respond to changes in priorities. Following from this, students should be able to anticipate difficulties in meeting deadlines and refer to the appropriate person for guidance. They should show awareness that their work methods and activities may be affected by constraints (for example, internal constraints including organisational procedures and external constraints including legal requirements).

 Establish and maintain working relationships-
This element is concerned with the student’s ability to manage relationships in the workplace, to resolve any communication difficulties, and to be an effective team member. Students should be able to demonstrate use of a range of communication methods, dealing both with people familiar with the subject matter and with those unfamiliar with it. Students should also demonstrate competence in dealing with difficulties arising in working relationships.
 

Improve your own performance-
This element is concerned with the student’s continuous self-development: the recognition that this is essential for effective work performance, and the ability to form and execute a plan of self-development.
Ways of acquiring skills and knowledge: courses,internet, journals and trade publications, books, through colleagues, observation.

Level Three
PEV311 Contributing To The Management Of Performance And The Enhancement Of Value (6 credits)
What the course is about
There are two major themes in this unit . First, the student will have to monitor how well an organisation is performing. Secondly, the student will have to make recommendations to improve performance and add value to an organisation.
To do all of this, the student will need to collect, analyse and interpret relevant information of help to managers. The student will find some of this information within the organisation but other information, such as competitors’ prices and market trends, will come from external sources.
Sometimes the student will be able to analyse information by making comparisons, perhaps by comparing the collected information with what should have happened. At other times, the student will need to see if there is any pattern in the information – and if there is, to use that pattern to forecast the future.

PCR312 Contributing To The Planning And Control Of Resources (6 credits)
There are three aspects to this unit . First, students will have to forecast the demand for the goods or services of the organisation, the resources likely to be consumed in meeting that demand and the costs involved. Next, the student will have to use those forecasts to prepare draft budgets of income and expenditure and to make adjustments for any difficulties that might arise. Finally, the student will have to compare the organisation’s actual performance against its budgeted performance and make recommendations.

MAS313 Managing Systems And People In The Accounting Environment (6 credits)
This unit consists of two elements. Element 1 is concerned with managing people within
the accounting environment. Element 2 is concerned with identifying opportunities for
improving the effectiveness of an accounting system, including identifying and assessing
potential areas of fraud.

Management techniques that this unit seek to develop:

• Methods of work planning and scheduling
• Personal time management techniques
• Methods of measuring cost-effectiveness
•  Methods of fraud detection within accounting systems
•  Techniques for influencing and negotiating with decision makers & resource holders

DFS314  Drafting Financial Statements (Accounting Practice,Industry And Commerce) (6 credits)
This unit is concerned with competence in drafting and interpreting the financial statements of limited companies. Students will have attained competence at levels 2 and 3 in the process of identifying and recording financial transactions in accounts and ledgers following the principles of double-entry bookkeeping. They will also be able to draft the financial statements of sole traders and partnerships. Students will thus have some experience in measuring assets and liabilities at level 2.

This unit builds upon these competencies and concentrates on the function of drafting financial statements of limited companies from the records and accounts prepared. It ensures that students understand what information is required to be provided, how it is to be presented to users of the financial statements and how the rules and principles established in financial reporting standards apply to the process of drafting financial statements. The unit also ensures that students grasp the reasons why financial statements are prepared and communicated so that their significance is understood. They need to understand who these users are and what use they make of this information. The unit also requires the student to grasp the techniques applied to financial statements that are used to assess the financial performance and the financial position of an entity.

The Standard is divided into two elements:
Element 1, Draft limited company financial statements and
Element 2, Interpret limited company financial statements.

IAP315 Implementing Auditing Procedures (6 credits)
On completion of this unit, students should have competence in planning and performing an audit and in drafting related reports. Whilst they would not be expected to take full responsibility for an audit, students should be able to complete sections of an audit file to a point where those sections are suitable for review by their supervisor.

As background to this unit, students should understand what an audit is and which entities are required to be audited. The difference between internal and external audit must be understood. Students should be familiar with the following sections of the Companies Act 1985:
- Accounting records—sections 221 and 222.
- Audit reports—sections 235, 236, and 237.
- Exemptions from audit—sections 249A and 249B.
- Dormant companies—section 250
- Rights of auditors—sections 389A and 390.

Students should also have an understanding of the purpose of the Statements of Auditing Standards (SASs), and appreciate that they contain both mandatory procedures and explanatory material. Reference should be made to The Scope and Authority of Auditing Practices Board Pronouncements.

BTC316 Preparing Business Taxation Computations (6 credits)
Preparing Business Taxation Computations, concerns the calculation of taxation liabilities for:

•  Sole traders
•  Partnerships
• Limited companies

In calculating the tax liability of a limited company,  Corporation Tax Returns may need to be completed.

The Diploma Pathway

All the areas for the NVQ are covered in addition to these other courses:

Operating a Cash Management and Credit Control System
This unit is concerned with the management of cash and credit. The unit involves the management of cash balances as well as the granting of credit and the collection of outstanding debts.

Elements contained within this unit are:
Element: 1 Monitor and control cash receipts and payments
Element: 2 Manage cash balances
Element: 3 Grant credit
Element: 4 Monitor and control the collection of debts

Professional Ethics
The Professional Ethics unit requires the candidate to provide evidence of their ability to demonstrate the ethical duties and responsibilities necessary and the knowledge required to underpin ethical practice in this sector. The unit has been developed using the existing AAT Guidelines on Professional Ethics (based upon principles approved by the International Federation of Accountants, IFAC). From this basis, the key components have been extracted and assimilated to reflect the most critical requirements for professional conduct and competence in this field.

The Professional Ethics unit is not designed to replicate the ethical requirements detailed by the professional sponsoring bodies of the AAT. However, it provides a sound basis for progression in application of ethics and related knowledge and understanding required of students at the higher level.
This unit also provides an ideal forum to develop critical decision making skills. The unit can be taken at either level 2 or level 3. Elements contained within this unit are:

• Element: 1 Apply general principles and procedures for ethical compliance expected within the accounting sector
• Element: 2 Develop, maintain and apply ethics in employer / employee situations
• Element: 3 Develop, maintain and apply ethics in public practice

Work Experience
This is a non-credit course which is offered to students, because the college recognizes that no matter how effective classroom teaching may be, it is not a substitute for practical experiences. AAT students are therefore given an opportunity to gain ‘on the job’ experiences to support and enhance the theoretical body of knowledge acquired in the classroom.

Entrepreneurial and Business Practice
Students are expected to create and operate a company/partnership. They are required to prepare all the relevant accounting records and follow the procedures involved in starting and liquidating a business. Activities are carefully monitored and assessment is done on an ongoing basis.