Just three years after joining RfM Accountants as a graduate, we are delighted to be able to congratulate Kathryn Gardner on passing all her ACCA professional accounting exams – first time!
Kathryn joined RfM’s Preston practice in Leyland in September 2013 after graduating from UCLAN with a first class Honours degree in Accountancy & Finance. In her role as Accounts and Audit Senior, Kathryn was able to start putting into practice the theory she had learned at university. But, despite leaving university with a degree in her chosen profession, a new phase of learning was just beginning.
Learning journey
As a first step to becoming a qualified accountant, Kathryn studied for and passed a total of six exams to achieve her AAT qualification.
Next Kathryn set her sights on achieving her professional qualification as a Chartered Certified Accountant. Her accounting and audit role at RfM would give Kathryn the hands-on experience required but she would also need to pass a series of challenging exams.
Achieving ACCA status can involve sitting up to 14 professional exams but with her degree Kathryn would need to pass just five papers. Although that’s much easier said than done.
The exams Kathryn sat covered Financial Statements; Tax; Business Analysis, Audit and Corporate Governance & Ethics. We’re very happy to report that she passed them all first time with excellent scores. This is genuinely no mean feat.
“The hardest one to study for was definitely Tax. Because there are so many types of tax the information is really dense. That tax textbook alone is 3 inches thick!” explained Kathryn. “That’s why you will often find that tax experts specialise in one particular type of tax. There is so much you need to know.”
More credibility
So tough are the papers that in some instances the pass rates were less than 31%. Add to that the fact that Kathryn has studied whilst continuing her professional practice at the office, we’d say she’s proved herself worthy of using the letters ACCA after her name.
And what does Kathryn’s achievement mean for her as an accountant? “Nothing has changed in the way I perform my role as such. But now that I’m qualified it gives me more credibility with clients. They look to me to be knowledgeable and the expert. It’s made the hard work worthwhile.”
“We’re very proud of what Kathryn has achieved,” said Gillian Isibor, Partner at RfM Preston. “She’s worked very hard to get to this point. We’ll continue to support her at RfM to achieve all her professional aspirations.”
Congratulations Kathryn from everyone at RfM Accountants.