r/AccountantsEire

What did you make of that?

As the title says, I’m on study leave. Haven’t done a tap, looked at the models yesterday but not sure where else to start. For Cap 1’s and Cap 2’s I just did the sample papers and questions from the question pack. I can’t find any question packs on the website, so do I just do the case studies ?

What’s everyone else doing ?

Hi All,

I have all my diaries done for the 3.5 year period but I only have 630 days work experience due to study leave/annual leave/being on the bench. Do I have to have 684? Any input be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Few people asking again for my SMAL model notes

New link again.

https://limewire.com/d/7ftJY#SFrh1qB5Hz

GL

thoughts on MA exam there ? found it quite different to the mock and sample papers. Found them way easier and scored well on them but found the calculations in the actual exam different and slightly threw me. Theory was okay.

Hey everyone,

I work in IT and I sat the FAEs last year and managed to pass first time. Looking back, one of the biggest headaches for me wasn’t even the technical material, it was getting used to the exam platform.

The fact that the official platform only gives you 3 attempts per question to practice is a joke. I was constantly stressing about "wasting" an attempt just to get a feel for how the dual-panel screen behaves or how formatting works in the rich-text editor.

Because of that, I actually hacked together an exam simulator for myself last summer just to practice case studies over and over until the layout felt like second nature. It massively helped with my timing and general anxiety on the day because I wasn't fighting the software UI.

I've since cleaned it up and put it online for anyone else who wants a proper, unlimited way to practice without rationing their attempts.

Shoot me a quick DM if you want the details/access. Best of luck with the prep!

I don’t know I feel like so far papers are different to sample and mocks. I feel like MA was doable but Finance was way harder than usual.

Cap 1 exams start tomorrow- good luck to all undertaking them. If you're not feeling confident going in to them, hopefully this will make you feel a bit better: I did the tax mock 5/6 weeks ago and got 56% , was pretty pleased with that. After 4 weeks of study leave i thought I'd give it another go today, somehow did worse and got 53%

Hi guys I’m a graduate and have a offer from both of these and I can’t decide which to accept. I feel like what’s on offer from the multinational is broader but would it affect my long term career option not choosing big 4?

what’s the usual salary progression during the 3 years of grad contract (specifically in big 4)?

In terms of career opportunities, salary, work life balance etc. 5/10/15/20 years down the road.

I have an offer from a self described top 15 training firm but I’ve been contemplating recently taking a year out and trying to get in to a big 4 graduate programme next year. I prefer tax to audit if that makes a difference and that’s the department my current offer is in.

I’d be curious to hear of how people who started in big 4 have fared long term in comparison to their friends in smaller firms and vice versa.

Hi,
I got sale agreed and moving forward with my purchase process for a new building.
I'd like to apply for HTB, but I haven't filed the last year (2025) tax return (form11).

I paid around a total of 80k in Income Tax spread across the other remaining years (2022, 2023, 2024).
Should it be sufficient to access to the max amount fund for the HTB?

Anyone had this experience or heard anyone with same situation?

What if I apply now, then rush over to file form 11 for 2025 and amend the application and start fresh including all 4 years? Does anyone know if Revenue.ie allows this scenario?

anyone know how much you get if you are top 10 in exams?

Hi everyone
Just looking for some genuine advice/opinions from people already working in accounting or tax.
I recently accepted a Tax Trainee role with a firm starting in June. The company will support whichever qualification route, but I’m really torn between ACA and CTA.

My degree is quite broad with Economics rather than pure accounting, so I don’t come from a strong accounting background. I’ve done a decent amount of economics and business throughout both my degree and Leaving Cert, but I’m definitely not someone who studied accounting for years beforehand.

I’m interested in learning more about accounting and tax, but I don’t know anyone personally in either field, so it’s hard to get real opinions outside of company websites.

A few things I’m wondering…..
- Which route did you choose and why?
- Is ACA better long term for flexibility/career progression?
- Is CTA too specialised early on?
- How difficult is ACA for someone without a heavy accounting background?
- Did anyone start in tax and regret not doing ACA instead?
- Is ACA manageable while working full time if you’re not naturally an accounting person?

I also know I should have at least one exemption for CTA from my degree, but I’m still waiting on my final college results in June so I’m unsure yet what ACA exemptions I’d qualify for.

Would really appreciate honest opinions from people actually working in the industry because it’s surprisingly hard to find genuine experiences online.
Thanks :)

#ACA #CTA #ACCA #Accounting #Tax #Accountancy #TraineeAccountant #TaxTrainee #CharteredAccountant #Ireland #IrishAccounting #Big4 #FinanceCareers #AccountingStudent #CareerAdvice

Honestly a bit more of a rant about the unprofessionalism of some companies here in Ireland.

For context, I am a fully qualified accountant with 2 years PQE who went travelling for 6 months in October 2025. I left my audit role and knew that when I came back to Ireland I’d be on the search for a role as a financial accountant within industry.

I have applied for several suitable roles, and went through multiple rounds of calls / interviews for two roles in particular. I made it to the final round in both of these roles and was told that I was the successful candidate in both, I even received the formal offer of a role with one of the companies. BOTH of these roles have been rescinded literally within 24 hours of being told I was successful/offered the role for “operational” purposes, such as budget not being available for the role, and a vague reasoning of “emails from the top” in the role that I had been offered.

I don’t know if I’ve just been incredibly unlucky but I’ve literally never experienced anything like it. It seems really unprofessional to go through an entire interview process with individuals, offer them roles, and then rescind the role/offer at the very last minute.

Thankfully I’m in a few other processes at the moment, and I’m not in a desperate situation where I urgently need a job, but it’s just incredibly frustrating and I wanted to know if anyone else had been through this before?

Found the paper mixed. Not sure how I did to be honest. Completely botched the Cahir/FSL question. How did everyone else find it?

Hi all, let’s get some transparency going. Use the template below to share your current package and workload:

Role/Level: (e.g., Audit Senior, Financial Controller)

Qualification: (e.g., Trainee, NQ, 5+ YOE)

Sector: (e.g., Big 4, Industry - Tech, SME)

Location: (Dublin, Cork, Regional, etc.)

Base Salary:

Bonus/Benefits:

Weekly Hours: (Normal vs. Busy Season)

Hybrid Split: ---

Example:

Role: Fund Accountant

Qualification: ACCA (3 YOE)

Sector: FS

Salary: €58,000 + 10% Bonus

Hours: 40 (consistent)

Hybrid: 2 days office / 3 days home

Anyone do the mock yet? If so, how did you find it?

I’ve been slacking with revision and only properly starting CAP2 revision today. What is the best way to do it?? I’m stressing I’ve left it too late

Doing all 4 exams and still have most of the learnings to do online