Practical help is at hand

PQs in search of practical training have a new helping hand in the form of Next Accountants’ Practical Accountancy Training courses.

Next Accountants co-founder Dak Patel told PQ magazine he wanted to help accountancy students with that ‘catch-22’ dilemma of having accountancy qualifications but not the practical skills employers are looking for.

The University of East London has already signed up its graduates to the courses and Patel is closely working with ACCA. He said PQs and graduates will be offered 12 weeks of practical job-ready accounting training, and a further 12 weeks of placement with ‘live’ clients.

Courses will start weekly and students can opt for morning, afternoon or evening sessions.

Patel said: “We think there is huge gap in the market for this sort of training. Too many students lack the practical knowledge and experience of cloud accounting and it means they don’t know how to use the tools of the accountancy trade.

They need to understand how Xero, Sage and quickbooks and VT work. And employers expect students to know these basics when they start.” He is talking here payroll, personal tax returns, advanced Excel bookkeeping, VAT prep and submission, and company accounts and corporate tax returns.

For more information go to nextaccountants.training