Brandon Laroiya-McCarron
Last week Brandon took his fourth exam as part of the ICAEW ACA course for Certificate level and scored 86%! We are all delighted for Brandon and congratulate him on this outstanding achievement.
The exam, titled ‘Business, Technology and Finance’, was taken as a computer based assessment, which is the same format as for all certificate level exams, and covered a range of topics from Micro- and Macro-Economic Information, to Human Resources, Business Strategy and Marketing theories.
With that exam finished, there are two more for him to complete to finish Certificate level. This level is typically completed in a year but can be less depending on course dates and exams. As a company we are very flexible as to when graduates book their courses and exams. It is standard practice here to give all the recommended study time for each course and these take place either at BPP University, which is a stone’s throw from the office, or at home, if it is a self-taught course. This means that there is no pressure to cram-learn the course material in your own time and, according to Brandon, “has also made the transition from University to work very smooth because I am still learning something new, indeed, often many new things, every day!”
New graduates start on the Accountancy/Taxation Professional Apprenticeship, which incorporates the ACA exams, but has additional requirements such as the need to have 20% of your time doing ‘off-the-job’ training. Most of this training is spent learning the ACA course material, in preparation for your exams, but a wide range of activities at Claritas can also be included in this time. Brandon notes “so far I have been shadowing colleagues in client meetings and phone calls, conducting research on various topics, and had coaching sessions for my personal development- this consists of gathering feedback from managers, with whom I have worked with, in order to create individual development targets.”
“As mentioned in the ‘Celebrating our Grad’s exam success’ article, I feel that there is a strong learning culture in the office, with the other graduates always willing to help each other if any difficulties arise, and every week there is time to tell the rest of the team of any successes we’ve had with regards to exams or other items.”
Look out for some of the company’s upcoming articles in the next few weeks, as there will be important changes in the new Budget that my colleagues will be sharing their thoughts on.
If you want to know more about our Graduate programme please visit www.claritastax.co.uk/graduates
