Accounting Level 3 - Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) Advanced Diploma

This qualification is to ensure that students are well prepared to progress into a career in business, finance or professional accountancy, or into further education.

You will learn and develop skills needed for financial processes, including accounting principles and concepts, advanced bookkeeping and preparing financial statements. You will also understand the business environment, technology used in finance and accounting, business issues regarding payroll and value added tax (VAT) (which may be known by another name in other countries), issues in business, management accounting techniques, ethical principles and sustainability considerations for accountants.

You will develop an understanding of business and its structure and purpose, as well as appreciating the wider business environment. You will develop skills supporting complex financial processes, such as final accounts, reports and returns, use of technology to provide management accounting information, and completion of VAT returns.

You will be expected to take responsibility for initiating and completing tasks and procedures, as well as exercising autonomy and judgement within limited parameters, such as awareness of different perspectives or approaches within an area of study or work. You will need to use a variety of data and information about a business to visualise and communicate key information needed for business decision making.

Units Include:-
Financial Accounting: Preparing Financial Statements
Unit covers: - Understanding the accounting principles underlying final accounts preparation, understanding the principles of advanced double-entry bookkeeping, implementing procedures for the acquisition and disposal of non-current assets, preparing and recording depreciation calculations, record period end adjustments, produce and extend the trial balance, produce financial statements for sole traders and partnerships, interpret financial statements using profitability ratios, prepare accounting records from incomplete information.

Tax Processes for Business
Unit covers: - Understanding legislation requirements relating to VAT, calculate VAT, review and verify VAT returns, understand principles of payroll, report information within the organisation.

Business Awareness
Unit covers: - Understanding business types, structures and governance, and the legal framework in which they operate, understanding of the impact of the external and internal environment on businesses, their performance and decisions, understand how businesses and accountants comply with principles of professional ethics, understand the impact of new technologies in accounting and the risks associated with data security, communicate information to stakeholders

Management Accounting Techniques
Unit covers: - understanding the purpose and use of management accounting within organisations, use techniques required for dealing with costs, attribute costs according to organisational requirements, investigate deviations from budgets, use spreadsheet techniques to provide management accounting information, use management accounting techniques to support short-term decision making, understand principles of cash management

05/07/23