AAT Level 2 and 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping

Our AAT Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping fast-track programme combined with the Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping qualification offers more than standard from the outset. We don't just deliver the Certificate in Bookkeeping qualification at Level 2, we also offer you Sage Computerised Accounting Certification that boosts your for CV for employment.

Buying the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping qualification plus Sage and AAT Bookkeeping Level 3 package will save money whilst delivering all of the key knowledge to become a professional bookkeeper with letters after your name. By buying a package, you also safeguard against future economy driven price increases. Affordability is made easy with our wide range of payment options and interest free instalment plans.

On completion of this package you will have completed the relevant qualification and skills necessary for both self-employment as a bookkeeper or a valued employed bookkeeper..

Whilst you are buying multiple courses, you will not be disadvantaged that the Level 3 will be outdated when you get to it. We treat each package as a separate course and only open your Level 3 course when you are ready to study it.

AAT Bookkeeping qualifications are internationally recognised. They deliver the complete work-based ready business knowledge that will help you walk into a job anywhere in the world.

At Gold Edge Training we put the bespoke into your personal study. We will produce your timetable to meet the hours you have to study, your targeted end date, your course support, online course resources and course books will be tailored to how you naturally learn best. Your learning coach will guide and support you to become the best learner you can be and in doing so, help you exceed your own ambitions. All Gold Edge Training study is designed to fit around your work and family commitments. We believe in stress free, achievable study.

It is important that your AAT bookkeeping study plan is reflective of how you personally learn best and follows a time plan that is achievable for you. To personalise your timetable, we will ask you a few simple questions after you enrol and once answered, you'll begin your bespoke learner journey designed to fit you. To allocate a comfortable 4 hours a week for study will achieve far more effective learning than a stressed 6 hours.

Your individuality will lead how you most effectively learn. We offer a fusion of diverse learning resources at both Level 2 and Level 3 that fully meets the AAT qualification requirements. The full range of online and manual resources within our AAT bookkeeping Level 2 and Level 3 qualification package, cover all of the learning key topics whilst also meeting the full learning needs of auditory, visual, kinaesthetic and reflective learners. This ensures that, regardless of your learning style preference, you will be able to adopt a study method that is stress free, relaxed and enjoyable. Using resources that suits your preferred learning style will halve the complexity of what you learn.

In addition to our expert tutor support, every student is offered individual ‘key to success’ coaching that adds an additional perspective to learning from double-entry bookkeeping Level 2 through Level 3, advanced double-entry bookkeeping to producing final accounts. Our students view ‘key to success’ coaching as integral to their studies and eventual exam success as an accounting technicians student.

We know that effective learning is not a natural skill for many. We don't want you to waste precious study time with less than optimum outcomes. ‘Key to success’ coaching develops essential skills from within you to become the best learner you can be.

Those essential skills are:

Develop a positive learning attitude

This skill is one of the first to learn. It develops your mindset throughout learning to believe that 'I can succeed and I will pass'. Just adopting this mental and physical attribute will halve the difficulty of what you learn, speed up your ability to gain understanding and learning outcomes plus, most importantly, increase the effectiveness of your recall.

Set personalised and achievable targets

Motivation and confidence is built be achieving and surpassing personal goals. It is far better to target a comfortable 4 hours of study a week and then achieve 8 hours. Than it is to set an 8 hour target and achieve 4. In this example of realistic target setting, the first outcome is a celebration for surpassing your goal. The second is demotivational because targets were not met.

How to improve recall

The first two skills above feed a positive recall attitude of I knew it yesterday, so I know it today, I just need to give myself time to recall the information. Once you learn our various recall techniques and genuinely trust your own recall, it will never let you down.

Effective Study Time Management

Any free time availability can be used for learning. To utilise all free time, we'll coach you to develop study methods suitable for the timeframe available. Any early effective preparation or post lesson re-capping will increase the effectiveness of a full lesson.

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Course Details

Course accreditation

AAT - Association of Accounting Technicians A globally-recognised organisation, AAT works across the world with around 130,000 members in more than 100 countries. AAT members are represented at every level of the finance and accounting world, including students, people already working in accountancy, and self-employed business owners.

Key Features

Course completion times 12 months for Level 2 and 12 months for Level 3 - Plenty of time to achieve relaxed stress free learning.
Become a Gold Edge training provider high achiever – Receive one-to-one coaching support.
Easy access 24/7 study via our learning portal – Tutor support 7 days a week.
For successful completion of your AAT qualification assessments. You can attend one of over 200 approved UK, AAT assessments centres - short travel distances from home.
AAT Level 2 and Level 3 Certificates in Bookkeeping course resources include - Recorded classroom that are multi-viewable - invitations to live classroom – key topic animation & interactive online learning – hardcopy Kaplan books for manual learning and revision.
Computer based exams fee and one off AAT membership fee are additional fees and available for purchase at enrolment. It is not essential to buy both at enrolment.
If you want peace of mind that everything for your study is covered, you can add course fees, exam fees and AAT registration into one finance plan. You can choose the finance repayment period that suits your pocket.
Average completion time based on 6-8 hours of study a week is 16 weeks Level 2 and 18 weeks for Level 3 - View these timeframes loosely. All learners are different.
Fast response – coaching and tutor support to ensure you learn practical accountancy skills.
We offer affordable interest free instalment finance plans.
Enrolment 365 days a year.

A TOTUM PRO Student Discount Card

Benefit from TOTUM PRO membership (formerly known as NUS extra). You can get discount and deals in restaurants, fashion, tech to travel, and daily essentials. Take your card with you on trips out and watch the discounts add up. All Gold Edge Training students are entitled to apply for a TOTUM PRO Student Discount Card. Deals are being added daily with the current open offers exceeding 400.

Why chose Gold Edge Training?

Gold Edge Training was founded in 2012. From the outset its distance learning programmes were renowned for high achieving students nationwide. Our training provider exam pass rates far exceed the AAT national average. It's achieved because we prepare students to learn effectively as well as teaching the AAT.

Our coaching programme was designed and written by our head of faculty. Alongside teaching and pioneering learning style online delivery, she has specialised in developing the learning skills of accountancy students for over 24 years.

At Gold Edge, we offer bespoke learning and see all learners and employers as individuals who require personalised packages. With a collective pedigree of AAT experience spanning nearly 40 years, we’ve learnt to understand AAT students and we've learnt to listen and respond.

Important benefits of bespoke learning style delivery

Flexible learning to meet other commitments

You control when, how and where you learn and set your own pace of study – We support at the pace you set. Our programmes are planned to be studied anytime and any place. A few minutes to spare? Use it to refresh past learning. These study bites will increase your learning capacity for the next full lesson.

Kaplan hard copy study textbooks & exam kit books

Optimum learning is balanced learning. With Gold Edge you benefit from learning in different ways to increase the depth of your understanding - How you absorb knowledge online is different to how you gain knowledge from a book. The bigger the variety of learning resources and methods utilised in our AAT bookkeeping qualifications, the deeper the level of understanding you will achieve.

Recorded & Live online classroom

We offer live classroom sessions in the day and evening for levels 2 and 3. Watching live lessons best suits auditory and visual learners. The live sessions are also recorded to meet personal availability and the learning style of kinaesthetic and reflective learners. Learning how to adapt resources to suit how you learn best will enhance your learning experience and increase your knowledge absorption. All recording can be multi-watched for deeper understanding.

Online interactive content

All students, based on their natural learning style, will prefer or lead with different online or manual resources. We offer a full online range of workbooks, animations, interactive questions and videos in addition to the recorded and live classroom and hardcopy books. Amongst the online resources you will find PowerPoint presentations, additional manual question banks and practice exams.

Four-stage revision programme

Our programmes leave nothing to chance in achieving your success. Learning a subject does not mean your knowledge is sufficient to pass exams. Study knowledge needs to transfer to exam ready knowledge. Our four-stage revision programme of: AAT green light testing to check depth of understanding – completing circa 200 manual exam kit questions - recorded exam preparation session and finally, exam practice papers, all ensure you are at optimum exam level when entering your exam. Follow our programme, and you will join our high achieving student community.

What will I study in the Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping and Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping package

The bookkeeping AAT qualifications cover in detail the daily activities of an accounts office at Level 2. At Level 3 the focus changes slightly to preparing the trial balance, for month and year end procedures. The trial balance progresses on to final accounts preparation.

The AAT is the industry recognised qualification that delivers the skills necessary for all bookkeeping roles including employed and self employed. To increase your employability, we also include Sage accounting software to enhance your package. Distance learning students completing both manual and computerised accounting studies will offer more skills to employers who are looking looking to fill certain vacancies.

You will learn to process transactions whilst achieving compliance with bookkeeping controls. You'll cover the core accounting skills expected from both the level 2 course and level 3 course. The joint package ensures that you are conversant with both the skills of basic double-entry bookkeeping and advanced bookkeeping to become a proficient bookkeeper.

Your AAT Level 2 course and Level 3 course will cover customer transactions, prepare and calculate sales invoices and credit notes that are then entered into the sales ledger control (accounts receivable). In both your Level 2 course and Level 3 course you will progress through from daily accounting procedures to preparing more advanced tasks such as the preparation of final accounts.

Likewise, you will learn to enter supplier transactions into the purchase ledger control (accounts payable). At regular times in an accounting period you will learn to check that the control accounts reconcile and all customer transactions and supplier payments process transactions have been completed and entered correctly into the system.

On completion of both Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping and Level 3 Q2022 Bookkeeping qualifications, you will achieve professional status including "AATQB" letters after your name.

As part of your Level 3 studies, you will learn to complete VAT returns, prepare final accounts for sole traders, partnerships and small limited companies. You will learn to produce trial balances at both levels. You will cover entering information into the various books of prime entry, the cash book, petty cash book, sales day books and purchase day books. The information from these books is then transferred to the double entry bookkeeping system. You will learn how to check the accuracy of entries into the double-entry system by adhering to bookkeeping controls and producing an initial trial balance. Any errors found will be corrected to produce a final, extended trial balance.

As part of the daily accounts office procedures you will learn many other skills expected of of a professional bookkeeper. Bank statement reconciliations, understanding the purpose of associated documents in the audit trail. You will learn personal skills and how to communicate effectively. You'll grow your general understanding of the legal system including some contract law. You'll understand the treatment of a business entity and how that varies from an accounting and legal aspect. Once you have completed the Level 2 and Level 3 package, you can be assured that you have the knowledge necessary to become either a self-employed bookkeeper or an employed bookkeeper.

AAT Syllabus and exams for Certificate in Bookkeeping Level 2

Introduction to Bookkeeping - 1 exam (90 mins)
Principles of Bookkeeping Controls - 1 exam (90 mins)

AAT Syllabus and exams for Certificate in Bookkeeping Level 3

Preparing Financial Statements - 1 exam
Tax Processes for Business - 1 exam

Booking Exams

When to book your computer based unit assessments - It is time to think about booking your computer based assessments when you begin the 4-stage revision section of your learning. Revision on average takes 3 weeks to complete. Booking your computer based assessment at this stage gives you a defined goal to achieve exam readiness.

You can sit your computer based assessments at an exam centre close to where you live. There are no set assessment dates for AAT. You sit them when you are ready and have paid your exam fee. We will advise you on how to book closer to when you are ready for the first exam. it is possible to sit both exams at the end of your studies. However, study is simplified when you study each unit and sit your exams separately.

Suitability

If you want to begin an accountancy or bookkeeping career, the AAT Certificate in Bookkeeping Level 2 & 3 are the perfect qualifications of choice.

We enrol students from 14 years upwards.

There are no entry requirements to study AAT Bookkeeping although it is expected that you have good basic maths skills and a good command of the English language.

To study you will require access to a PC or Laptop. The learning platforms are both Windows and Mac compatible.

Whilst the lectures, e-books and interactive e-learning are delivered online. We also supply a combination of hardcopy Kaplan books and or downloadable workbooks and question banks for balanced learning.

Employment options

AAT bookkeeping employment is a job for life - anywhere in the world. The AAT bookkeeping studies are underpinned by international accountancy standards meaning your skills will be transferrable worldwide.

Employers seek AAT studiers and AAT qualified people because the qualification delivers practical, workplace ready skills. This demand is the reason why AAT is the leading international accountancy qualification. If you want to attract the attention of employers or new clients, especially when starting on the accountancy ladder, self-finance your level 2. This delivers a strong message of seriousness to a potential employer. If you want advice on a bookkeeping career please ring to speak to our AAT expert.

Below are average salaries for Level 2 achievers:

Accounts and clerical assistant work in finance administration- £23,000
Purchase/Sales Ledger Clerk - £23,000
Accounts Payable Clerk - £24,000

For Level 3 achievers

Accountancy and Finance roles - £27,000
Team Leader/Supervisor - £28,000
Middle Manager - £36,000
Director/Senior Manager - £46,000

* Please note the salaries above are the median mid-point from survey participants only. These salaries will vary with level of experience, position held, company size and geographic location.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Should I study the AAT Bookkeeping course or the AAT Accounting course?

A. It depends on your future ambitions. Both routes will deliver a strong accountancy future. If you start with Bookkeeping and on completion find you want more, no problem. We can arrange for you to complete another 2 units at Level 3 and then you can progress on to completing the Level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting.

Q. I want to be a self-employed bookkeeper. Is this package all I need to study?

A. Yes. These are the perfect qualifications to become a Professional Bookkeeper.

Q. Can I use the bookkeeping qualifications to become employed in an accounts office?

A. Yes definitely. Employers are equally as keen to employ bookkeepers as students studying the accounting route.