AAT Level 2 Foundation Certificate in Accounting

The AAT level 2 accounting qualification will help individuals gain a strong understanding of accountancy.
KBM will provide you with accountancy training and work experience, enabling you to acquire accounting and job-ready skills needed kickstart your career as an accountant in any industry.

Studying at KBM

The AAT level 2 accounting qualification will prepare you for entry-level to junior accounting roles as you gain an excellent foundation in accounting and finance administration. You will become fluent in basic double-entry bookkeeping and costing principles as our certified accounting tutors/accountants will support and guide you in preparation of the AAT assessments and exams.

 

You will gain the experience of using multiple accounting software as our certified professional accountants supervise your work. KBM will provide you with a unique opportunity in accounting work experience as you work with actual client files, boosting your accounting experience and enhances your employability potential.

Success factors at KBM

KBM will help you in passing exams and assessments. We have an over than 95% success rates. The success factors at KBM are:

  • AAT accredited and approved training provider
  • Expert classroom-based support
  • Integration of practical training with AAT subjects; the best combination of study and practical
  • A dedicated e-portfolio, we can book your training at any time at our North, West and East London and Birmingham centres
  • Free e-portfolio to track your performance and training milestones integrated into academic modules of the AAT
  • CPD Certification essential to become an AAT Member integrated with all AAT Levels.
  • Availability of weekend and evening classes
  • Three certificates (AAT, CPD and one from either SAGE, XERO or QuickBooks)
  • Support on CV preparation, mock interview and job hunting

Distance learning options

KBM offers an option for distance-learning for those who prefer independent study at their own pace and time towards their preferred completion date.

This would be ideal for individuals who require the flexibility to suit their daily schedule.

KBM will provide the study and practice materials in line with the AAT requirements, and our tutors will support through the online student portal during the tenure of the programme.

Entry requirements

No previous accounting qualification or experience is required for the AAT Level 2 Foundation Certificate in Accounting. However, a good standard of literacy in English and math are required. 

This qualification is ideal for school or university leavers, as well for individuals considering a career change.

Registration with the AAT will be required before starting this course. The AAT will provide an AAT student number required for the exams/assessments.

Progression opportunities

The AAT level 2 certification in accounting will allow you to pursue employment opportunities in the accounting and finance sector. You will be qualified to perform the following roles:

  • Accounts Assistant
  • Accounting Administrator
  • Semi-senior Bookkeeper
  • Bookkeeper
  • Accounts Payable Clerk
  • Accounts Receivable Clerk
  • Purchase Ledger Clerk
  • Sales Ledger Clerk

Upon completion of this programme, you have the option to progress your studies towards the AAT Level 3 Advanced Diploma in Accounting.

Average salary range

Depending on experience, accounting roles may vary from £20,000 to £30,000 annually.

Duration

The AAT Level 2 (Foundation Certificate in Accounting) generally takes around 12 months but may complete it as quickly as 6 months with an average of 6-8 hours of study weekly.

AAT accounting level 2 syllabus

The AAT level 2 will prepare you to progress into a career in business, finance or professional accounting. There are five mandatory units in this qualification. You will develop double-entry accounting bookkeeping and basic costing skills, a gain an understanding of the sales, purchase, and general ledgers.

Though the course, you will learn the use of accounting software, which will develop your professional skills to work effectively in accounting and finance.

The AAT level 2 accounting qualification syllabus includes a variety of foundation accounting and finance skills with five mandatory units:

  • Bookkeeping Transactions
  • Bookkeeping Controls
  • Elements of Costing
  • Using Accounting Software
  • Work Effectively in Finance

Bookkeeping Transactions

In the first unit of this AAT level 2 accounting qualification, you will gain the knowledge and skills of double-entry bookkeeping and its systems and processes. You will become familiar with various accounting books like the prime entry and ledger, to process and record financial documents.

At the end of this unit, you will gain the following learning outcomes:

  • Understanding of transactions within a bookkeeping
  • Processing of transactions of customers
  • Processing of transactions of suppliers 
  • Processing of payments and receipts
  • Processing of transactions from ledgers to trial balance

Bookkeeping Controls

In this unit, you will learn the functions of a journal, control accounts, and reconciling balances. It also covers the application of corrections and re-drafting where necessary. You will also study the banking system, and cover the following topics:

  • Understanding the purpose and use of control accounts and journals
  • Maintaining and using control accounts
  • Maintaining and using journal
  • Reconciling bank statements with the cash book
  • Processing of supplier invoices and calculate payments
  • Processing of credit notes and calculate payments
  • Understanding of retention and storage requirements for banking documents

Elements of Costing

This unit highlights the importance of a costing system as an information source for decision making of internal management, and to learn the outward perspective of providing relevant information to managers who uses this information to assist in their decision making, control, and business planning. This includes extracting and comparing information on actual performance against budgeting.

You will also learn about classifying costs, code transactions, and develop product or service unit costs using a variety of techniques for cost material, labour, and overheads. Students will also engage with the budget control system and comparison of actual costs with budgeted costs to determine variations, whether they are adverse or favourable.

The High-Low method is included in this unit, giving an introduction to underpin skills and knowledge development for later units where marginal costing will be used to aid management decision-making. Other content include understanding overhead as a component of cost and building, an essential unit product cost through machine-hours, labour hours, and per-unit cost. 

The unit on elements of the costing will provide you with a basic introduction to costing and develop a strong foundation in the knowledge and skills you need for further complex costing and management accounting units like:

  • Advanced level Management Accounting
  • Costing and Professional level Management Accounting
  • Budgeting

Using Accounting Software

This unit will build your knowledge and skills required to carry out classic bookkeeping transactions and tasks using different accounting software, necessary for all finance roles for data processing and information in the modern era. 

Students will process accounting information electronically, reinforcing the understanding the of bookkeeping sequence. Tasks includes performing bank reconciliations, set up general ledger accounts for both new and existing businesses, and processing sales and purchase documents, recording cash and bank entries.

This unit will develop the skills required to produce and understand reports along with its purpose. As a part of your studies, KBM will provide you free access to specialised accounting software for learning and assessment at completion. Learning outcome of this unit includes:

  • Producing reports
  • Processing of sales and purchases transactions
  • Set up accounting software
  • Processing of bank and cash transactions
  • Perform period end routine tasks

Work Effectively in Finance

This unit will develop the professional skills and behaviours needed to perform in the workplace in the finance function. As a finance professional, skills beyond numerical are required.

This unit focuses on communication and interpersonal skills within an organisation beyond the finance function. It also highlights the importance of maintaining confidentiality of information, ensuring data security, and the essentials of corporate social responsibility. Students will learn how to take actions to ensure ethical behaviour and support sustainability.

This unit will help you in preparation of the advanced level Ethics for Accountants in later levels. Learning outcomes will include:

  • Understanding of the finance function in an organisation
  • Use of personal skills development in the finance
  • Produce work effectively
  • Understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethics and sustainability in an organisations

Course assessments

AAT will assess your knowledge and skills through a combination of unit and a synoptic assessment.

Unit Assessment

The unit assessment will test your knowledge and skills gained in the study of that unit. The assessments are:

  • Available on demand (mostly throughout the year)
  • At AAT approved assessment venues: KBM is an approved assessment venue.
  • Computerised exam marking, results available within 24 hours
  • AAT assessors will mark your assessments where required

Synoptic assessment

The synoptic assessment will occur at the end once the other unit assessments have been completed. It will test a variety of your knowledge and skills gained from the other units.

Getting your results

Results of your computerised assessment will be available within 24 hours in your MYAAT account. You can expect the result of assessments marked by AAT assessor to be available at a later date. AAT publishes the exams result on their website (timescales may vary).

Grading

You will need to achieve a minimum 70% competency level in each of the unit assessment and the synoptic assessment to be awarded the AAT Level 2 Foundation Certificate in Accounting.

Resits

You will have an option to resit an assessment to improve your grading. AAT will calculate your final grade based on your highest marks. There are no restrictions on the number of times you may attempt the assessments, and there will be no employer engagement requirements for any fee-paying students.

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