AAT Level 4 Syllabus

This high-value AAT Level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting offers financial management skills and applications. It properly focuses on professional accounting. The AAT level 4 qualification delivers the knowledge and skills of complex accounting and finance topics and tasks. You will become competent on:

Limited Companies' Financial Statements Drafting
Recommending Accounting Systems Strategies
Complex Management Accounting Reports Construction and Presentation

Syllabus Composition

This level 4 accounting course consists of the following three mandatory units' completion:

Applied Management Accounting
Drafting and Interpreting Financial Statements
Internal Accounting Systems and Controls

Further, this accounting diploma at the AAT level 4 requires two optional specialist units completion from the following five options:

Business Tax
Personal Tax
Audit and Assurance
Cash and Financial Management
Credit and Debt Management

Hence, completing the AAT Level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting requires three mandatory and two optional specialist units. We present the complete syllabus' units in detail to help your study.

Mandatory Units at AAT Level 4

You will complete the three mandatory units. It includes 1) Applied Management Accounting, 2) Drafting and Interpreting Financial Statements, and 3) Internal Accounting Systems and Controls.

Applied Management Accounting, mandatory unit

You will learn to undertake the budgetary process, including constructing budget skills. Also, you will understand how to identify and report to key stakeholders on success and concern areas.

Further, you will learn the necessary skills to evaluate organisational performance critically. The learning outcome will include:

Organisational planning process understanding and implementation
Internal processes utilisation for enhancing operational control
Techniques utilisation to help short-term and long-term decision making
Business performance analysing and reporting

Drafting and Interpreting Financial Statements, mandatory unit

This study unit offers single limited companies' financial statements' drafting skills. It also delivers knowledge on preparing groups of companies' consolidated financial statements.

Further, you will gain international accounting standards' tremendous proficiency level understanding. This knowledge will help you apply it to drafting financial statements.

Also, you will gain substantial knowledge of the regulatory and conceptual frameworks underpinning the limited companies' financial statements preparation. At completion, you have:

The reporting frameworks underpinning financial reporting understanding
Limited companies' statutory financial statements' drafting skills
Consolidated financial statements preparation knowledge
Utilising ratio analysis skills for financial statements' interpretation

Internal Accounting Systems and Controls, mandatory unit

You will gain accounting function roles and responsibilities understanding. It includes key stakeholders' financial reports' needs to make decisions. Also, you will learn about accounting systems' weaknesses identification.

Further, you will become capable of recommending the weaknesses' mitigation for an organisation's future operations. Also, you will learn to apply several analytical evaluation methods for operating procedures' any changes implications. The unit's outcome will include:

Understanding of accounting function's role and responsibilities within an organisation
Internal control systems' evaluation skills
An organisation's accounting system and related procedures' understanding
Knowledge of the technology impact on accounting systems
Recommend an organisation's accounting systems' improvement ability

Optional Specialist Units | Complete any two units

You will complete any two units from the optional specialisation units. These units include Business Tax, Personal Tax, Audit and Assurance, Cash and Financial Management, and Credit and Debt Management.

Furthermore, for the ICAEW exemption, you will complete three optional units. Contact KBM for further information on ICAEW and other chartered accounting bodies' exemption details.

Business Tax

You will gain the UK businesses' taxation understanding. It will include sole traders', partnerships' and limited companies' business taxes' computation.

Further, you will become capable of identifying tax planning opportunities. It will also deliver maintaining ethical standards' importance understanding. At completion, you have valuable knowledge of:

Sole traders' and partnerships' tax computations
Limited companies' tax computations
Tax computations of limited companies' capital assets' sale
UK's tax regime's administrative requirements
Business disposals' tax implications
Tax relief, tax planning opportunities and agent's responsibilities for reporting to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

Personal Tax

This unit offers fundamental knowledge of the three most common taxes affecting UK taxpayers. These taxes include income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance Tax.

You will learn to prepare computational tax aspects. Also, you will understand UK taxpayers' taxation liability legal minimisation. The unit delivers the following competencies:

Principles and rules understanding underpinning taxation systems
UK taxpayers' total income calculation
UK taxpayers' Income Tax and National Insurance contributions
UK taxpayers' Capital Gains Tax calculation
Inheritance Tax principles' understanding

Audit and Assurance

This optional unit provides accounting principles and concepts' broader understanding. You will understand audit and assurance services' legal and professional rules.

Also, you will gain the audit and assurance practical perspective. It will start from planning and risk assessment to the final completion and audit report production.

Further, you will acquire an audit process awareness. It will emphasise audit and assurance application techniques to current systems. At completion, you have audit and assurance:

Framework understanding
Professional ethics knowledge
Planning process evaluation skills
Reviewing and reporting findings' understanding

Cash and Financial Management

This unit will deliver the knowledge and skills to aid informed decisions on financing and investment. You will understand an organisation's cash management importance.

Also, you will know the relevant organisational policies and external regulations. Further, you will understand current and future cash transactions' identification from various sources.

On the other hand, you will know how to eliminate non-cash items and utilise various techniques for preparing cash budgets. The unit outcome will include:

Cash receipts and payments forecasts' preparation
Cash budgets preparation and cash flow monitoring
Managing finance and liquidity's importance understanding
Raising finance and investing funds' ways' knowledge
Regulations' and organisational policies' understanding influence managing cash and finance decisions

Credit and Debt Management

You will acquire effective credit control systems' principles' understanding and application. It will include the appropriate debt management systems.

Also, you will learn techniques to utilise in assessing credit risks following relevant policies, legislation, and ethical principles. At completion, you have:

Relevant legislation and contract law impacting the credit control environment knowledge
Understanding of using information for assessing credit risk and granting credit compliance with organisational policies and procedures
Understanding of an organisation's managing and collecting debts' credit control processes
Different available collect debts techniques' understanding

Entry Requirement

Everyone can join this level 4 accounting diploma. Good English and Math skills provide the best success chances.

You will sign up with AAT, and KBM will assist with your sign-up. The AAT requires the sign-up for study, assessments and exams.

The level 4 AAT professional diploma fully suits you if you already have the AAT Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications.

Further, you can get your assessment using AAT Skillcheck to ensure your AAT qualifications' readiness.

Also, a strong accountancy foundation knowledge or accounting work experience helps you get started.

AAT Level 4 Diploma Duration

This AAT Level 4 qualification has a 12 to 18 months completion time. Also, it will depend on your learning method and study schedule to set your completion target.

Progression

This Level 4 AAT Diploma in Professional Accounting completion provides excellent progression.

You will become eligible for valuable accounting and bookkeeping memberships such as AAT full member (MAAT) and AATQB membership.

Also, the qualification completion provides exemptions on the Chartered Accountant status fast-track route. The following Chartered Accounting bodies offer exemption at the AAT level 4: