I’ve spent my career in public sector organisations, often working closely with the finance departments and over time I’ve gained quite a lot of knowledge of how things work.

I’d like to actually get a qualification to back that up for two reasons;
1. So that i have a certified skillset
2. I’d quite like to move into school administration and bursars work

What do you think my best route is regarding time (or lack of free time) and cost?

I’ve had a look and despite working at a university it’s not the best at developing its own staff

The chartered institute of insurers (CII) might be a good start. Definately for finance, maybe not so much for accounting – but someone else can confirm this. I know the CII offer industry approved training.

http://www.cii.co.uk

There is a bit of difference between public and private sector finance, so choosing a route will depend on the sector you’d ultimately like to work in. Although if you’ve been working with public sector and would want to work with schools then it sounds like you’d want to go down the public sector route.

AAT is a good basic course to do. You may be able to miss some of the units depending on previous qualifications and experience. From there then maybe CIPFA? I guess it would depend on whether your interest would lie in Management or Financial accounts.

Lots of qualifications can be studied at distance or day release. Think I’d recommend the AAT as a starting point.

The AAT seems like a good option. I’ve done the skillset test on their website and it looks like i should be aiming for a Level 3 course and there are some useful looking online courses out there

thanks Earlofbarnet