Q2022 – Employers

The key information for your business and employees.

 

AAT’s exciting new qualification

Qualifications 2022 (Q2022) is the updated version of our bookkeeping and accounting qualifications. Read through the below for a highlight of everything you need to know and what these changes mean for you and your employees.

1. What is Q2022, and how will this affect your organisation and your employees?

Q2022 is the updated suite of our qualification. The new Q2022 bookkeeping and accounting qualifications will replace the current AQ2016 Access, Foundation and Advanced level bookkeeping and accounting software qualifications and the Foundation, Advanced and Professional level accounting qualifications.

Click on the drop downs below to get up to speed on what these changes are and how they will affect your employees.

Qualification names

The names of the qualifications are changing from using Access, Foundation, Advanced and Professional to Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4.

Qualification grading

The Level 2 and Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping qualifications for Q2022 will be graded – in the same way that the accounting qualifications are graded.

The final grade will be calculated based on the weighted results from the unit assessments and you’ll be awarded an overall qualification grade of either a Pass, Merit or Distinction.

Synoptic assessments

Currently the AQ2016 Foundation, Advanced and Professional accounting qualifications all include a synoptic assessment.

For Q2022, the only qualification that will include a synoptic assessment is the Level 2 Certificate in Accounting. All other unit content will be assessed by individual unit assessments.

The synoptic assessment will holistically assess the following units:
1. The Business Environment
2. Introduction to Bookkeeping*
3. Principles of Bookkeeping Controls*

*Units will also be assessed independently

The Level 2 synoptic assessment will be made available to be scheduled on demand throughout the year alongside all other Q2022 assessments. As always however, there may be occasions when an assessment is not available during periods set and communicated by AAT in advance.

For students studying an apprenticeship at Level 3 or Level 4, they will continue to sit the AQ2016 Advanced and Professional level synoptic assessments as part of their end point assessment.

Three qualifications withdrawn

AAT is not replacing the current Access Award in Accounting Software, Foundation Award in Accounting Software and the Foundation Diploma in Accounting and Business.

If  you have any employees who are considering studying any of these qualifications, they must register for them before 31 August 2022. They’ll then have until 30 September 2023 to complete the qualification.

2. What you and your employees need to do

  1. Your employees can continue with their studies on the current, AQ2016 version of our qualification. If they choose this option, they’ll need to ensure their annual membership fee is paid and successfully complete all the assessments by 30 September 2023.
  2. Your employees can transfer their current qualification onto the equivalent Q2022 qualification. Most assessments achieved on the AQ2016 qualifications will transfer over to Q2022, however, there are some exceptions.

The below tool has been designed to help you and your employees understand the transfer arrangements for their assessments.

Transitional tool

3. How this will impact fees

    • With the launch of Q2022 we’re changing our payment/fee structure and students will not be required to pay an annual student membership fee for the Q2022 qualifications.
    • Instead, they’ll pay a one-off registration fee at the point of registering onto the qualification. This will give access to the qualification for its lifetime, typically four to five years. Registration will also give access to the study support resources and the ability to be scheduled for assessments. Assessment fees will be charged extra.
    • If your employee is looking to transfer from their AQ2016 qualification to the Q2022 equivalent, they may be eligible to pay a one-off transfer fee, instead of the one-off registration fee.

See the full fees details

4. Key themes

Four key themes have been embedded into the learning within the new Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 qualifications. The key themes are:

  • Ethics
  • Communication
  • Technology
  • Sustainability

Videos from employers on why these areas are important are available below. These five short videos will cover everything from why we’ve made the changes to how accounting software and data analytics are built into Q2022.

Watch the videos

5. Dates for your diary

  • 31 August 2022– The last date for students to register for an AQ2016 Foundation, Advanced or Professional level accounting and bookkeeping qualification, and the Access Awards in Accounting Software, Bookkeeping and Business Skills qualifications.
  • 1 September 2022– The first date students can register onto the new accounting and bookkeeping qualifications – Level 1, 2, 3 and 4, under the banner of Q2022.
  • 30 September 2023– The last chance for students to sit an assessment on any of the current AQ2016 Access, Foundation, Advanced and Professional level qualifications.

To enable a smooth transition of Q2022 and the new assessment platform, ATLAS Cloud, we’ll be phasing the release of our live assessments throughout September and changing how results will be delivered for a temporary period. Results for 100% computer marked assessments will not be available immediately on completion of the assessment, but within 15 working days.

AAT will resume the normal release timeframe, i.e. within 24 hours of submitting the assessment, once a statistically reliable volume of students have completed each assessment. Results for the human-marked assessment will follow our normal release timeframe, i.e. within six weeks.

6. Q2022 and apprenticeships

As with the AQ2016 Foundation Certificate in Accounting, the new Q2022 Level 2 Certificate in Accounting has been mandated as one of the qualifications that’s been approved to use as part of the Level 2 Accounts/Finance Assistant apprenticeship.

The Level 3 Assistant Accountant and Level 4 Professional Accounting Technician apprenticeships don’t have mandated qualifications, however, the Level 3 and Level 4 accounting qualifications have been mapped against the knowledge and skill requirements for the apprenticeships and can be used as the on-programme learning element. This will enable your employees to track their progress through the programme and will ensure they’re prepared for the AAT synoptic assessment element of the end point assessment.

Using the AAT qualification to support their apprenticeship also means your employees will not only complete their apprenticeship, but gain an AAT qualification as well.

Read more about Q2022