Ideal Schools

Ideal Schools: accredited bookkeeping and accounting by home study

Ideal Schools is a family-run home study college that provides a complete range of bookkeeping, payroll and taxation courses. Its stated purpose is to prepare students either to work as self-employed bookkeepers or to take up roles within a financial environment. The college presents personalised support for each individual student as a central part of its method.

The operation trades as Ideal Schools under Consolidated Training Systems Ltd, according to the copyright notice on the site. Its teaching is organised around two main professional routes, ICB and AAT, complemented by CPD and Sage courses.

ICB bookkeeping and payroll qualifications

The ICB line covers the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers qualifications from Level 2 upwards. The catalogue lists the ICB Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping, the Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping, the Level 4 Diploma in Advanced Bookkeeping and Accounting, and a Level 3 Diploma in Payroll Management. Several of these are offered with a choice of software: Sage 50 Accounts or Xero.

Beyond the individual certificates, the college sells combined packages. Among them are the ICB Levels 2 & 3 Certificates in Bookkeeping & Accounts, the ICB Career Path, the ICB Platinum Package and its upgrade from Level 2, and a fast-track exemption option. There are also packages that pair Levels 2 and 3 bookkeeping with Level 3 payroll management, or with the Level 4 Self-Assessment Taxation qualification.

At the higher level, the ICB Level 4 Certificates are split by subject: Business Insight, Corporation Tax Returns (referencing FRS105 and FRS102 Section 1A), Financial Statements, and Self-Assessment Taxation Returns. A combined Level 4 Certificate in Financial Statements and Corporation Tax is also listed, alongside a Level 4 Diploma in Advanced Bookkeeping & Accounting described as the complete package.

AAT accounting technician and bookkeeper routes

The AAT offer begins with the Level 1 Award in Bookkeeping and continues through the Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping, the Level 3 Certificate in Bookkeeping and the Level 2 & 3 Certificates in Bookkeeping leading to AATQB status. For those pursuing the accounting technician path, the college lists the Level 2 Certificate in Accounting, the Level 3 Diploma in Accounting and the Level 4 Diploma for Professional Accounting Technicians.

These AAT qualifications are also sold as combined programmes: Levels 2 & 3 in Accounting, Levels 3 & 4 in Accounting, and Levels 2, 3 & 4 in Accounting. The site notes Scottish credit equivalents for several of them, namely SCQF Level 6, Level 7 and Level 8 in Scotland.

CPD and Sage short courses

A separate CPD and Sage strand groups shorter, more targeted courses. The catalogue includes Basic Bookkeeping to Trial Balance, Final Accounts for a Sole Trader, Level 2 Computerised Bookkeeping using Xero, Level 3 Certificate in Costing and Budgeting, and Payroll Management. On the payroll side there are computerised payroll courses using BrightPay and using Sage 50 Payroll. Further options cover a Diploma in Self Assessment and a Level 4 Certificate in Financial Statements & Corporation Tax.

How the college presents its teaching

Ideal Schools describes its tutorial support as personalised and its learning schedules as flexible, allowing students to organise study around their free time. It also advertises a course pass guarantee and states that students gain certifications from industry bodies. The site names the ICB, AAT and the CPD Certification Service as the awarding or certifying organisations behind its courses.

The college maintains an employee sponsorship scheme across its AAT, ICB and CPD lines, aimed at employers funding staff training. It also publishes a student charter, a section explaining the steps of home study, FAQs, a testimonials page and a guarantee page.

Student profiles and recognition

The site runs a Student Spotlight series in which students and graduates describe their routes into bookkeeping. The profiles published include Katie Wright, who moved from creative industries into operations and studied alongside family life; David Boyes, founder of Boyes Business Services, who retrained after redundancy; Jenny Potter, founder of The Lady Bookkeeper; and Karan Chheda, who built a bookkeeping practice in the UK after accountancy education in India and time spent in the UK, India and Russia.

The college also lists a set of awards it has received or been associated with, including ICB Student of the Year in 2009-10, 2011 and 2012, ICB Tutor of the Year in 2012 and 2013, ICB Outstanding Achievement in 2014, and BKN Awards in 2011, 2012 and 2013. A press section and an ambassadors page complete the published material about its students and staff.

Context on the bookkeeping market

In its presentation of the profession, Ideal Schools notes that every business is legally required to keep financial records in order, whether in manual ledgers or, more commonly, in computerised accounting software such as Sage, and that a qualified bookkeeper can produce the final accounts, comprising the profit and loss account and the balance sheet. It cites more than five million private sector businesses in the UK, growing by around 250,000 a year, of which 99% are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The site also states that the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers has around 125,000 members in more than 90 countries and describes it as the largest bookkeeping institute in the world, a characterisation attributed to the organisation itself.

Enrolment and current offers

The catalogue shows indicative prices for some courses, such as the ICB Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping at £551, the combined ICB Levels 2 & 3 Certificates at £1,015 after a reduction from £1,193, and the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Bookkeeping at £352. At the time of writing this profile, the site also advertised a time-limited promotion giving a free Self-Assessment Taxation course to students enrolling on specified ICB and AAT bookkeeping and accounting programmes.