my girlfriend is 2 years into her ACCA course,before this she had approx 2 years gaining the AAT qualification, she has roughly another 4 years hard study in front of her! depending on how quick you pick things up it could be shorter-but not much. her employer contributes to her college fees but she still has to buy her own books (approx �120 per subject) and pay for any exam fees (approx �60 each) and a yearly registration fee to the AAT to enable her to keep the 'MAAT' bit after her name on her CV. Its not cheap and she says its very repetitive work, think about if you want to become chartered certified (private accounant work-tax, vat etc) or CIMA (more management accountancy). many companies will take you on studying either but then help 'tailor' your learning towards their requirements. There are other jobs in the accountancy role, (ie:book keeping, data entry clerk) that will help get a taste of what to expect and only require a smaller amount of learning/qualification