business focus 33 AAT accreditation


secured for TVT&D Thames Valley Training & Development (TVT&D) has been accredited by the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) to deliver its accounting qualifications


AAT is a professional qualification and membership body, and its qualifications give students practical skills to work in a range of finance and accounting jobs. Those with AAT qualifications go on to work at all levels and in all sectors of the economy with some running their own accountancy practices.


"Gaining a recognised accountancy qualification with AAT is the first step into a professional finance career.”


Only AAT approved training providers are able to deliver the AAT accounting qualification and they must first go through a rigorous verification process.


Why do you need to exercise a business continuity plan?


In last month’s edition of the


Business Magazine, Shaun Lockwood of URM looked at the importance of having a business continuity plan (BCP) in place


In this follow-up article, Lockwood goes on to argue that only when a BCP is regularly exercised or tested can it be considered reliable.


Regular BCP exercising will provide you with confidence that your plan will work in the event of a real incident.


A business continuity exercise gives you a chance to validate what’s been written


TVT&D is a subsidiary company of Bucks New University in High Wycombe and provides professional training and development products and services to both organisations and individuals. With its new AAT accreditation, TVT&D will offer students the opportunity to study across various levels of the AAT accounting qualification.


Commenting on the announcement, David Podger, managing director of TVT&D, said: “This is excellent progress for us and we are very pleased that TVT&D is now able to offer the AAT accounting qualification to students across the Thames Valley.


“Our tutors bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise in training accountancy students, and as they come from the commercial world they offer real-life workplace experience to enable our students to hit the ground running in their accountancy careers.”


Jane Scott Paul, AAT chief executive, said: “Every business needs well- trained finance staff and an AAT qualification demonstrates to a prospective employer that you have the skills to do the job.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER13/JANUARY14 www.businessmag.co.uk


Students should therefore register with AAT approved training providers to ensure they receive the highest standard of teaching.


The AAT courses are just some of the professional training programmes offered by TVT&D. The business also provides training in the areas of IT, law, business, management and sales & marketing, which can be delivered at its premises at Bucks New University's High Wycombe campus, with some available for in-house delivery.


For further information about TVT&D’s full range of training and development courses, contact:


Details: David Podger 01494-605012 david.podger@tvtd.co.uk www.thamesvalleytraining.com


A key objective of any BCP is to describe the tasks and activities that need to be undertaken to continue the critical parts of your business in the event of some form of disruption occurring.


These tasks and activities need to be exercised against realistic scenarios using people who are likely to be called upon during a disruption. This will ensure the crisis management team (CMT) gain experience of managing an incident, albeit in a safe and controlled environment and that any assumptions are identified and validated.


Regardless of how well designed a BCP is, only a series of robust exercises can reveal and identify issues that require attention.


So what do your exercises need to consider?


In order to be effective, exercises need to:


• Be realistic


• Be communicated to stakeholders


• Result in minimum disruption to your business


• Avoid becoming a real incident • Have clearly defined objectives


• Provide an opportunity to verify that the right people form the CMT


• Validate your BCP and your team’s ability to respond


• Raise awareness of business continuity


• Include all those individuals referred to in the plan (over a period of time).


Well run exercises can be used to validate many things, not just the tasks and activities in your plan. They can also corroborate policies, procedures, contacts (names and numbers), training, capabilities of personnel, roles and responsibilities, assumptions and gaps in your planning.


Want to know more?


URM is one of the UK’s leading BC consultancy and training organisations and if you would like to know how URM can assist you to develop your business continuity capabilities, please contact us via the details below.


Details: 0118-9027450 info@ultimariskmanagement.com


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