Colin Drain

I have also been doing more research, and I believe that as the employment market for accountants is becoming more and more global, the reality of the situation is that an ACCA qualification will stand us in good stead in Australia. The attittude of local institutes obviously comes from the fact that they are trying to enrol as many students as they can and putting up barriers to entry, but the employers are the ones that count.

In all fairness to JAJ, I'm sure the information he provides is factually correct, but I wonder how up to date it is.

JAJ

You are of course free to believe whatever you like but the reality of the employment situation is that most jobs are in small and medium enterprises (not Big 4 or global corporations). And in many cases, employers hiring for these roles will not know - or really want to know - about anything other than Australian CA or CPA.

That's fact - not scaremongering. All that said, you might do ok with an overseas qualification, but you may never know the doors that remained close to you as a result.

clairegarymc

Hi

I am currently ACCA part qual. Im doing my last set of exams this year and will also get a degree in applied finance. I already have a law degree and I am AAT qualified.

How many exams will I have to do to get the Australian CA or CPA?

I am hoping to move out there in about 3 years time. What type of things to I need to do at work for my work experience element? I currently work as an account assistant and do things like payroll, credit control and maintain the ledgers. Would I pass the skills assessment based on this role? Also should I use a migration agent or is it easy enough to apply without one?

thanks in advance

Claire

JAJ

If you're fully ACCA qualified you'll have to do tax/law bridging study (straightforward). Then you need to do either:

- the five paper CA Program; or
- the six paper CPA Program

Bear in mind that ACCA might one day do a recognition deal with CPA Australia, like they've done with the Canadian CGAs. So if you are going to do more exams, it might well make sense to do the CA Program as there is no chance of any recognition deal between the Australian CAs and ACCA.

Also, CA is a slightly more prestigious qualification than CPA (and better recognised in other countries), and if you end up with both (ie, if you do CA, and ACCA and CPA start recognising each other properly) then maybe all the better?

stephen284362

Hi JAJ

Can you clarify something for me please?

If you are fully ACCA qualified for at least 5 years, you can become ACA with ICAEW by passing the Examination of Experience.
Surely once you are ACA, you would only be required to do the bridging exams on tax and law to become a member of the Australian CA?

If this is the case, does this not seem a much easier route to becoming Australian CA?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Stephen

sara1981

from what i've read on here, you still need to do the full ca program ie tax/law bridging studies and 6 (or 5??) papers i think it is plus the 3 years supervised experience even if you are an aca in the uk. i'm acca and i'm planning on doing the cpa program instead, to get out of the supervised experience bit (i have a degree also so this should exempt me from this bit), is much more hassle than i ever thought it would be!!

sorry, just realised your post was addressed to jaj! just had to get my oar in!

JAJ

Good question. However it won't work the way you think because if you become an English ACA through direct entry or a special scheme like this, mutual recognition does not apply.

However it may well be a good idea anyway, because:

- the English ACA qualification is more "known" in Australia as comparable to the Australian CA; and
- Due to the Global Accounting Alliance, as an English ACA you will be allowed to access many ICAA services at member rates.

If keen, apply for this sooner rather than later as it could be closed to new applicants anytime.

JAJ

Those with the ACA qualification can normally become an Australian CA through mutual recognition. However, this does not apply to ACAs who obtain membership through special entry schemes.

ACCA does not have a mutual recognition agreement with either ICAA or CPA Australia.

Hellboy663

Isn't that sad Jeremy? They have a mutual agreement with CGA but not with CPA Oz, at least not yet. It'll be a lot more advantageous for many more people moving over to Oz from the UK and some other places who have ACCA qualifications. At least they don't have to waste time doing repeat studies.

As for CGA, I think its only recognized in Canada, not in many other places. Even in the US, I'm not sure if you could apply to sit for the CPA exams with the CGA qualification (I know Canadian CAs can do IQEX in some states). But its a good qualification to have if you are moving over to Canada, as securing employment without a Canadian qualification and experience is going to be a bit of a challenge.

JAJ

The ACCA agreement with CGA only started on 1.1.2007 so it's not beyond possibility that CPA Australia might want to become a third party to the agreement.

CPA Australia is not well recognised in most places outside Australia and if they had mutual recognition with ACCA and the Canadian CGAs it would increase the value of their qualification.


CGA is pretty much "Canada only" although the deal with ACCA increases the value of the CGA internationally a lot. ACCA in turn has become a much more useful qualification to have in Canada, so it's a win-win for both.

The State of Vermont used to accept the CGA as an automatic eligibility for the CPA exam as a VT candidate. They no longer do so. However, many CGAs are still eligible to sit for the CPA exam based on their degree and professional studies assessed individually.

Also, at least for now the Colorado State Board will accept any ACCA member as automatically eligible to do the CPA exam as a Colorado candidate, even those who have become an ACCA through mutual recognition (eg CGA).

Interestingly, ACCA had a long standing mutual recognition agreement with the New Zealand CAs, but the NZICA terminated it from 1.1.2003.

Hellboy663

Oh yeah. CGAs could get mutual recognition from ACCA & do CPA as a Colorado candidate. Never thought of that. But I think most CGAs would have a bachelor degree as a bachelor degree is an exit rather than an entry requirement and so yeah, most people with CGA could get their bachelor degree and CGA assessed as being = 150 credit hours. CGA was never well known in the world and so it was a good move for them to have MRA with ACCA. I doubt however that USCPA or any of the CA bodies will ever have one with ACCA. Of course like you've mentioned, the agreement with NZICA no longer stands. Could it be due to NZICA's move to protect its qualifications as more and more ACCAs used to get mutual recognition and that diluted the value of NZICA qualification?

JAJ

I doubt it has anything to do with that. What happened (allegedly) was that the ICAEW, ICAS etc offered the NZ CAs mutual recognition and so the NZICA didn't need to have a relationship with ACCA any longer.

The same reason was behind the breakdown of recognition between ACCA and the Hong Kong CPAs in 2004-05. Of course, it is open to question how well ACCA nurtured its relationships with the New Zealand and Hong Kong institutes, and is to be hoped that the same thing will not happen with its existing recognition partners (especially in Canada and Singapore).

Hellboy663

Yes. They have to be careful about Canada. There was one time when the Canada Chartered associations had a dispute with ICAEW and refused to recognize ICAEW when the UK insisted that recognizing Canadian chartereds in the UK would only come about if Canadian Chartered associations recognized ACCA. I think this dispute is resolved now. However, it might not be a big issue in Singapore. You see, in Singapore all one has to do is to pass Bachelor of Accountancy in the local uni and the person could be admitted as a CPA and issued with a practicing license. Any other person regardless of the qualification he has, be it Chartered, ACCA, US CPA or whatever, will get the status of CPA in Singapore. This causes them to be at par with the local bachelor guys. As such, CPA Singapore does not mean much internationally (even locally as salaries there are being depressed with the huge no of foreginers entering Singapore due to the liberal foreign worker policy being practised by the govt there). Compare it here with OZ for instance, most employers will prefer a job candidate to have CA/CPA OZ. Likewise in the UK, to call oneself accountant/ auditor, one has to have Chartered or ACCA.

In any case, ACCA has to ensure that it maintains good relationship with its parters otherwise, its members will suffer.

JAJ

The dispute was mainly over audit rights in the U.K. and Canada. The DTI (U.K. government department) decided to stop giving Canadian CAs audit rights in Britain until ACCAs obtained audit practising rights in Canada. (audit rights are not the same as mutual recognition).

During this time, in 2004-05, Canadian CAs could still join ICAEW/ICAS (as far as I recall) but in provinces where the CA designation carried automatic practice rights the provincial institutes denied mutual recognition to ICAEW/ICAS members. Ontario and Quebec were two of the provinces where this applied, in some others the CA designation without public practice rights still remained accessible.

Interestingly, CAs from Northern Ireland were not affected by the dispute.

The ACCA/CGA mutual recognition agreement does not cover public practice rights, which remain a matter for province/territory jurisdiction (or the DTI in the United Kingdom).

clairegary

Hi

Just out of interest which qualifications/Countries do have a mutual recognition agreement with ACCA?