Nikkilaw

Hi All,

Has anyone on here had the ACA (Associate of Chartered Accountants) qualification checked with the NZQA?

I gained this qualification from the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) knowing that it was highly regarded in finance and known as recognised worldwide but I cannot see any points for it. It took 3 long hard years to gain! lol

I can look into this further and pay to have it checked I think but just wondered if anyone else on here had done this already?

It seems that NZ have ICANZ so I am guessing that my qualification is equivalent to this when it comes to applying for jobs (obviously will double check) but again does this sound sensible to anyone having been through this already?

It would be good to get points for this for the EOI as I think this is more valuable than my degree! But if not then fingers crossed it counts when looking for a job at least.

Thanks in advance

BEVS

If you are planning to work as an accountant in NZ then you will realistically need to have your overseas quals assessed to do this . You will also be required to swot a bit and sit an exam. Tax law and all that jazz.

Please click this Chartered Accountants NZ/OZ link

As you are looking to enter NZ and work as an accountant, it makes sense on the application that your qualifications match that of the work you will do .

Bermudashorts

I moved to Australia not NZ but as an accountant. I worked for a company that operates across Aus and NZ and was a very close knit finance team even across the sea. I had many English accountant colleagues in both countries. I am therefore sure that your qualification is going to be perfectly acceptable in NZ and that you will not need to do anything like get it assessed in order to work. Accountancy is very portable, rules vary little across borders and I have met literally hundreds of people over my life that have worked between UK / Aus / NZ and never heard of anyone getting qualifications assessed (for work purposes, not visa purposes).

As for points on an EOI, no idea. But in the Australian system you only get points for one qualification so if NZ is the same you could not get points for a degree and a professional qualification.

Bo-Jangles

There's two elements - immigration and work

Firstly for immigration you do need to get the qualification assessed by NZQA because its not on the exceptions list - albeit of course that thousands with exact same internationally recognised qualification will have been assessed.

Secondly for work purposes whilst it my not strictly be necessary most jobs do advertise CAANZ as a requirement (previously NZICA) - I think you can quite easily register as Associate Member or some such until such time you fulfill their requirements for full membership. As BEVS says I have heard of others that have had to do local law and ethics papers to get over the line.

Nikkilaw

Thanks for all your responses, this has helped me a lot!

For any top up exams in local law & tax, do you have to sit them before you go or do they allow them to do them over there?

Bermudashorts

Do you work in tax? An awful lot of accountants have nothing to do with tax for their entire career. But if you want to work in practice then I am sure tax becomes highly relevant. However if you are a regular corporate accountant that does not sit in the tax department, then tax exams are really irrelevant.

ETA: Just as an aside as it has been troubling me. But you actualy titled your thread "ACA is it worth anything". You hold one of the most highly esteemed accountancy qualificactions in the world and yet you post something like that! I think you need to take some pride in yourself and your qualification and use it to sell yourself not beg for forgiveness. A change in attitude might do you a world of good.

Nikkilaw

Thanks for your initially useful comments. Just to explain the title - I wrote this after having already asked other questions regarding the qualification on other posts and being told a few different things so this is what I thought summarised best what I was trying to get at. It's in the context of is it worth anything when it comes to visa applications. Of course as a fully qualified accountant i realise what it's worth career wise but this doesn't necessarily mean on a Visa it will help.

I'm not actually trying to 'sell myself' on here - that's not what this forum is for. Neither did i expect to have my quick summary title critized. I was looking for quick answers from experienced friendly expats. I didn't spend hours thinking it up, just tried to quickly write a post during my busy day looking after my kids!

Bermudashorts

My apologies for causing offence, I wasn't criticising your title, it seems I interpreted it too literally and was just concerned.

Reason I was concerned is that I have been on BE for seven years and have spent a lot of time trying to assist other accountants. You would not believe how many think their perfectly good UK accountancy qualification needs topping up, converting to the Australian version or that think they need to start out at the bottom and work their way up.

I mistakenly thought you were also going down that path (as you did mention taking extra exams) and was merely trying to encourage you to have faith. i was certianly not intending to criticise or offend.