KURUVILLA

Jeremy, would like to ask u something.How easy is it get mentored employment once we enrol into ICAA.?

My CA qual from India (plus 20 yrs' exp) was positively assessed by ICAA. Recently I have completed the taxation law and corporations law courses individually frm University of Southern Queensland. will be enrolling into the ICAA in the next couple of months. Would it take long to get mentored work/employment ?

Cheers.

Steelgut

Hellboy663

Employment is the case of demand and supply and just having a degree might not be sufficent to land a job. It all depends on individual situations and how one 'sells' oneself.

In my life, I found out something. A degree alone will not get you a job. What gets you a job are your communiation skills, interpersonal skills and the most important of them all, contacts. If you can have a good recommendation from someone influential, 50% of the battle would be won. And also, if you can handle an interview and impress whoever there is out there, degree matters very little.

Please do not think that I'm some kind of a think tank. Just sharing my experience here.

Regds

Hellboy663

Jeremy.

As a matter of fact, I'm just curious about something here.

There are many of these guys who have Chartered qualifications from some of the other countries. These guys as well as the ACCAs,CIMAs and CIPFAs might have many years of practical experience. However ICAA still require them to be mentored by an Australian Chartered Accountant. I just don't understand this logic. I'm sure there could be some way around this for them?

JAJ

Chartered Accountants from eligible institutes, such as England & Wales, do not need mentored work experience.

As for CAs from other institutes (eg India), and ACCA/CIMA/CIPFA, I think you should draw the conclusion that the ICAA isn't completely happy with these institutes work experience requirements and hence demands that an Australian CA provide a certain amount of mentoring before the Australian CA qualification can be granted.

Australian CAs can be found in most significant businesses in Australia.

Incidentally, CAs from eligible institutes, together with certain American and Hong Kong CPAs, can act as mentors even if not Australian CAs:
http://www.charteredaccountants.com....red_accountant

JAJ

The problem is that if you do not have the specified academic results, you may never get the interview in the first place.

Hellboy663

Hi again Jeremy:

You are right in saying that a basic qualification is required. It acts as cream to a cake.

However, I've come across some of these guys who thought that they stood a better chance of getting employment if they were to just go on accumulating qualification after qualification. An example was one guy I knew of who was working in London in a small chartered firm. He had ACCA but he then went ahead and got himself a CIMA, followed by a CFA, ICAEW and a CIPFA. When asked, he just replied that with additional qualification, he thought he stood better chances of getting a better job. As you could see, this guy wasted his time in getting all these duplicate qualifications when he could have done well with just his ACCA. In fact, all these additional qualifications could have worked well against him rather than in his favor. If I were to be the employer looking at his resume, I might view this guy as more of a paper chaser rather than a person who was out to add value for himself. I was referring more to cases like this.

If one intends to get a qualification, he must ensure that it would benefit him in the long run and it should not duplicate what he already has, unless he has no choice e.g. he is migrating to another country and is required to do the local qualification in that country.

Hellboy663

Thanks for the info Jeremy.

So it seems that people who are members of the partially recognized accounting bodies could not act as mentors. So it is up to one to find himself a CA to be his mentor.

SunshineGirl

Is this still the case if a CIMA member is granted membership of the ICAEW by 'examination of experience'? Do ICAA take into consideration how the ICAEW membership is obtained?

Hellboy663

I think ICAA would only recognize membership obtained by the normal route i.e. sitting for examinations and getting the required number of years of experience. I don't think membership obtained by substantial exemptions or mutual recognition qualifies. But then again, I'm not quite sure about this. Maybe Jeremy or someone who knows better could throw some light on this.

JAJ

The "marginal" benefit of each additional qualification is much less than the first one. No different to having two bachelors degrees instead of one.

Being dual or multiple qualified does add some value in my opinion, but only in terms of opening interview opportunities. It won't land the job.

JAJ

Yes they do. Direct entry to ICAEW does not qualify for ICAA membership under mutual recognition.

Almost universally this is the case among professional bodies. Most mutual recognition agreements are restricted to those who obtain membership through the normal exam-based route and not through direct entry or mutual recognition of another institute.

However being an England & Wales Chartered Accountant (plus CIMA of course) may be a more valuable designation to have in Australia than just CIMA on its own.

SunshineGirl

Thank you for that. This is as I would have expected but wanted to have confirmation.

daniel_26

hi everyone, I am Daniel. I am from Toronto Canada. I am 26. I am on the start of my career. CIMA qualification is one of my ambitions. Australia is one of my highly desired work destinations. My plan:

1. Get CMA from Canada.
2. CMA Canada and CIMA have a partnership. I can then get exemptions from the basic accoutning and managerial papers, and will have to do the strategic level as well as TOPCIMA. Providing I get the exemptions, I want to complete rest of the CIMA exams in Australia. From there, ideally, I will have enough work experience to get the ACMA. If I work in Australia while writing the CIMA exams, it should count towards the positive outcome of my qualification by an appropriate Australian accounting body. As seasoned CIMA members, and providing I follow this plan, do you see any problems with it, or any pitfalls I should watch out for? Any advice would be appreciated.

Please answer here or to [email protected] Thanks!!

JAJ

Under current regulations (which could change) if you have CMA Canada then you can become a CIMA member through mutual recognition, provided you have got three years work experience.

But - CIMA isn't an Australian qualification. So unless you plan to do the Australian CA Program once you arrive, you won't have the right qualification for the Australian market.

Also, CMA Canada isn't recognised for migration purposes (and nor is CIMA if you get it through mutual recognition) so you would need to rely on your degree on its own. If that didn't meet the syllabus content requirements, you might not be able to migrate at all.

Why on earth don't you intend to become a Canadian Chartered Accountant if you have plans to travel? Canadian CA is fully recognised in Australia (and most other countries).

daniel_26

Canadian CA is not in the cards for me. First, it will take an exceedingly long time. I already have a degree, and to do a CA, I will have to go back to university for at least three years full time to complete all the accounting requirements. CMA Canada has a short-cut, where they will teach you all the accounting you need to know in 7 months. If CA had that, I would go for it. Second, CAs do a lot of external auditing, and they have to work in an accounting firm for 30 months to get the qualification. I am more interested in the industry rather than auditing. CMA teaches you accounting, but also marketing, manegement skills, and HR, besides accounting, areas that I think are more useful for industry work.

However, you do raise a good point by saying that through mutual recognition between CIMA and CMA Canada, I may not get a favorable assessment. I have posed this question to CPA Australia. Lets see what they say. Thanks for your feedback. If you have anything else to add, please feel free. Thanks again.