sara1981

hey all

looking for a bit of advice from anyone in a similar situation who can spare a minute or two for a confused accountant!

i'm an acca qualified accountant here in the uk and have been looking into converting to cpa australia. am i right in thinking this is the most recognised accountancy qualification in oz? from looking at job sites, it seems they ask for cpa or ca qualified. will they recognise my uk qualification or will the fact i'm uk qualified damage my job prospects?

i've looked into converting to cpa on the cpa australia website but is a bit confusing what information you need to supply with the application. they state that you need to provide syllabus summaries for any accounting related subjects studied at uni (i did accounting & finance so that's quite alot for me!) which i'll need to get copies from the university as i don't have these and they charge! but then it also mentions that if you are acca qualified then you may not need to provide syllabus summaries with the application to convert to cpa. they also mention to become a full member of cpa your degree must be recognised by cpa which i have no idea if it is since it's a uk degree (i'd have thought so though).

am very confused, i did email cpa who were not exactly helpful.....i told them i'm acca qualified, that i have a uk degree in accounting & finance and that i wanted to convert to cpa to full membership (which i'm pretty sure i should be entitled to) but i wasn't sure if my degree is a recognised by them as being equivalent to an australian degree (a requirement to become a full member). i put it all in very clear terms and the silly bint who emailed back told me to check the website to search for my degree there but when i followed the link the search only searched aussie universities!! what's more, she told me not to email them again!!! still trying to figure out what i'd done wrong to warrant such a response!!

sorry for the rant, i'd be very interested to hear what other accountants have done. i definitely want to convert even if i have to sit exams (am i right that you have to sit tax and law papers?) but am still none the wiser as to what information i need to provide!

one last point, all the jobs i've been looking at request experience in using sap / erp. i've gathered that this is the accounting software they use but my experience is with sage, iris and viztopia mainly. i've looked for courses to go on once i get to oz for sap but haven't found much yet, is this necessary or will i get by ok with what i already know?

thanks in advance for any advice, i'd be grateful for any tips!

sara

sara1981

oops, just found the accountants forum! still confused though!

chocolate cake

Yes, also ACCA but now specialising in IT Business Analysis including the very ERP\SAP packages you mention, btw these cover the full enterprise business processes rather than purely accounting.

I'd guess you're looking at the skilled migrant category, so the first step is to get your qualification recognised. You'll need to get this done by one of the 3Australian Accountancy bodies, I actually chose the NIA. Either way you'll need to send certified copies of your ACCA qualification, with exam records, a letter of good standing (you can these from the ACCA, they don't charge - just as well considering the membership fee!), plus the similar of your degree.

I've just done that and am waiting to here back.

I've not really looked at Accountant jobs in Australia, but would have thought it wouldn't be necessary to be a member of ACCA and an Australian body (unless you're looking at moving into practice) as the ACCA is recognised and does have many aussie members.

Re: ERP courses, SAP is one of the major players in ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning system), Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, Agressor, Oracle etc. are others. There are loads of training courses out there, but if you're looking for Accountant role, I wouldn't go out chasing them in advance of job.

Hope that helps, and hasn't confused the process more. BTW (sorry another 3 letter abbreviation!) where is the Accounting forum you refer to?

NikiL

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=87

worzel

You will find more info on the accountants forum as others say.

But I am FCA and found no problems at all getting a job using my UK qualification. I would need to do tax and law exams to convert but have no intention of doing that. I work in industry away from reporting (systems, risk etc) but if you wanted to do financial accounts or auditing it may be a different story. There are lots of threads on this on the specialist forum.

As for accounting software - SAP is prevalent in large organisations. MYOB seems to be the choice for small companies - I see lots of adds for training in it.

hawkshaw

I'm an FCCA and yes, ACCA is recognised here - there is an active Aus/NZ branch and they have an office at:

Suite 707, 109 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Tel + 61(0)2 8022 9300

If you wish to go into public practice, the two main local bodies make it fairly difficult for an ACCA member to join their ranks but I guess it's more to do with politics than quality and possibly the fact that reciprocal membership may not be offered to them. The Australian bodies are relatively small players outside Australia and would naturally wish to preserve their pre-eminence in their own country.

NO doubt someone will correct me if it's not true, but I am told it's the case that you have to 'prove' your ACCA qualification or degree from a British university is at least equivalent to a degree from an Australian one. The idea that UK qualifications may be deemed inferior frankly makes me laugh. The Australian bodies will then apparently allow you to take the whole of their exams. Obviously you should need to qualify in Australian law and taxation but having to take the full course is ludicrous imo.

I think British ACA's and CA's though get reciprocal membership of the Australian CA institute.

JAJ

ACCA does have an Australia branch, but in reality not every Australian employer is going to know (or want to know) about a non-Australian qualification.

hawkshaw

Probably true, but there are many international companies here too, who employ UK-trained accountants worldwide and are pleased to recruit them here.

More than a few academics in university accounting departments here have UK accounting qualifications.

JAJ

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. However even in a large company, not every single person making hiring decisions will be equally open to accepting a non-local qualification.

And in smaller companies - where many of the jobs are - it can be a real problem. It's really not a question of how "good" or otherwise the qualification is, more the fact that you don't usually get full credit for anything that is not well understood by the other party. And the majority of Australian employers know about CA, CPA and not much else.

Having a local qualification is also a good way to demonstrate to an employer that you are serious about being in Australia for the long term.

sara1981

thanks for all the info guys!

i've been really worrying about this but the reply to this thread and another in the accountants' forum has put my mind at ease especially regarding getting a job without an australian qualification. i'm not looking to go into practice out there as want to move into industry which is a bit nerve racking anyway as will be my first move out of practice and out of my comfort zone so it seems as though it's not quite as big a problem only having uk qualification. i still want to convert to cpa but is nice to have a bit more room to breathe!

anyone else made there first move out of practice recently or not so recently even? i'd be interested in hearing of your experiences, things i should be prepared for perhaps?

thanks again! much less confused now!!