ashftc89

Hello everyone,

My name is Muhammad. I am a CIMA Student and I have already cleared 11 out of 15 papers of CIMA. I am now planning to start CPA Foundation level in June 2014. I was wondering if anybody could give an insight as to how difficult CPA Australia foundation level coursework and exams are and does the material provided by CPA enough to study and pass the exam? Also can anybody share the soft copy of study material for CPA Australia.

Regards

Muhammad.

Tr1boy

My wife has a Degree in Accounting from Macquarie Uni and did that part time whilst working full time as a financial corporate account in Sydney. She was top 2.5% in the country and has a wealth of real world experience as well.

Because she selected some of the tougher modules in her degree she only had 6 modules to do in her CPA. She has studied for all 6 modules in the UK, having the course work sent from CPA in Oz and taking the exams in the UK. She had good online support for her questions when they were posted but obviously no classes and she didn't bother with the forums.

She found it ok, some modules were tougher than others ( I think Advanced Taxation for one) but she has achieved HD or D for all her modules. Having said that, she studies extremely hard, I mean crazy hard with extreme diligence. She approached her studies the study same she approaches her corporate career. She is the consummate over achiever in that regard.

So for her, it wasn't so bad, but everyone is different. But the coursework they send you is enough, it has to be really as it relies heavily on backing up the material with real world experience. Lots and lots of exercises and if you are not a native speaker some of the wording they use can be needlessly complex.

Good luck.

ashftc89

Thank you so much for such an over-arching response. Well basically, I have to study just the foundation level. I do understand where you're coming from. Your wife seems to be the real asset I do have an Accounting background. I am part-qualified CIMA (UK) and graduate and post-graduate from UK too. I have been living there for just over 5 years and then left the country in 2012. I am not too much concerned about my linguistic skills, however, my main concern is the difficulty level and amount of time needed and material required.

I have always been bemused when it comes to CPA. On the website I see the exam window is from April to December but when I email CPA and ask when can I give they say all year around. Secondly, Pearson Vue conducts CPA exams, do they charge additional fee for exam or is it included in 300 something dollars fee charged by CPA per foundation level exam? And finally, if you can ask your wife if 20 hours a week study enough to clear 3 foundation level exam in like 2 months? I assume your wife has cleared professional level i.e., 6 papers which you've mentioned. Can you please ask her the information regarding foundation level?

Regards

Muhammad.

Tr1boy

I'll can ask her but I'm not sure she will know anything about the foundation level, is it some kind of entrance level for those without an Australian Accounting degree or something?

All her coursework and correspondence were directly with CPA themselves so she didn't need a third party of any kind. She just applied for the coursework, paid the fee and they sent it to our UK address. The exam fee was included in the course fee and she even took one exam outside of the nominated centres (which IIRC were London, Manchester, Birmingham) and they set up a dedicated room for her at Bristol Uni with her own invigilator as she was the only one there.

As far as I know you can get the course work for a particular module at anytime and then tell them later which semester you want to do the exam in, either Apr or late Oct, but of course the longer you leave it the more time you are eating up out of the years you have to complete it (6 yrs I think), and the actual module may change. So the exam window isn't from Apr-Dec that's real the semester window. A typical module time frame is that the coursework is sent in Jan and has an early Feb start time, the exam for that module will be late Apr with results coming about 5 wks later. After that you can apply for the next module and that will get sent in ate July or early Aug and the exam for that module will be late Oct. You can of course defer the exam as I said before, but there is only one exam date and they are run as close to the Oz exam date as time differences allow. So Apr-Dec is really the time from the exam of one semester to the result date of the next, which is not really helpful!

A typical week for my wife would be: Work then home and dinner by 6.30, the study from about 7pm until 1am then bed. Weekends were mostly, breakfast by 8.30, study from about 9am until midnight with meal breaks. Earlier in the semester she was more flexible with this but after some time, certainly before mid way through she would do a bit more than this and be very rigid about it.

It was great for my triathlon training as I never needed to be home We have a baby now so things will change for sure!

On the language issue, it's not that it's a big deal it's just that they use some strange ways to describe a situation. I'm a qualified CELTA teacher and some of the construction left me wondering they wondering why they did it that way.

ETA: I did just ask her and she doesn't know about Foundation Level as she is Professional Level and was exempt from Foundation due to her degree. She did say that wouldn't it be easier to complete all of the CIMA course and then convert to CPA?

ashftc89

Hello,

I must say your response seems like as if you're happily mentoring me You're a star. I have taken all your advice on board for certain. I did manage to download their study manuals for foundation level so last night was definitely productive According to my acquaintance, unlike professional level exams, foundation level exams can be given any day prior to advance booking and there are no fixed exam schedule such as in professional level, however, I am not 100% sure. I'll find that out my emailing CPA or maybe read their FAQ's again. Your wife schedule is the evidence of her being extremely industrious when it comes to her career.

Yes I can finish the CIMA first and then apply for the CPA membership right away as there is Reciprocal Membership Agreement (RMA) between CIMA and CPA where if you're a member of one body, you can claim the full membership of the other, either way. However, I am planning to apply for Australian immigration and I need to do skill assessment of my qualification by CPA. If they gave me green signal then I'll be talking but if they don't then I do have to attempt certain CPA foundation level exam to gain a positive skill migration assessment. That's the anecdote here

Tr1boy

Ah I see, no worries, I was only too happy to help. I've pretty much exhausted my knowledge of it now though (Mrs TB is the brains of the outfit ).

Good luck again

ashftc89

Thank you once again man. Profuse thanks to you and your wife too. Stay blessed

spouse of scouse

JOE2010

CPA exams would normally be too easy for a CIMA graduate. Why would you start with foundation when you already have a professional qualification? CIMA is way much better than CPA, largely a crappy qualification.

Bermudashorts

An excellent point. You should be continuing with CIMA which is a much better qualification. You are not seriously going to stop CIMA with a few papers to go in order to start CPA?

I was also wondering is this related to immigration? And if so how?

ashftc89

Hi Joe and BS,

Thank you for your concerns and response. Certainly, CIMA is challenging. I am not fully qualified Howbeit, I am well-nigh there as I have cleared 11 out 15 papers. Starting CPA foundation is like a mayhap. Yes it's solely for immigration purpose. The 2nd step of immigration after IELTS is to apply for skill assessment which, in my case, will be done by CPA. As I am also graduate and post-graduate in Finance from UK, it's highly likely that I will get a positive skill assessment according my verdict and CPA too. Albeit, it's not certain. In an unlikely event, if I receive a negative assessment, it will certainly because I am lacking in of the core Accounting module according to CPA's deem in which case I have to study some selective CPA Foundation level exam and then re-submit my assessment for a certain positive assessment. In a nutshell, I am expecting the best and preparing for the worst beforehand just to be in a good stead.

If I would have been a fully qualified CIMA, then the assessment would have been hands down positive. The remaining 4 papers of CIMA will take a minimum of 1.5 years after which I can claim a full membership of CPA anyway as CIMA and CPA have a Reciprocal Membership Arrangement (RMA) with each other. So it's futile for me to do CPA but immigration is the real deal here. As of worst, I am expecting I might have to give 2-3 CPA foundation level which I reckon will take 2-3 months of 20 hours a study a week.

Bermudashorts

So you are hoping to pass a skills assessment by doing a few exams with one body and a few with another? Personally, I would still advocate just completing the CIMA. Then you actually have a qualification and not just bits and pieces of exams which are not worth anything to employers.

Accounting is fiercely competitive in Australia and there are many applicants for every role. I think if you don't come over here fully qualified anyway, you are making things a whole lot harder for yourself.