ACA vs ACCA vs CPA

Kinetic^

Right this argument has been around for years.......and no doubt will never be resolved.

I've been a firm believer that ACA was 100% the No.1 accounting qualification in Ireland for a while now but I'm in some doubt atm though.

Having recently done several interviews in ACA and mixed firms, it's been made fairly obvious to me........ACA don't monitor their firms enough. I've been told by several partners that they get monitored by ACCA every 2/3 years so there files have to be perfect. The same partners said that ACA don't review their work at all :eek:

This is very alarming to me..........surely a professional body can't expect to keep it's reputation without some sort of monitoring system? Hopefully I'll be qualified in a 2 years but will it be worth anything? Will this lack of standards be the downfall of ACA?

How CPA cover this? or do they?

kluivert

In regards to Monitoring, all associations monitor firms, the difference is the degree in which they monitor firms.

ACCA would be the most detailed of the three with mandatory inspections at least every three years.

As I have been informed this is becoming more popular in Ireland as in the UK they have fewer audit cases due to the higher thresholds.

CPA have a support service inwhich they will come into the practice if you have a problem and explain and show you how to change it or implement new systems to meet requirements.

ACA monitor firms but not to the extent that ACCA do.

There is no real answer as to which organisation is the best, its really down to the man or woman that counts.

Kinetic^

From what I've been told, it exists within ACA but it's very rarely put into practice. One of the people interviewing me said that he couldn't remember the last time ACA reviewed their files yet he could with ACCA.

My point is that ACA (the organisation that is) holds itself in high regard, but they seem unwilling to maintain that name and I'm rather worried where that is going to leave me, as a future member.

kluivert

Really thats just one aspect of ACA, when it comes to technical points in regards to accounting and auditing they are very good, and alot of their members are technically very good is this area.

I dont think your status as a ACA member will be called into dis-repute because ACA dont monitor firms as much as ACCA or CPA.

ACCA focus more on accountants as financial managers within multinational organsiations.

Kinetic^

Point taken kluivert. If the Big 4 weren't predominantly ACA, I'd say it would be a different story though. The fact that the Big 4 push students to do ACA pretty much has them with the vast majority of trainees, ACA that is. Without them the ACA would be bankrupt I would imagine.

I'm probably reading into it a little too much but it does give one food for thought in respect to what route to take.

I still feel however that they should monitor firms a little more.

I was at my previous firm 2 years, and a friend was there 3 years before me and he can't even remember if ACA visited.

kluivert

At the end of the day, its the same as the Audi v VW debate.

Its the same parts underneath the hood, just a different badge.

Same theory in my opinion applies to ACCA v ACA.

I done ACCA because it afforded me more exemptions than ACA because I done my degree in a IT rather than a Uni in Dublin.

I always liked the idea of working in Oz or something with a global recognised organisation.

I also thought I would work as a finacial controller or management accountant in industry.

Hence my reason for ACCA, but everyone is different.

The idea was Accounting & Auditing = ACA.
Financial Services, Financial and Management Accounting = ACCA.

Kinetic^

Well you can keep your management accounting, I fudging hate the thing!!!!!

spaceballs

I've worked for 6 years between two firms and we had a total of 4 ACA inspections over that time, with another one coming up in the new year so I would say they give plenty of time monitoring their firms.

The first firm I was with was a mixed training firm with a majority of ACCA over ACA among the partners and we never had an ACCA inspection. I'm not actually sure if you can have more then one institute monitoring over a firm.

As far as CPA is concerned, I don't know too much about it but I know someone who set up a firm when he was a CPA and because he felt he was getting very little support from them ended up having to join the ACCA.

I am ACA and I am happy that I chose ACA over the others because it is generally perceived to be the best of the institutes, ie. purely from an image point of view, which obviously can't be a bad thing. However I've seen too many qualified ACA who I wouldn't rate and enough strong ACCA (along with weak ones) to think that being a member of one over the other means anything when it comes to how good you are at your job.

As far as the difference between the qualifications goes I think the firm you choose to train with is more important then the qualification. A good training firm should give you exposure to all aspects of accounting, auditing and tax. Train in too small a place and you may never get any experience on the larger jobs where you get to see the more varied and complex areas of the job. Train in too big a firm and you may never get to work on and therefore fully understand the basics of accounting and if you can't understand the basics your really not up to much at all.

An example of this would be when I did my finals two years ago there was a question on the auditing paper worth 20% that was basically how to do a creditors reconciliation. A very simple question for anyone who trained in a small or medium sized firm that could be done in 5 minutes. One which all but one of the Big 4 trainees I spoke to were complaining about because they had never seen such a thing before.

That's not to say big 4 trained people are not that good, just that I think if you want to get a good all round training, say you want to set up on your own or something and need to know about all aspects of the job, then maybe staying outside of the top 4, and possibly the top 10 until you're qualified and then go to a bigger firm to get some additional experience on any particular area which during your training you decided you were interested in more then another.

Kinetic^

Great post spaceballs. Very informative.

sylfeng

What's the difference between CPA in Ireland and CPA in the US?

smcgiff

sylfeng wrote:

What's the difference between CPA in Ireland and CPA in the US?

About $100k pa! Ba Dum Tish!

Kinetic^

smcgiff wrote:

About $100k pa! Ba Dum Tish!

:rolleyes: Mods, can we get a warning for cringeworthy jokes!!!

smcgiff

Kenny 5 wrote:

:rolleyes: Mods, can we get a warning for cringeworthy jokes!!!

But.... But... that's all I got!

Kinetic^

smcgiff wrote:

But.... But... that's all I got!

Poor effort......at best!!!

smcgiff

sylfeng wrote:

What's the difference between CPA in Ireland and CPA in the US?

Okay Okay fair question...

CPA in the US would be regarded as the Premier qualification. It's so ubiquitous people call accountants CPAs and so the terms CPA and accountant are interchangeable. Although using the term Certified it would be a sister organisation to the Chartered's in the UK and Ireland, and afaik would have a close enough relationship with same.

As for CPA Ireland - it also has the designation CPA. Similarities end there.

smcgiff

Kenny 5 wrote:

Poor effort......at best!!!

Oh - they'll get worse. FAR worse!

Kinetic^

Yeah whoever setup CPA over here was a smart git.

sylfeng

Thanks a million! I think I will choose ACA rather than CPA in Ireland.

smcgiff wrote:

Okay Okay fair question...

CPA in the US would be regarded as the Premier qualification. It's so ubiquitous people call accountants CPAs and so the terms CPA and accountant are interchangeable. Although using the term Certified it would be a sister organisation to the Chartered's in the UK and Ireland, and afaik would have a close enough relationship with same.

As for CPA Ireland - it also has the designation CPA. Similarities end there.

smcgiff

sylfeng wrote:

Thanks a million! I think I will choose ACA rather than CPA in Ireland.

Try *Cough* ACCA *Cough*

Kinetic^

smcgiff wrote:

Try *Cough* ACCA *Cough*

Yeah ACCA or CIMA are out there too. Do your research before making up your mind.

Bren1609

Did anyone hear the CIMA ads on the newstalk morning show? They take a bit of a swipe at CPA. Apparantley CPA have passed out CIMA in membership numbers so they launched this radio campaign.

Kinetic^

That's just sad imo.

shamblertine

isn't cima the fastest growing uk based accountancy body for membership in the UK and Ireland

Bren1609

Can't comment on the growth rates, have a listen to the ads though. I was thinking of doing the AITI exams, heard the final year is a killer. Has anyone sat them or know much about them?

apple85

" I done ACCA because it afforded me more exemptions than ACA because I done my degree in a IT rather than a Uni in Dublin. "

With grammar like that I'm surprised you got either qualification !

soddy1979

apple85 wrote: »

" I done ACCA because it afforded me more exemptions than ACA because I done my degree in a IT rather than a Uni in Dublin. "

With grammar like that I'm surprised you got either qualification !

Apple85. Your not currently seeking a CFA designation are you?

ma.long25

In ireland a lot of my friends called cpa= car part attendent, thats because it is not very well recognised in Ireland!!

Hackysack

I honestly don't know much about CPA myself, but i've heard the term 'cut-price-accountant' being thrown around. I found it funny at the time, but on reflection... i'm not sure why.

Bren1609

Lads, this thread is over 2 years old

Shurwhynot

I find the fact that people value ACCA or ACA ahead of CPA as ridiculous...an accountant is an accountant at the end of the day and those who qualify as a chartered are just believing their own bull****. Head out of yer arses lads

BERBA

ma.long25 wrote: »

In ireland a lot of my friends called cpa= car part attendent, thats because it is not very well recognised in Ireland!!

Absolute rubbish. imo an accountancy qualification is just that! As for the above cpa jibe , try acca = any cnut can add !!!:D

Jadaol

Shurwhynot wrote: »

I find the fact that people value ACCA or ACA ahead of CPA as ridiculous...an accountant is an accountant at the end of the day and those who qualify as a chartered are just believing their own bull****. Head out of yer arses lads

Couldn't agree more. Chose aca as at the time had absolutely no work experience in accounts, never studied it in school and only touched on it in college and heard an acca lecturer say it was easier than acca. The only thing i'd say for sure is i'm glad i work in a small practice and never went to college studying accountancy and ended up trying to get a place in one of the 'big four' or big whatever. Their jobs are boring (though they may be better paid), and i can put a set of accounts together and audit from start to finish. That was the experience i wanted, and that's what i've got. I think the qualifications are all the same but it's the kind of experience you get and what you'd like to end up doing in the future that counts.

ma.long25

Jadaol wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. Chose aca as at the time had absolutely no work experience in accounts, never studied it in school and only touched on it in college and heard an acca lecturer say it was easier than acca. The only thing i'd say for sure is i'm glad i work in a small practice and never went to college studying accountancy and ended up trying to get a place in one of the 'big four' or big whatever. Their jobs are boring (though they may be better paid), and i can put a set of accounts together and audit from start to finish. That was the experience i wanted, and that's what i've got. I think the qualifications are all the same but it's the kind of experience you get and what you'd like to end up doing in the future that counts.

Most people who are not good enought to get into big four always say that 'im glad i got into small firm'

Just think personally its a defence mechanism for not being good enough, Im in big four and laods of my friends who applied didnt get in and tell me they wish they got in!!1

others say there glad they ddint amke it but i can see throught there bs

Shurwhynot

ma.long25 wrote: »

Most people who are not good enought to get into big four always say that 'im glad i got into small firm'

Just think personally its a defence mechanism for not being good enough, Im in big four and laods of my friends who applied didnt get in and tell me they wish they got in!!1

others say there glad they ddint amke it but i can see throught there bs

Typical response really that just shows that some people have their heads so far up their own arses its not funny! Any people that i've talked to that work in the big 4 spent their first few YEARS ticking bank statements and basically doing work a monkey could do. How many of these people end up getting jobs with that company? Give these people a set of accounts to prepare and they wouldnt know where to start. You sound like a child to be fair and are obviously after developing delusions of grandeur just because of the company's name. Talk to your friends in a couple of years and see what they have to say to ya then. I hope for your own sake you get a bit of sense.

Oh and judging by your grammar and spelling, are you sure you're not cleaning the toilets or something in one of those companies? Just a thought!

cannns

ma.long25 wrote: »

Most people who are not good enought to get into big four always say that 'im glad i got into small firm'

Just think personally its a defence mechanism for not being good enough, Im in big four and laods of my friends who applied didnt get in and tell me they wish they got in!!1

others say there glad they ddint amke it but i can see throught there bs

I can only agree with Shurwhynot.

ma.long25, your post above provides a wonderful insight into your professional position, capabilities, and possibly also your personality.

Yes, there are people out there who apply for Big 4 firms and don’t get accepted and wish they did. However, there are others who don’t apply and wouldn’t wish to work for such firms.

Personally I work for a top 10 firm. When the milk round was taking place I only applied to one firm. The firm I applied for and now work have specific competencies in an industry for which I am very interested in. The firm I work for is a leader in this industry; none of the other big4 come even close and would never be able to provide me with the experience I am currently receiving.

Your presumption that everybody want’s to work for a Big4 is flawed. To quote you, a “defence mechanism for not being good enough”, well to be honest with you, that is rubbish, I got a first class honours degree and completed a master in management in which I got a 2.1. I afraid I don’t suffer from any inferior complexes. Perhaps you utilise arrogance as a defence mechanism for personal inferiority...

Justintime

I'm ACA qualified and I can't agree more with the posters who argue that there is no difference at the end of the day between ACA, ACCA and CPA.

As for MA.LONG, the poster who can't spell and can't put a sentence together, can you explain to us why, only a few months ago, you were posting on another thread that you were an unemployed Polish carpenter who was delighted to be getting such a large amount of money on the Irish dole? The word 'Muppet' springs to mind!

Past30Now

Justintime wrote: »

I'm ACA qualified and I can't agree more with the posters who argue that there is no difference at the end of the day between ACA, ACCA and CPA.

As for MA.LONG, the poster who can't spell and can't put a sentence together, can you explain to us why, only a few months ago, you were posting on another thread that you were an unemployed Polish carpenter who was delighted to be getting such a large amount of money on the Irish dole? The word 'Muppet' springs to mind!

+1 - Agree completely.

It is a source of comfort to be professionally associated with decent sensible people like Justintime.

It's a worry that individuals like MA.LONG even get a start in the business. Hopefully a combination of time and exam stress will give him/her a dose of humility.

Past30 CPA

Jadaol

Past30Now wrote: »

+1 - Agree completely.

It is a source of comfort to be professionally associated with decent sensible people like Justintime.

It's a worry that individuals like MA.LONG even get a start in the business. Hopefully a combination of time and exam stress will give him/her a dose of humility.

Past30 CPA

I wouldn't worry too much. This guy roams the board cos he's either bored or enjoys saying things to get a rise. He's not training to be an accountant or anything like it

kluivert

Little or no difference between ACCA ACA CPA.

All have to conform to IFAC and with regards to accounting and auditing standard all bodies have to conform with IAS, IFRS GAAP etc.

End of story.