Diploma in IFRS - Chartered Accountants Course

Rory1

Just wondering if anyone has completed this course and what they thought of it.

viconia

Hey,

I'm currently completing it. I've the final exam in a month (from today, Uh oh!).

It's okay. It's very tough, but it's definitely worth it. You learn a lot of the in's and outs of the IFRS's that you wouldn't get at an ACA level (not sure about ACCA).

Also, even though it's only 4 months, it takes a LOT of your time. There are 3 15% graded assignments, and they will take over 4 full days to complete (even if you are very much up to scratch on your IAS's) because theya re so detailed and complicated.

If you want, I can put up a past exam paper so you can see the detail. I'd recommend doing it on the basis that if you want to show that you're an IFRS expert, only 700 people in ireland have completed this course, and for sucha small fee (€1,800), it's worth it, and a nice handy qualifcation.

Let me know if you want me to be more specific.

edit: I'm doing it distance btw

Rory1

viconia wrote: »

Hey,

I'm currently completing it. I've the final exam in a month (from today, Uh oh!).

It's okay. It's very tough, but it's definitely worth it. You learn a lot of the in's and outs of the IFRS's that you wouldn't get at an ACA level (not sure about ACCA).

Also, even though it's only 4 months, it takes a LOT of your time. There are 3 15% graded assignments, and they will take over 4 full days to complete (even if you are very much up to scratch on your IAS's) because theya re so detailed and complicated.

If you want, I can put up a past exam paper so you can see the detail. I'd recommend doing it on the basis that if you want to show that you're an IFRS expert, only 700 people in ireland have completed this course, and for sucha small fee (€1,800), it's worth it, and a nice handy qualifcation.

Let me know if you want me to be more specific.

edit: I'm doing it distance btw

Yea -would appreciate a past exam paper, thanks very much. I qualified in 2005, one of the last years of UK GAAP. I am wondering if I should do the course? For the last 2.5 years, I have been working for a company that prepares accounts under IFRS. I am pretty sure they would pay for course so think I shoudl do it.

The CCAinsider

The ACCA DipIFR will set you back all of £150. There is a free text book and online courses at http://www.iasplus.com/standard/standard.htm past papers and solutions are available at http://www.accaglobal.com/members/qualifications/dipifr/ and at www.accaglobal.com/students/acca/exams/f7/past_papers You can do the exam every 6 months. Class room tuition is available in Griffith and BPP but clearly it costs more to do class room tuition. I did it and it is a good robust qualification, well recognised and now available in Russian and Portuguese – if you are so inclined.

viconia

It's completely up to you if you want to do it ACCA or through the ICAI.

It definitely is worth doing because if you qualified through UK GAAP, you will definitely notice the differences and once you see the differences you'll be more inclined to be conscious of the issues.

Also, as a UK GAAP qualified, the professional opinion would be that you were looking to "update" your qualification with another IFRS qualification, despite having relevant and arguably sufficient expereince.

The distance course and the class course is the exact same. The class course is 6 dedicated weekends of classes and you HAVE to attend. If you don't, You lose 10% of the ENTIRE grade. On one hand, it's an easy 10% but on the other hand, if you don't hink you'll attend, there is no point in forcing yourself into it and just do it distance.

Distance people get all the material the classroom people except we get all the solutions. The class room attendance makes you sit there so you do get all the solutions if that makes sense. If you don't benefit from attending lectures, then I'd recommend the distance course. I'll scan in a paper shortly.

Rory1 wrote: »

Yea -would appreciate a past exam paper, thanks very much. I qualified in 2005, one of the last years of UK GAAP. I am wondering if I should do the course? For the last 2.5 years, I have been working for a company that prepares accounts under IFRS. I am pretty sure they would pay for course so think I shoudl do it.

paddys1

Hi Viconia,

I was seriously thinkin of doin that diploma in IFRS also, but on second thoughts i was thinkin after doin d FAE exams thru IFRS would it be beneficial to me as i thought it was more directed to those that completed exams thru FRS & SSAP.
Can u throw some further light on it.
Thanks

viconia

paddys1 wrote: »

Hi Viconia,

I was seriously thinkin of doin that diploma in IFRS also, but on second thoughts i was thinkin after doin d FAE exams thru IFRS would it be beneficial to me as i thought it was more directed to those that completed exams thru FRS & SSAP.
Can u throw some further light on it.
Thanks

You are right. Doing the FAE's through IFRS is definitely a plus, but I just completed the FAE's last year, and still decided to do it. I will say that my knowldge in IFRS has definitely increased and the level of detail expected from the DIploma is insane. I've had to do assignments where I'm reading through full standards and looking for the tiny loopholes, to help me answer my assignment questions.

I think that if you go abroad, some countries may not catch on to the fact that the qualification is through IFRS and could pass it off as another qualification without so much detail. The reason I took it on is because, If someone randomly looks at my CV, they'll know I've good knowledge of IFRS (at a glance) and hence it works out better that way.

It's really a personal chocie to be honest, but I know some people who did the ACA qualification through IFRS and still are doing the Diploma just to help their technical knowledge, because, let's face it.. we're not going to sit at home reading through standards unless we HAVE to.

paddys1

ya gud point did u hav to pay 4 it urself r ur firm.€2950 is alot

viconia

paddys1 wrote: »

ya gud point did u hav to pay 4 it urself r ur firm.€2950 is alot

If you're an ICAI member, or a student of it, you get their members discount (10%). I paid for it myself and never asked my firm to pay for it. (they're paying half for a Masters I'm doing ontop of this which is why i didn't ask for a reimbursement, but if it does aid them, I don't see why any firm shouldn't pay for some of it).

To be honest, it's not a lot of money given the short qualification and what it will do for your knowledge & CV. I didn't hesitate in doing it.

paddys1

ur fairly busy so wit all the courses. Wat u doin d masters in. Ill chance em c if they pay a portion of it at least

Rory1

Thanks for all the replies.

censuspro

The CCAinsider wrote: »

The ACCA DipIFR will set you back all of £150. There is a free text book and online courses at http://www.iasplus.com/standard/standard.htm past papers and solutions are available at http://www.accaglobal.com/members/qualifications/dipifr/ and at www.accaglobal.com/students/acca/exams/f7/past_papersYou can do the exam every 6 months. Class room tuition is available in Griffith and BPP but clearly it costs more to do class room tuition. I did it and it is a good robust qualification, well recognised and now available in Russian and Portuguese – if you are so inclined.

Thanks for those links. Can you help clarify one thing? Is the ACCA DipFR the same as the the F7 financial reporting exam?

censuspro

You should also bear in mind that IFRS for SME's will be standard in 2013, alot of what you learned may not be relevant depending on what industry you're in.

smcgiff

censuspro wrote: »

Thanks for those links. Can you help clarify one thing? Is the ACCA DipFR the same as the the F7 financial reporting exam?

CCAInsider posted that about 7 months ago and they appear fairly infrequently on boards. May be worth contacting ACCA directly.

I doubt if they are the same, but open to correction.

Nabs

CADiplomas, can you please provide info on where you saw that the ICAI IFRS course is provided in conjunction with the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)? I'm looking at their website, and haven't come accross that.
The IASeminars:
- http://www.iaseminars.com/en/icaew-ifrscert.html
- http://www.iaseminars.com/en/ifrscert.html
seems to be the one providing the course in conjunction with the ICAEW.

Just wondering which course is best. Based on Viconia, it seems that ICAI course is very thorough, compared to the ICAEW whose assessment appears to be an MCQ. Then again, on a CV, I'm not sure if a prospective employer can distinguish between "ICAEW Certificate in IFRS" and "ICAI Diploman in IFRS". What do you all think?

Dermo09

Is there anyone on here doing the IFRS course for the exam in 2012??? Project to be completed for Monday???

Gonzalo123

Hi,

Was just wondering is anyone doing the first assignment for the distance course 2013 Diploma in IFRS?

It is a little bit vague and open to interpretation and so I could do with some help from anyone who is working on it.

Does it just cover the first two modules as I can see areas in IAS 17/18 which are in later modules

Transaction 2 & 3 seem easy..but i'm wondering am I missing something!

Hoping to get a bit of a thread developing here so would be great to hear from people who are doing it!

Cheers

gabbytheking

Thanks man a full €1,000 of a saving if you get the exam first time. New link

http://www.accaglobal.com/en/qualifications/glance/dipifr/course-details.html

The CCAinsider wrote: »

The ACCA DipIFR will set you back all of £150. There is a free text book and online courses at http://www.iasplus.com/standard/standard.htm past papers and solutions are available at http://www.accaglobal.com/members/qualifications/dipifr/ and at www.accaglobal.com/students/acca/exams/f7/past_papers You can do the exam every 6 months. Class room tuition is available in Griffith and BPP but clearly it costs more to do class room tuition. I did it and it is a good robust qualification, well recognised and now available in Russian and Portuguese – if you are so inclined.