Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants (IIPA) - Worth doing?

mydiscworld

As part of my job in the public service I must gain an accounting qualification. Members in my office range from ACA, ACCA, CPA and CIMA. There is no perferred body & once it is a recognised body this is all they care about as far as I know.

It is mostly unlikely that I will ever be leaving the public service or Ireland (even if I do leave this specific dept) so the issue of one body's prestige/international recognition is not an issue for me.

I have qualified up to FAE stage with Chartered Accountants Ireland. However, I am disillusioned with the new FAE course (after failing the Core last year & seeing pass rate plummet to 55%) & I am now looking to switch.

Option 1: ACCA, who have told me I'd be doing 6 exams if I switch.

Option 2: CPA, who had said 5 but now recognise the advanced taxation elective exam I passed in last year's FAEs. So I'd have 4 to do. This is my leading choice.

Option 3: CIMA. I'm staying clear of CIMA, rightly or wrongly, after hearing too much bad things but mostly importantly, the exemptions aren't great for me.

According to IAASA, there are 6 recognised accounting bodies which can perform statutory audits in Ireland:
ACCA, ICA England & Wales, ICA Ireland, ICA Scotland, CPA Ireland and
IIPA.

Therfore, Option 4: IIPA (Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants), who are a fully recognised accountancy and audit body in Ireland, with members totalling 231 per IASSA's 2009 Annual Report (see pg. 6).

In 2009 they also had 164 students in Ireland per pg. 22 in the above report, though I notice 0 students were accepted as full members in Ireland!

The 2010 Annual Report from IASSA should be out soon I'd say & update these figures.

To qualify as an Incorporated Public Accountant you undertake 14 exams in total to qualify (unless you receive some exemptions).

I have never heard of anyone doing their exams & it would not have nearly as much recognition as would ACCA, ACA or CPA. However, it is fully recognised by IAASA.

Exemption criteria are not listed on their website & you must email them to find out, though they suggest these a reasonably generous. If they say I've less than the 4 which I'd be doing with CPA option, I'd seriously consider giving them a go.

So my questions are:

Is anyone here studying with IIPA, or indeed, has anyone completed their exams?

What are their pass rates like? (I can't find past exam results so links would be great)

ants09

http://www.iipa.ie/Module%2011%20Examination%20Papers.html

link to pass papers of the iipa

:-)

mydiscworld

ants09 wrote: »

http://www.iipa.ie/Module%2011%20Examination%20Papers.html

link to pass papers of the iipa

:-)

Thanks. These are their past exam scripts & solutions though. I'm more looking for their % pass rates per exam.

ants09

dont know about the pass rates :mad: am sure if you phone them up they be more then happy to oblidge you

backtothebooks

mydiscworld wrote: »

As part of my job in the public service I must gain an accounting qualification. Members in my office range from ACA, ACCA, CPA and CIMA. There is no perferred body & once it is a recognised body this is all they care about as far as I know.

It is mostly unlikely that I will ever be leaving the public service or Ireland (even if I do leave this specific dept) so the issue of one body's prestige/international recognition is not an issue for me.

I have qualified up to FAE stage with Chartered Accountants Ireland. However, I am disillusioned with the new FAE course (after failing the Core last year & seeing pass rate plummet to 55%) & I am now looking to switch.

Option 1: ACCA, who have told me I'd be doing 6 exams if I switch.

Option 2: CPA, who had said 5 but now recognise the advanced taxation elective exam I passed in last year's FAEs. So I'd have 4 to do. This is my leading choice.

Option 3: CIMA. I'm staying clear of CIMA, rightly or wrongly, after hearing too much bad things but mostly importantly, the exemptions aren't great for me.

According to IAASA, there are 6 recognised accounting bodies which can perform statutory audits in Ireland:
ACCA, ICA England & Wales, ICA Ireland, ICA Scotland, CPA Ireland and
IIPA.

Therfore, Option 4: IIPA (Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants), who are a fully recognised accountancy and audit body in Ireland, with members totalling 231 per IASSA's 2009 Annual Report (see pg. 6).

In 2009 they also had 164 students in Ireland per pg. 22 in the above report, though I notice 0 students were accepted as full members in Ireland!

The 2010 Annual Report from IASSA should be out soon I'd say & update these figures.

To qualify as an Incorporated Public Accountant you undertake 14 exams in total to qualify (unless you receive some exemptions).

I have never heard of anyone doing their exams & it would not have nearly as much recognition as would ACCA, ACA or CPA. However, it is fully recognised by IAASA.

Exemption criteria are not listed on their website & you must email them to find out, though they suggest these a reasonably generous. If they say I've less than the 4 which I'd be doing with CPA option, I'd seriously consider giving them a go.

So my questions are:

Is anyone here studying with IIPA, or indeed, has anyone completed their exams?

What are their pass rates like? (I can't find past exam results so links would be great)

Firstly, everyone will have their own opinion on the different qualifications and there's a sticky on the accounting forum dealing with all of the differences etc...

That being said, there's a reason that you've never heard of anyone doing their exams and that's down to the fact that they only have a handful of members/students. My advice is to steer towards one of the 'main' accountancy bodies because in the long run an IIPA qualification is not going to open up any opportunities worth talking about.

I can't understand why you wouldn't do the FAE again? The pass rate on the core last year was actually 75% and will probably be in or around the same again this year.

The best of luck with it

smcgiff

I can't answer your specific questions as I've not taken the IIPA exams.

However, I'm not going to let that stop me giving advice. :eek:

I'd advise you to continue on with the CAI exams and get your FAEs. Failing that the CPA exemptions look generous.

Good luck either way.

ocallagr

mydiscworld wrote: »

As part of my job in the public service I must gain an accounting qualification. Members in my office range from ACA, ACCA, CPA and CIMA. There is no perferred body & once it is a recognised body this is all they care about as far as I know.

It is mostly unlikely that I will ever be leaving the public service or Ireland (even if I do leave this specific dept) so the issue of one body's prestige/international recognition is not an issue for me.

I have qualified up to FAE stage with Chartered Accountants Ireland. However, I am disillusioned with the new FAE course (after failing the Core last year & seeing pass rate plummet to 55%) & I am now looking to switch.

Option 1: ACCA, who have told me I'd be doing 6 exams if I switch.

Option 2: CPA, who had said 5 but now recognise the advanced taxation elective exam I passed in last year's FAEs. So I'd have 4 to do. This is my leading choice.

Option 3: CIMA. I'm staying clear of CIMA, rightly or wrongly, after hearing too much bad things but mostly importantly, the exemptions aren't great for me.

According to IAASA, there are 6 recognised accounting bodies which can perform statutory audits in Ireland:
ACCA, ICA England & Wales, ICA Ireland, ICA Scotland, CPA Ireland and
IIPA.

Therfore, Option 4: IIPA (Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants), who are a fully recognised accountancy and audit body in Ireland, with members totalling 231 per IASSA's 2009 Annual Report (see pg. 6).

In 2009 they also had 164 students in Ireland per pg. 22 in the above report, though I notice 0 students were accepted as full members in Ireland!

The 2010 Annual Report from IASSA should be out soon I'd say & update these figures.

To qualify as an Incorporated Public Accountant you undertake 14 exams in total to qualify (unless you receive some exemptions).

I have never heard of anyone doing their exams & it would not have nearly as much recognition as would ACCA, ACA or CPA. However, it is fully recognised by IAASA.

Exemption criteria are not listed on their website & you must email them to find out, though they suggest these a reasonably generous. If they say I've less than the 4 which I'd be doing with CPA option, I'd seriously consider giving them a go.

So my questions are:

Is anyone here studying with IIPA, or indeed, has anyone completed their exams?

What are their pass rates like? (I can't find past exam results so links would be great)

Hi

As others have said we are a small body and not as well known as the others, however we have a strong representation in the Audit Practice area and we are recognised under the Companies Acts and under the Professional Services Directive.

From an exemptions perspective in most cases we operate on the basis of a subject match criteria, i.e. what you have done already you will not be asked to do again. So if you would like to know what exemptions you might be entitled to you can email the institute at info@iipa.ie and we will match what you have done to our syllabus and give you an indication of what exemptions it would be appropriate for you to apply for.

With regards to pass rates - it is a more difficult question to answer. Currently we have around 80 active students with small numbers sitting our earlier exams and larger numbers coming in later on based on the education they have undertaken. Given the relatively small number the percentage of people passing each subject can vary considerable from year to year.

On the education side we are currently working on our application to HETAC for the award of a Level 9 qualification under the National Framework of Qualification with our Professional Accounting Qualification. Our intention is to apply for it as a full award rather than as an alignment of the syllabus with the framework, which means that once this is achieved, successful students with the IIPA will receive both a level 9 qualification and a Professional Accounting Qualification recognised under the Companies Acts and the Professional Services Directive.

I hope this answers some of your questions.


Regards


Richard O'Callaghan
Chief Executive
IIPA