Professional Bodies

mo naire thu

Is it better to train with different professional bodies if one intends on working in a foreign country such as Canada or Australia?

myshirt

Train with Chartered Accountants Ireland if that is your intention.

ACCA is only international in the same way a community college degree is international, unfortunately. ACA is the premier qualification.

jjjd

mo naire thu wrote: »

Is it better to train with different professional bodies if one intends on working in a foreign country such as Canada or Australia?

If you intend on working in different countries you would be better off studying with ACCA as it is primarily a global accountancy qualification. They have offices located in many countries and tuition providers in most. It will be a more recognised qualification in more countries that ACA would be. With ACA you would be quite limited, in that you would have to acquire your work experience and pass your exams here first before you intended to work abroad. With ACCA you could sit your exams virtually in any country in the world and gain your work experience in any country of your choice.

jjjd

myshirt wrote: »

Train with Chartered Accountants Ireland if that is your intention.

ACCA is only international in the same way a community college degree is international, unfortunately. ACA is the premier qualification.

Care to provide a source for your assertion? Aren't both bodies members of IFAC anyway?

mo naire thu

So ACCA is the route to take internationally? I heard North America has a different governing body. I am a graduate but I want to train in either Canada or New Zealand because I can't get a training contract here so I am trying to decide which bodies are best train with in those countries. Thanks

Jim2007

mo naire thu wrote: »

So ACCA is the route to take internationally? I heard North America has a different governing body. I am a graduate but I want to train in either Canada or New Zealand because I can't get a training contract here so I am trying to decide which bodies are best train with in those countries. Thanks

If you wish to enter public practice then no ACCA is not the way to go and this is particularly the case if you intend to work in a British Common Wealth country, which seems to be your intention. The Chartered Accountant qualification is the primary qualification for public practice in these countries, so it make sense to follow that line than another. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland have Mutual Reciprocity Agreements with the associations in all the countries you mention so it would be easy enough to practice in Ireland at a later stage.

When it comes to public practice in the USA, a CPA licence for the State where you wish to practice is required and the ACCA qualification is not recognised for this purpose, here is the comment from the AICPA site:

Unfortunately, the designation from the ACCA is not generally recognized by the states in the U.S., so you are required to complete all of the regular requirements to become a U.S. Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

On the other hand some of the Chartered Institutes, including the Irish one, are recognised for exemption purposes via a special examination and there are no further requirements. Again here is the quote from the website:

The CPA certificate is not directly comparable to the articles of a chartered accountant. A chartered accountant who wishes to have a U.S. CPA certificate must take the exam to become a U.S. CPA. The only exception is a special examination for members of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), CPA Australia, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) and the Instituto Mexicano De Contadores Publicos (IMCP). The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) web site has information on the IQEX examination. (On that page click "EXAMS" then "IQEX")

Now the ACCA may dress it up whatever way they like - global offices, number of members, single institute, world wide exams etc... but that is popularity not recognition. And in public practice, recognition is the most important factor.

lukayl

myshirt wrote: »

Train with Chartered Accountants Ireland if that is your intention.

ACCA is only international in the same way a community college degree is international, unfortunately. ACA is the premier qualification.

Suddenly vast countries of Asian and Middle East/Gulf just got written off. Though if OP would like to go to AU/NZ, then ACA probably is better since they got MRA. But if not, maybe go to AU first and study AU CPA there, if immigration is your final goal; if you still would like to return to Ireland, either ACCA/CIMA will be better, as AU CPA is not recognised in Europe.