Accountany Bodies

Vince135792003

Hi,
I'm in my final year of college doing a finance degree. I'm considering entering an accountancy private practice and I'm really just in the initial stages of figuring out how to go about it and such. The first thing that confuses me is the 4 main accountancy bodies,the differences between them and which 1 would be the best to register with. Again I'm only really beginning to research this but if anyone had any informationon on this I'd really welcome it or on any other practical advice on entering accountancy. Thanks.

mikemac

There's plenty of info in the careers section of askaboutmoney.com

Kinetic^

Vince135792003 wrote:

Hi,
I'm in my final year of college doing a finance degree. I'm considering entering an accountancy private practice and I'm really just in the initial stages of figuring out how to go about it and such. The first thing that confuses me is the 4 main accountancy bodies,the differences between them and which 1 would be the best to register with. Again I'm only really beginning to research this but if anyone had any informationon on this I'd really welcome it or on any other practical advice on entering accountancy. Thanks.

www.icai.ie Chartered is the only way to go.
Call them and they'll give you all the info you need.

Vince135792003

Thanks for the help. Just 1 quick question and aplogies if it sounds silly but does it matter to private firms what instituiton you register with? In other words say I registered with CPA and not the ICAI does that mean I can only work in private firms whoose partners are exclusively CPA registered or is it irrelevant to them? Again if its a ridiculous question I'm sorry I'm just trying to get to grips about going about this.

kluivert

Keyer Soze, a bit biased there considering your doing chartered.

A good accountant would provide all the information in order for the user to make an informed decision.

Therefore check out www.accaglobal.com instead. "LOL"

There are as you probably know 4 main accounting bodies presented in Ireland.

ICAI - Chartered Accoutants of Ireland - They believe in a higher status through high standards. Very good qualification should you want to reach the top. There exams are also very technical and are more so concerned with accounting and auditing.

A good base to get into the big 4 firms due to their high valued standards.

ACCA - Certified Chartered Accountants, these are who i am registered with. They are very much so International focused and thats why i choose them. As i would like to take my career and qualification to the States. Your Qualification will be internationally recognised. ACCA focus on a management, business advisory, as they believe accountants are mainly the ones at the top of organsations. Option here is that they provide you with the skills to either work in practice or industry.

Either way its a all round qualification. International - Practice or Industry.

CPA - Certified Public Accountants - Parking Attendants - No seriously these guys i dont know much about apart from the rumour that they maybe joining ICAI some time in the near future.

CIMA - Management Accountants - Industry based. I had no interest at all in this area therefore i am going to leave that up to someone else.

In my opinion theres no big difference between ICAI and ACCA as they are basicly the same. The difference is one is royal chartered and good if you want to move to the UK. The other ACCA is good for recogintion in most countries around the world and thats one reason why i choose it. The other reason is that i gain more exemptions going down the ACCA route.

Map out where to want to get to and then decided which body would be the best to get you there.

Best of luck with your future studies, its hard but rewarding.

Aviator55

Depends where you want to go.
To be pedantic about it CA's, ACCA's, CIMA's are all Chartered, each with a bit of paper from the Queen.
Chartered still have some snob value in Ireland, however, and I would suggest going that way if you want to do audit or tax. (However audit is boring and tax requires an Institute of Tax qualification too, a real toughie, I hear)
ACCA are good for business or audit, ACMA more business, and in fact are preferred (at least in the UK) by businesses. CPA's are not known much outside Ireland (if you travel you may need local qual's anyway)
Exam's are much of a muchness for all, all reasonably tough, despite notions then ACA's may have about their own elite nature.
End of the day you will probably want a Master's as well to make real progress, and maybe a language or two.
Take a look at the exemptions for your degree if you have one before you commit. It might save you a year of study.