If you had attended the CPA's AGM in Aust, don't be surprised if you find that most CPA members located in Aust are of the same view as me. I attended the AGM once in Aust in 2008. All members voiced their unhappiness concerning 4 main issues:
1. the low quality of the CPA exam;
2. CPA has become more commercialised & too profit oriented;
3. Most employers whether big or small prefer to hire ICAA grad & ignore CPA
4. CPA grads loose out completely in terms of technical skill.

Unfortunately all of these issues fell into deaf ears & nothing has been done.
Some members were so outspoken during the AGM & said "even a primary school kid or a blind person can pass the CPA easily".

However CPAs in M'sia are still blinded by the actual situation....time to wake up, pal.

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Added on September 30, 2010, 1:33 pmyes you can as long as you're a MIA member plus holding an audit license. You can sign the audit report but your credibility is a big question mark as a CPA.


This post has been edited by Def: Sep 30 2010, 01:33 PM

why don cpa grads who thinks that cpa is as good as other proffesional bodies take acca/icaew/cima/etc etc exams and findout themself which is harder. go see for urself.

Downright stupidity to make that statement. I would trade any prof. cert you listed above for the CPA(Aust), mainly because it increases my chances to work in Aus. The economic value from a prof. certification is far more than comparing the difficulties of the courses.

then why every1 is arguing about which 1 is harder

My wild guess will be that they are at the beginning of their career, thinking that tougher education would bring them to higher altitude.

multiple choice, can even bring half of the case study for 2weeks b4 attending exam......

sorry, but before answering the question I would like to ask what do ya guyss think of the standard of B. Commerce (Accounting) from a main campus of a G8 university of Australia?

I mean there are tonnnesss of people with dat these days. If dat's not bothering you, then why bother wit tonnnnesss of people having "lower standard" of CPAs?

CPA definitely cannot be compared to those with the title "Chartered" or "Public" lah. Shud compare apple to apple lah. I beleive there's something like "another level" to become a CA for those with CPA and ACCA etc.

But heck, to be an accountant in Msia, the most important thing is not wat paper you have but the following:
- a member of MIA or MICPA (which like others, CPA also qualifies you this)
- few years of experience especially from the big 8 audit firms (most CPA students are in the big4 as CPA has mentoring programme arrangement)
- able to perform task diligently, effectively, efficiently and able to demonstrate good leadership/team-player (depends on individual)
- and the most important element today, especially in Malaysia (!!!) is = ETHICAL Behaviour (depends on individual)

One thing I do agree is that CPA is very commercialised and Exorbitant!!

I understand that the perception of CPA is very much lower in Australia today, in fact, I believe it's because most international students (or rather immigrants) are doing CPA.

I also understand that certain GLCs are not too keen on CPAs as ACCA was like the norm amongst their top management. But heck, you can just say you did CPA because you're an Australian degree holder, thus got advantage. That's it! The employer should not be prejudice or bias against YOU in this case.

But no worries, the growing nations of Asia is very much in "SHORTAGE" of accountants, including Malaysia (according to Idris Jala). Someone told me dynamic industries like banking/finance or businesses in China loves CPA because CPA holders are deemed more "entrepreneur". Not really sure about that since Tony Fernandes is an ACCA.

This post has been edited by accetera: Oct 1 2010, 12:59 AM

Disagree Def
It is how you carry yourself as an audit partner that carries credibility
You cannot just diss a big question mark over a practicing audit partner with CPA
MIA approves and recognizes CPA and even listed companies are audited and signed off by CPA partners. What's the big question mark? millions, billions of ringgit, are being given that "true and fair view" by CPAs. Problems? Don't see any...

Any CPA/ACCA?ICAEW or WHATEVER grad, you walk into a company, say a bank, you realize, a degree grad holder working there for a few years would probably knows more about banking than you do. We got to plant our feet firmly on the ground.

You will soon realize, the papers I took ain't gonna give me these knowledge that person has! I got to work for it!
Tell me, how many of you use 100% of what you studied at your work place? I can bet that none of you use 100% of your studies at work!
So what do you use at work? Isn't it your life's experience?

Allow me to leave you all with something to ponder:

Knowledge is a tree, you build and work on where you want to grow,
You plant your seed, you reap your sow. How high you want your tree to grow,
Now that's really up to you now isn't it?

I believe my earlier post will clear up this confusion to the TS
Lets try to work on getting TS a good solution, rather than barraging down everyone else
This, is something not thought in CPA, ACCA, ICAEW, or whatever accounting bodies

This post has been edited by jamesleong: Oct 1 2010, 04:51 PM

Keelim, let me explain but please don't get offended. Only a complete fool will trade any prof qualification they have for CPA (Aus)....bcoz you think that it will increase your chances to work in Aust? I am a member of both CPA & ICAA and I have worked in 2 different Big 4 in Sydney for almost 6 years. For any accounting jobs in Aust regardless big or small companies or industries, only ICAA is preferred. For them it makes no difference whether a person has CPA or not because any Tom, d*** or Harry has one and it's completely valueless.

However I don't say that CPA is totally ignored. For those lower position like accounts clerk, account assistant or bookeeper, it's suitable for CPA grads. All these are within the context of the employment market in Aust.

In M'sia, it's a different scenario as long as it's recognised by MIA. So in Aust, CPA is something like LCCI in M'sia.

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Added on October 1, 2010, 8:36 pmThe low standard of the CPA in Aust has nothing to do with international students or immigrants. It's bcoz of the CPA exam that is not up the mark. As an Aust degree holder, students have 2 options - CPA (Aus) or ICAA. Unfortunately most M'sian or S'porean students take the easy way out by taking CPA instead of ICAA. It's ok if they choose to practice in M'sia or S'pore but if they choose to work in Aust, doing CPA is a complete waste of money & time. Sad to say many M'sian or S'porean students don't realise it until they try to seek employment in Aust.

In China, since they enjoy robust economic growth, any accountants regardless of which bodies they belong are highly respected & look up upon.

Beside Tony Fernandes, they're also other high profile personalities who're ACCA member. The CEO or Chairman of TNB, CEO of Telekom - can't remember their names. And many others.

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Added on October 1, 2010, 8:37 pmBtw, who's TS?

This post has been edited by White Knight: Oct 1 2010, 08:37 PM

People who read this thread can just Google for terms like "CPA Australia" + "low quality" or "inferior" or "substandard" etc.

I did and all I could find was this thread and a couple others in LYN, and a couple of discussions in Facebook. If you take the time to read them, you'd find that one or two nicknames appear in all of these... both LYN and Facebook. And the arguments plus the tone, phrasing etc is the same. Look at those people here who have been most vocal against CPA Aus. What's their post count? Is the same person posting the same arguments using multiple accounts?

Isn't it strange so few other people have posted blogs, written articles or posted similarly unsavoury comments about CPA Aus' lack of quality on the whole Google-able internet? Australians are not a shy bunch. Is it not strange that none of them are as vocal as the few chaps in this thread?

In any case, if anyone has doubts or complaints about CPA Australia... well here's your chance to make your voice heard. The outgoing President of CPA Australia has a wordpress blog and he posted a blogpost saying how good the quality of CPA candidates are. Go to his blog and debunk his claims so that we can all see how Richard Petty responds.

http://richardpettyblog.wordpress.com/2010...0%93-an-update/

Or maybe you can email the new incoming president, Low Weng Keong. He's the former Managing Partner of EY Singapore. He will definitely have some very interesting answers why he is inextricably associating himself with such a worthless organisation.

http://vrl-financial-news.com/accounting/t...cpa-austra.aspx

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 2 2010, 08:01 AM

Applause!

Well, my cousin is a CPA grad, and is doing very good! Low standard, sub-standard, condemning a professional designation is certainly not the way to go la... It's there for a reason.

It's a well known fact that a vast majority of Corporate Malaysians are ACCA holders. Many younger ones have CPAs too (especially those who study in Australia). Besides CA and ACCA, many Big4+4 partners are CPAs too. Really no issue.

Btw... apparently HKICPA, Hong Kong's premier accounting body recognises CPA Australia more than ACCA? I'm not too sure but you can read up here: http://www.hkicpa.org.hk/en/become-a-hkicp...verseas-bodies/ (see ACCA's FAQ page 2 of PDF)

Apparently ACCA is fighting hard with ICAEW in Asia... read this: http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/...icaw-takes-over.

CPA Australia ended up having more flexibility and designations.. sounds abit weird as suddenly it becomes more prestigious haha.

I think as accountants or in professional service, people just need to respect one another's qualification and not prejudice to one another. Right?

This post has been edited by accetera: Oct 2 2010, 02:04 AM

ur reply shows everything about urself. if u don't get it, re-read your comments again and again till u realized smth.

I'm currently doing my foundation and will be persuing an accounting degree. I'm not sure whether to take ACCA or MICPA. Can anyone comment about this situation? Which is better? Is it true that by completing MICPA, we can obtain ICAA?

btw, sorry for poor language usage.

I noted your comment that the same issue is being discussed in the Facebook. Ya, I went and searched through the Google and found that there're plenty of discussions concerning this issue. Thanks for highlightning it.

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Added on October 3, 2010, 6:57 pmOne issue worth noting from other discussions in the Facebook is that why most of the Audit Committee's (AC) Chairman in the PLCs are either ACCA/MICPA/ICAEW/ICAA etc members and NONE are CPA (Aus) members...not even satu ekor! terrible ah! aiyooo!. Please let me know if you can find 1 AC's chairman who's a pure CPA (Aus) member.

Why is it so? It comes back to the same issue that we're discussing. CPA (Aus) members are known for their incompetency & lack of knowledge particularly technical skill due to the low quality of the CPA Program to the extent that the PLC's Board of Directors have no confidence at all to appoint a CPA to chair the AC - AGREE !!

OR maybe all the CPA (Aus) members have the same philosophy - Don't accept the AC Chairman position because it against the ethical guidelines issued by CPA - silly !!

If I still can recall, there was a joke told by a Fellow CPA - "Passing the CPA is easier than eating kacang putih. That mamak selling roti canai also a CPA holder". Please don't blame me, this joke was told to me by a FCPA (Aus).



This post has been edited by White Knight: Oct 3 2010, 06:57 PM

You must be using another version of Google from me

And I'm still eagerly waiting for your enlightening comments on Richard Petty's blog.

By the way, stop quoting statistics without quoting the source. Otherwise it's just unsubstantiated hearsay. And quoting "quotes" from your acquaintances... is it even possible to come up with a lower quality argument?

How about this one... slightly better quality than your argument because it's my true experience: I have not met one ICAEW or ACCA out of the 250 finance people in my MNC's Asian division. My conclusion is that ICAEW and ACCAs are shunned by MNCs, obviously for lack of quality and suitability. And since none of our divisional CFOs and functional finance directors are ICAEW or ACCA holders, I also conclude that ICAEW and ACCA are not suited to be CFOs.

This post has been edited by seantang: Oct 3 2010, 08:02 PM

There's a MRA signed between MICPA & ICAA. Check thru their website, it will give you more info.

the problem is who u know and not what u have dude.

Your comments show that you're trying to cure your broken heart.

Can you name me any MNCs' CFOs who's not an ICAEW/ACCA member?
I can conclude that tonnes of CFOs are ICAEW/ACCA members. You don't believe?...spend some time do some studies or research since you've plenty of times searching thru the Google for the same discussion topic in Facebook.

In Aust, obviously all the top finance personnel are ICAA....mana ada CPAs. Let me know if you can find one.

In M'sia, can you name me ONE, ONLY ONE MNC's CFO who's a CPA (Aus)?....it will take you ages to find because there're none of them.

However, if you go to the CPA (Aus) website very frequently, they have publicised so greatly and extensively 2 CPA members about their accomplishments. Want to know why? This is the first time in the 100 years history of CPA (Aus), they have finally managed to produce only 2 capable persons...ONLY 2 IN 100 years history of CPA!...what a pity & shame!

Other prof bodies have produced tonnes or thousands of them very regularly. For CPA....ONLY 2 IN 100 YEARS!...

I have called up my FCPA (Aus) buddy earlier & he 'cracked' another joke:
He said that in "Olympic Games, US have already produced tonnes of gold medalist & it's very normal for them. If Malaysia manage to produce their first ever Olympic gold medalist, there will be huge publication in the Malaysian media & there will be a month long celebration. In conclusion, for CPA (Aus) to produce top finance personnel is the same as Malaysia winning their 1st ever Olympic gold medal."

This can be joke of the year for all accountants.

No, my comments were designed to show how worthless hearsay and unsubstantiated comments are.

Take a dart, throw it at a list of CFOs of companies listed on DJI, DAX or Topix etc., where the majority of MNCs are.