Yes, the Big 4 in Msia are not so particular which body you belong to. They will take in anyone regardless whether CPA/MICPA/ACCA/ICAEW/ICAA/NZICA etc and also those local accounting degree holders. Also once you're a MIA member regardless which prof bodies you belong or even if you're only a local accounting degree holder, everyone is called Chartered Accountant.

I have an old friend who went to UK during the late 90s & he graduated with both ACCA & ICAEW. He's currently with E&Y, UK. He said that in UK, employers treat both ACCA & ICAEW as equal in terms of knowledge, skills & competency. If look at the exam, syllabus content & difficulty, overall both ACCA & ICAEW is equal. Just like in footbal, it's a goaless draw, it would take a penalty shootout to decide which one is better.

However in Aust, sad to say the situation is different with such a big gap that separates both CPA Aus & ICAA.

Currently I m working in a smal/medium practice firm in KL & prior to that I have worked for 3 years in a small CPA practice firm in Aust. I have tried applying for the Big 4 in KL but no feedback. According to my current manager, the Big 4 in KL prefer to hire someone from another Big 4 or they prefer to hire fresh graduates so that they can groom you from scratch. The reason he said was as for my case, it's difficult for them to decide which position they should put me in. If they put me as Audit Assistant, I would be over qualified and if they put me as Audit Senior, there's a risk that I might not be able to cope bcoz I m not from Big 4.

Selecao,
Can you please do me a favour? Can you check for me whether Seantang has stopped crying or not? The other day after reading my last post, he burst into tears & cried hysterically as though like the whole world has already ended for CPA.

Selecao, while you're at it... can you also check if Murusundram has gotten his head out of his ass yet? Last time, it was so far up.., it wasn't funny anymore.

This post has been edited by seantang: May 13 2010, 12:00 PM

This thread is funny.

Whoever said accountants were square? We have name-calling ones in here!!! How very sociable.

Hey, wasn't name calling and making things into alphabet soups part of our skillset in the first place?

I worked with colleagues with all kinds of qualification and it is safe to say that their qualification do not reflect their quality of work.

Dunno about accountants but auditor's are definetely NOT square. Heck, they're probably the most creative bunch of people you'll ever meet.

Are you REALLY, REALLY SURE about that? I don't find my colleagues being very creative!

LOL i thought it is the other way round?
Auditors being being the most square of all =p

We should all stop stereotyping accountants/auditors. I'm doing ICAEW and I have pretty crazy classmates. . .

Creative in the sense of finding something to cari pasal with client

Nah, that doesn't require creativity. You just thave to be difficult

Folks, I have been reading all your comments and let me give my point of view which is more neutral and unbiased.

I have been a CPA since 2000 and CA since 2008 and I have worked in Aust from 2004 to 2009.

On CA, the exam is more difficult & rigorous. The ICAA graduates are well known for their technical excellency, highly competent and skilled. They are always the 'hunting' targets by the employers.

On CPA, it's the other opposite. It has become worse from bad. The comment given by Grimm is very true and cannot be taken lightly. Many non accounting/finance graduates can gain the CPA Aus status easily. This is due to the intense commercialization effort to pass as many candidates as possible. This has greatly jeopardised the credibility of the CPA graduates and this problem has already existed for more than 10 years in Aust.

During my last 5 working years in Aust, most employers already "written off" the CPAs & only hire the CAs. As a result most CPAs in order to make themselves more marketable and competitive, they have to enrol for the CA exam. You can see that in their CV, they will put an additional line under the Qualification Section "Currently pursuing CA exam", without which it will make them being unattractive to the potential employers.

I can see this trend is already happening in M'sia eventhough not as bad as in Aust and the Big 4 in Msia still taking in CPA grad as long as it's recognised by MIA. However nobody knows what is going to happen to CPAs in the next 5-6 years in Msia, it could face the same situation in Aust or it might take longer to happen. Until it happens, it remains everyone's guess.

You sure form 1 student can pass it easily? It's not that easy as you think it is and it's not that hard too.

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Added on June 3, 2010, 9:39 pmLong before, CPA in Australia is more widely recognise in commercial than accounting firm. This had changed recentlyas big4 (and even medium and small firms) do hire CPA grad as well. I worked in Australia before and in an accounting firm. I got offer from both KPMG and EY eventhough i don't have CA> But i have to say that in order for you to advance to manager and higher level, you do required to have CA in your CV. Ofcourse there are exceptional cases. Same thing goes to Malaysia, you need to have professional papers (doesn't matter if it's CIMA, CPA, MICPA, etc) to advance to manager. Saying that, i still know some manager in big4 who advance to manager level who only have degree. CPA is started to get their recognition worldwide. I have friends went to Europe, USA and they said they are starting to accept CPA. Ppl start to realise that profesional paper is just a stepping stone for you to advance further. As long as you have these professional papers, the next to take into consideration is your experience.

This post has been edited by calcom21: Jun 3 2010, 09:39 PM

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Added on June 3, 2010, 9:39 pm

Long before, CPA in Australia is more widely recognise in commercial than accounting firm. This had changed recentlyas big4 (and even medium and small firms) do hire CPA grad as well. I worked in Australia before and in an accounting firm. I got offer from both KPMG and EY eventhough i don't have CA> But i have to say that in order for you to advance to manager and higher level, you do required to have CA in your CV. Ofcourse there are exceptional cases. Same thing goes to Malaysia, you need to have professional papers (doesn't matter if it's CIMA, CPA, MICPA, etc) to advance to manager. Saying that, i still know some manager in big4 who advance to manager level who only have degree. CPA is started to get their recognition worldwide. I have friends went to Europe, USA and they said they are starting to accept CPA. Ppl start to realise that profesional paper is just a stepping stone for you to advance further. As long as you have these professional papers, the next to take into consideration is your experience.[/quote]

Thankfully in Msia, the Big 4 are not so particular which qualification you hold, as long as it's recognised by MIA, it should be fine. I agree with you in order to advance to managerial level or higher in the Big 4 in Aust, a person must have CA. So it's still back to square, they require you to enrol for the CA. Meaning to say that with a degree or with CPA (Aus) or still pursuing CPA, a person still can join the Big 4 in Aust with 1 condition: must enrol & pass the CA . This is because they don't recognise CPA. I m speaking from past experience.

In Msia, it's a different case. An unqualified accountant still can become a manager or higher in a commercial firm or medium sized firm. I also agree on your claim that some managers in Big 4 is only degree holders. I can say that most of them are acc degree holders from local Uni (UM, UPM, UKM, UUM) which are also recognised for MIA membership. As I said, as long as it's recognised by MIA, it should be ok for the Msian Big 4.

Those with CPA (Aus) qualification who went to Europe or US, I m sure they're still required to sit for the local prof acc exam there. So it's still not considered recognised & they are hired based on their degrees. Recognition is where no exam is required like how MIA recognise the 11 acc bodies.

On the other hand, sometimes recognition has nothing to do with the quality or standard of a body. It's more for expansion, competition & protection reasons. Take for example US CPA is not recognised by MIA but it's recognised by ICPAS (S'pore). Another example is acc grad from S'pore (Nanyang & NUS), despite the fact that these 2 Uni set a very high standard in their exam, it's still not recognised by MIA & also ICPAS (S'pore) don't recognise MICPA despite the exam difficulty. Recently CIMA have an MRA with CPA (Aus), it's obvious the reason for this MRA is competition....to compete with ICAEW/ACCA in UK.

Having said all this, it's the experience that counts whether a person can become good accountant or not. There're also unqualified accountants holding high post in organisation, it's all because they have a strong desire to excel & learn.

This post has been edited by Selecao: Jun 7 2010, 11:54 AM

[quote=Selecao,Jun 7 2010, 11:51 AM]

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Added on June 3, 2010, 9:39 pm

Long before, CPA in Australia is more widely recognise in commercial than accounting firm. This had changed recentlyas big4 (and even medium and small firms) do hire CPA grad as well. I worked in Australia before and in an accounting firm. I got offer from both KPMG and EY eventhough i don't have CA> But i have to say that in order for you to advance to manager and higher level, you do required to have CA in your CV. Ofcourse there are exceptional cases. Same thing goes to Malaysia, you need to have professional papers (doesn't matter if it's CIMA, CPA, MICPA, etc) to advance to manager. Saying that, i still know some manager in big4 who advance to manager level who only have degree. CPA is started to get their recognition worldwide. I have friends went to Europe, USA and they said they are starting to accept CPA. Ppl start to realise that profesional paper is just a stepping stone for you to advance further. As long as you have these professional papers, the next to take into consideration is your experience.[/quote]

Thankfully in Msia, the Big 4 are not so particular which qualification you hold, as long as it's recognised by MIA, it should be fine. I agree with you in order to advance to managerial level or higher in the Big 4 in Aust, a person must have CA. So it's still back to square, they require you to enrol for the CA. Meaning to say that with a degree or with CPA (Aus) or still pursuing CPA, a person still can join the Big 4 in Aust with 1 condition: must enrol & pass the CA . This is because they don't recognise CPA. I m speaking from past experience.

In Msia, it's a different case. An unqualified accountant still can become a manager or higher in a commercial firm or medium sized firm. I also agree on your claim that some managers in Big 4 is only degree holders. I can say that most of them are acc degree holders from local Uni (UM, UPM, UKM, UUM) which are also recognised for MIA membership. As I said, as long as it's recognised by MIA, it should be ok for the Msian Big 4.

Those with CPA (Aus) qualification who went to Europe or US, I m sure they're still required to sit for the local prof acc exam there. So it's still not considered recognised & they are hired based on their degrees. Recognition is where no exam is required like how MIA recognise the 11 acc bodies.

On the other hand, sometimes recognition has nothing to do with the quality or standard of a body. It's more for expansion, competition & protection reasons. Take for example US CPA is not recognised by MIA but it's recognised by ICPAS (S'pore). Another example is acc grad from S'pore (Nanyang & NUS), despite the fact that these 2 Uni set a very high standard in their exam, it's still not recognised by MIA & also ICPAS (S'pore) don't recognise MICPA despite the exam difficulty. Recently CIMA have an MRA with CPA (Aus), it's obvious the reason for this MRA is competition....to compete with ICAEW/ACCA in UK.

Having said all this, it's the experience that counts whether a person can become good accountant or not. There're also unqualified accountants holding high post in organisation, it's all because they have a strong desire to excel & learn.

[/quote]

I agreed with you on most of your points except that you don't really have to enrol and pass CA. This is also based on past experiences. Like i said, unless you plan to move up to managerial level (which more likely required you to take and pass CA), you don't really have to if you choose not to. I'm not sure if it's in black and white in the contract stating you must have CA to promote to managerial level but it is obviously not stated in the LO when the appoint you as junior/senior or even AM. As for my friends with CPA working in European country, i'm not sure if they need to sit for their papers or not and can't comment further on that.

This tread is really funny.. and interesting...

I just completed my final CPA paper(well i haven actually gotten the results but I guess its fair to say that its a confirm credit at least... I personally think the CPA papers are freaking easy! If you're like a straight A student for SPM(need not be all A1s though), confirm you can pass all CPA papers at your first sitting!

We can never really compare CPA to other professional qualifications like ICAA, ICAEW, or even CFA... Its like comparing the land and the sky...

My suggestion to ppl who're above average and would like to differentiate themselves to the other average CPA Joe on the street is this: Go take Masters, or pursue other more difficult qualifications...
Because honestly, CPA is really FREAKING easy! I even wonder if its possible to actually fail any papers!!

Yes, agree.

Either you're bloody brilliant, or it's true lol.

Hi im actually having difficulties in deciding which professional paperz to take Between ACCA and CPA.....I just got a job in PwC ad they required me to take a professional paper...Well, since im already in a Big 4, im planning to just take CPA since itz easier coz as far as i know, Big 4 treat both the same since both iz recognised by MIA.....so should i just take CPA as i plan?[SIZE=7][COLOR=blue]