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

[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.

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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.