I think its based on personal experience. I know a ACCA grad and MICPA grad that failed the IQ exam when applying to the bank I work in. Imagine that. Every pool of students have good apples and bad apples. Its not fair to generalise them in that way because you paint the whole bucket black with a few rotten ones.
The CFO in the bank I work in is a CPA grad, so is the COO. One is Malaysian, the other is an expat from Australia.
2 out of the 13 Tax partners in the professional firm I previously worked in are CPA grads, and are mentors for the CPA program. A fair number of the directors and senior managers are too. They happen to be graduates from Australia and Monash Malaysia grads.
My direct boss, the head of my organisation's group tax unit, is also a CPA grad.
Audit partners I can't really say because I don't work with them extensively, but I know two whom I know are CPA grads. They also happen to be MICPA grads as well because you need MICPA for an audit licence in Malaysia.
Me, I'm neither. I never finished my ACCA and I don't have a professional qualification beyond my degree from local uni and MIA, and yet I draw a five figure salary and count these people as my peers and mentors. I also earn more than most managers who are ACCA, MICPA, ICAEW or CPA grads in the Big 4. So take it from me when I tell you the professional paper is not an indication of your earning power.
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You don't need a professional paper if you want to do anything in Malaysia, but having it will help. In most cases, no one cares about where you got your paper as long as you have a paper. So what if you got yours the easy route? ACCA and MICPA students laugh at you because your paper was "easy"? Then you can "laugh" at them for doing things the hard way. Because at the end of the day, once you are hired, they are all on par.
Even if you have MICPA, you think you can work outside Malaysia? Singapore and Australia don't even recognise MICPA. Do you still think MICPA is a "good professional paper"? Better than CPA Australia that is recognised in HK, S'pore and Australia in addition to Malaysia?
Choose the qualification that helps you finish fastest, applicable to your job and is recognised where you want to work. If you are an Aussie grad, CPA is the sensible choice. If you are UK grad, then ACCA or ICEAW is the better choice. Malaysian grad would usually opt for MICPA (but if you are not in audit, take ACCA, easier to pass than MICPA i.m.h.o). Don't be bother about what people say about your qualification because employers will look beyond your paper and judge your experience as well. If you are a fresh grad, then your paper is just the benchmark to get you in, nothing more. And if you are a fresh grad applying for the Big 4, high chance you don't even have a professional paper, and they will pay for whichever you want to take depending on which you complete faster.
So if the Big 4 are not fussy about your professional qualification (audit being the exception in Malaysia), why should you? Take the one that gets you where you want to go, regardless of what other people tell you. The people talking down to you here won't be hiring you anyway.
You want learning and experience? Get a job and pay attention to what you do. The on-the-job experience will teach you far more than anything a textbook can.
And to the joker than laughed at CPA grads using textbooks / reference books when discussing with superiors, obviously you've not worked in a professional firm before. Unless you happen to be a "walking IFRS" everyone refers to standards and books when working. Even if you are a "walking IFRS" your boss will still want you to prove where what you say you know is written. It's called "exercising due care in your professional capacity."
Sure, MICPA is tough. But would you like to slog for years and still not pass by virtue of a quota system?
ACCA? not that hard. I did all but the last stage, it was almost identical to my university degree.
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Like I said, I'm not here to pick a fight. But I do believe that there is a lot of bias here against CPA grads just because their exams is MCQ based. And having been in this industry for the last decade, I feel compelled to speak up on their behalf. Sure there are crappy CPA students, but there are a fair share of crappy ACCA, MICPA and ICAEW grads too. Knowing your stuff in the exams is very different from working. I don't think its right to talk down another person's qualification unless you work with them directly. Even then, the individual is the problem, not the qualification.
If you are an accounting student considering which qualification to take, and you want to be sure just call up the Big 4 HR and pose a general question to them, you will have your answer.
True. If you have already taken the degree, what can u do? Regret over it? Dang, just get another professional designation. It's never too late. It really doesn't matter what degree u have, because it's down to he individual itself on whether he or she would be successful. Stressing too much on academic excellence is not really the way my dear people... ACCA or whatever accounting degree ain't that hard anyway, and everyone had the ability to pass all of them, so there's no clear distinction on whether or threshold that separates the good and the excellent. Unless of course u're planning to take the actuarial science exam, now u're really different from the rest if u have more exams passes. But then again, whether u'll perform on the job although u have multiple exams passes, is a whole new question.
Sep 26 2010, 01:16 PM
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