I'm very glad to see a thread like this, it's the most helpful thread among all the others that I can find in Lowyat.net to solve my doubts and questions. I'm almost determined to go for ICAEW now, despite what Knight_2008 have said, but I believe that wouldn't happen too soon.

There's only 1 thing left that I would like to know, which is how would the life of a CFAB AND an ICAEW students be? Do they still have time for personal life like gaming/dating/shopping/surfing internet? If yes, how long would it be for each day? (Assuming that I self-study+revision 2 hours/day for the course)

Thank you very much in advance.

sorry for ur misleading info..TARC has gained back the platinum status after 1.1.2011..
so now sunway is no longer the only acca platinum tuition provider in m'sia anymore..

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Added on January 19, 2011, 11:19 pmafter finishing tarc diploma..first 5 Fundamentals papers are exempted i.e. F1-F5..
then by finishing adv dip first year,then the student will get another 4 exemption..F6-F9..
then second year of adv dip requires student to sit for real acca exam for p1-p3..p4-p7(either 2)..
altogether need 4 years to get a diploma+adv dip+acca..tarc adv dip=general degree and student are allowed to top up
with uk degree if u are rich to go..

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Added on January 19, 2011, 11:20 pmThis post has been edited by searcher1106: Jan 19 2011, 11:20 PM

I am not being biased and neither am I ACCA nor ICAEW member. I am ICAA qualified.
Both ICAEW & ICAA are part of GAA. The fact is for the last couple of years, ICAEW has been dumbing down its qualification to attract more members & they even set a quota of 80% passing rate. They even pushed for a merger with CIMA but it was turned down by CIMA council.
I used to respect & look highly on ICAEW but now no more. I am particularly saddened that ICAEW being part of GAA is doing such a silly thing in dumbing down its qualification.
ACCA on the other hand is happily laughing looking at the current situation. If you don't believe me, look at the employment market in England, both ACCA & CIMA are holding the edge, no more ICAEW. However there're some quarters who still regard ICAEW as the more prestigious merely because of past history.
Being ICAA, I am eligible to become ICAEW member without having to sit for any exams but for ACCA, I have to sit for the final 5 papers.

whether you have time or not i believe depends on yourself.. I quote this from a professor i once met during a talk in my high school. he said that imagine you did everything faster, such as walk faster, bath faster, eat faster, don dilly dally, efficient ways of doing things etc.. If due to these factors you save 10 minute per activity for 6 activities daily. You would suddenly have an extra 1 hour a day which is a lot

furthermore, whether you have enough time or not also depends on the achievement that you target. Obviously, if you want better marks and got prize such Watt prize, you had to work harder. Anotehr factors will be natural born talents. I have a friend in ACCA which literally sleep in most of the class and always got scolded for that but got a malaysia prize for a professional papers.

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Added on January 19, 2011, 11:33 pmactually i don't think the 3 months top up for a degree will add any value and will not be considered more prestigious in contrast to the degree offered by OBU to those who completed Part 2 of ACCA and a theses.

so if one want to get such a low level degree, taking ACCA and achieved the OBU degree will be more cost beneficial

This post has been edited by Knight_2008: Jan 19 2011, 11:33 PM

i'm not going also..so the obu or the top up degree course is meaningless to me..
i just need to finish my acca only..if i rich,i also study in sunway lo..

guys can i take form 6 instead of foundation? If i wanna take degree..

ya, why not. Just that foundation saves more time

u got 10A right? shouldn't the scholarship cover your entire foundation. it wouldn't make a different for you in terms of cost between foundation and stpm right?

Is this really true? Anyone else agree? I chose ICAEW over ACCA is because of the "more prestigious" benefit that ICAEW has in england, I'm really interested in working in England, is it really true that in the England market ACCA and CIMA has more coverage? If that's true I would go for ACCA instead, please guys, really need guidance on which is better in the "more prestigious" thingy. Thanks.

the consensus among my lecturers, seniors and siblings of my friends in the industry is that ICAEW is more prestigious. I expect it should be for the next decade too even if the quality does deteriorates. But hey, it's perception that counts

btw, working in UK isn't easy for people who is not from the EU. The law has been tighten even for those studying there to remain to work there; what more for those of us who studies here.

The most probable way you can work in UK if u study here is that you have a postgrad qualification, a certain threshold of current salary as well as an offer from an employer. But bear in mind, this is only possible if you had worked for at least a few years. I'm under the impression that the UK government had created more hassle for the employers to hire immigrants in order to protect their people

Thank you very much, this is really beneficial. I understand it isn't easy to work in UK, i just wished that I would stand a chance. Guess ICAEW is still the better choice compared to ACCA for me eh?

but i couldnt get the green light from my grandpa.. He doesnt like it.. u mean with my result i can get my foundation cost waive if i got 10As regardless of whether i get A+, A- or A?

yup

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Added on January 20, 2011, 2:09 pmtry explaining to your grandpa that time is money. Getting 1 year earlier to the workforce will net you a cool RM 28800 (RM2400*12)

btw, why do u need your grandpa approval? it's your life anyway and who is he to stop you from studying for you future?

http://sunway.edu.my/scholarships/internal/tsjc-entrance.. starting searching the internet for the information you need.

This post has been edited by Knight_2008: Jan 20 2011, 02:09 PM

That you have to check out the scholarship requirements of the colleges yourself. 2 years ago, the scholarship requirement was just 10A (regardless of A+ or not), not sure now though. =/

Form 6 would only be wasting your time if IPTA is not one of your choices.

if he`s not happy then my pocket money gone liao haha foundation cost how much?

I know you respect your grandpa but sometimes old people just don't understand. This is your education & future, you know better than anyone else. Sometimes you just have to stand firm but in a diplomatic way especially in front of old people.

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Added on January 20, 2011, 9:51 pmAs a foreigner, if you choose to work in UK, basically in general ICAEW, ACCA or CIMA have the same opportunity. Off course one might has an edge over the other.

What the employers in UK, Canada & Aust consider when the applicant is a foreigner is whether the applicant has any local working experience or not. For example in UK, the employers would always ask "Do you have any local working experience (UK working experience)?" Obviously our answer is NO coz all our experiences are from M'sia. That's why it's a struggle and big challenge for any asians to secure a job in UK, then holding such qualifications like ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA would not make any difference.

If we talk in terms of prestige, nothing can beat ICA Scotland. So ICAEW & ACCA shouldn't touch on this prestige issue. Overall both ICAEW & ACCA have the same syllabus & exam content. The only thing that separates ICAEW & ACCA is the passing quotas. For the final exams ICAEW has a passing quota of 80% and ACCA has 30%-35%.

Let me summarise in a simpler format.

In terms of prestige:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW > ACCA
current - ICAEW = ACCA
future - just wait and see.

In terms of exam difficulty:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW = ACCA
current - ACCA > ICAEW
future - just wait and see

In terms of competencies & skills:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW = ACCA
current - ICAEW = ACCA
future - ICAEW = ACCA

In terms of employment opportunities:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW > ACCA
current - ACCA > ICAEW
future - hopefully ICAEW=ACCA

In terms of no of members:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW > ACCA
current - ACCA > ICAEW
future - I don't want to know

In terms of members who're CFOs or CEOs:
more than 5 years ago - ICAEW > ACCA
current - ICAEW > ACCA
future - ICAEW = ACCA



This post has been edited by White Knight: Jan 20 2011, 09:51 PM

nice summary man thanks anyway from wat we know is these qualification are getting more and more equal now.. no matter which pathway we take, it wont bring much difference?

Yeah really nice summary, but... is it really true that it wouldn't make such a big difference no matter which 1 we choose?

it all boils down to you in the end. Doesn't mean getting a qualification will make you in any way inferior.

It's just that when you have certain qualification which are perceived by others as better, it makes you stand out from the rest. This will helps a lot in job application especially for fresh grad as fresh grads don't have any track records. Getting to work in prominent firms after graduation will in turn polish ur resume, allow you to build up contacts as well as providing you with working experience a mediocre firm may never provides.

not to be forget when a certain qualification is viewed as prestigious, it usually attracts more talents (ie. smart people will be of higher percentage in that course). This will allow you build up your contacts with those may rise to ranks of CEO, CFO etc early on in ur life

well i`m kinda worry tat i cant diverse into other field of job if i take ACCA/ICAEW as they mainly focus on accountancy.. For example, can i diverse into finance if i take ACCA/ICAEW?

I'm not to sure about ICAEW but ACCA yes you can go into finance with no problems.

Though i still recommend you take ACCA first though(you may say i'm bias cuz i'm studying it right now) and take ICAEW later.Do remember Datuk Tony Fernandes also came from ACCA so i guess it is all good