If you want to practice eg. sign audit reports etc, yes. If you just want to get a job and work there, no.

... You should google ... click here: ACCA Exemption for Country Malaysia

ACCA & CIMA also opens a direct membership to ICPAS, but ofcourse other body like ICAEW ICAA ICAI CPA Australia also do.

I'm not saying ACCA is better than other bodies, but we are talking about whether just an MIA is enough to me it's definitely not even if you just want to work in Malaysia, your chances will also be limited, you never know from time to time you might need to deal with many people outside Malaysia, want to extend your network outside malaysia, more often if you work in MNC and ike you say ACCA does open you better reciprocating relationships to ICEAW, ICAA, CPA Aust etc compared to just MIA. Being the fact that TC is in Malaysia, his only choice would be only ACCA/CIMA. Prestigious varies from country to country as i mentioned, if you say US, ACCA is more preferable for most of the employer there, if you say UK thn it would be CIMA, if you say australia then ofcourse ICAA, CPA Aus.


Just to mention i'm not an ACCA holders nor an advocates, just trying to express my point of view, the best course of action TC should choose whether to go for ACCA or a master/CFA instead. If you have a degree, you can get exemptions most of the time 10 out of 15 papers for ACCA/CIMA, to me you should go for it before you think about Master/CFA.

alxcnq, Thanks 4 ur explanation. just keep on discussing guys.

If we're talking only about TS particular situation of being in Malaysia and only having a local degree, agreed.

The US is definitely CPA. It is the only qualification that allows you to practice in the US (albeit only CPAs who've taken the US exams), but the name recognition itself for foreign CPA qualifications is much higher amongst employers compared to the commonwealth CA and UK ACCA.

For UK and NZ... it would be very difficult to convince me that the CA is not the preferred qualification, for candidates and employers alike. Having said that, the connotation of public practice is very heavy for CAs.

Fair enough. I'm not either but I guess that's obvious. I have very little against ACCA except that I do find that Malaysians with ACCA and MICPA tend to be very parochial and defensive whenever their qualifications are challenged. Nonetheless, they simply have to accept that there is an unavoidable stigma and perception of inferiority when ACCA takes the lower road and accepts candidates without degrees, in direct contrast with the CAs and CPAs. No matter how good the individual is, something like that sticks out like curry stains on an otherwise white shirt.

If he has a local accounting degree, that's a fair option.

This post has been edited by seantang: Jun 24 2008, 10:08 PM

How if I obtained my degree in Management, major in Finance.

Will I get exemptions from any paper, if I were to do the professional paper?

It is a matter of perception. CPA Australia gives global recognition as well. Other professional bodies give global recognition as well. It is not because you take it and it gives global recognition.

I am not sure which paper you are referring to, so I list a few for your reference.
ACCA: https://portal.accaglobal.com/accaweb/faces...tionsTable.jspx
CIMA: http://www2.cimaglobal.com/cps/rde/xchg/SI...ot.xsl/1325.htm
CPA: http://www.cpacareers.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/...ex_ENA_HTML.htm

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Added on June 25, 2008, 10:21 amThe supertition or myth amongst many potential or existing students of professioinal bodies like MICPA, ACCA, CIMA or CPA is that taking up professional papers is the shortest enroute to be a CA. And they do not realise that these bodies membership is renewed annually and subscription fee is quite handsome in many cases. Once you cease paying the annual subsription fee, your membership is revoked immediately and later may be after a few years you decide to rejoin the body again, the penalty and fee in arrears would be a killing. Many if not in most cases, the associate members of the professional bodies once joined MIA, have given up their memebership in their origin body due to the reason mentioned above.

Reader of this thread should be cautious in distinguishing national accountancy body and professional accountancy body. For example, in Malaysia the national accountancy body is Malaysia Institute of Accountants (MIA) while Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) is a professional accountancy body. MIA was established under the Accountants Act 1967 has assumed the authority empowered by law to manifest itself as the authoritative body regulating the accounting profession. The Institute is a member body of regional and international professional bodies which play a significant role in the development and advancement of accounting profession globally. Its membership in such bodies include the:
- Asean Federation of Accountants (AFA)
- Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA)
- International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)
- Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR)

Professional accountacy bodies like MICPA, ACCA, CIMA and CPA provides examinations, training, career support, technical knowledge and competency and even accredition of membership to its students (who later become associate member) in meeting the competency and expertise requirement of each country national accountancy body in recognising the qualification of a certified/chartered/public accountant. Take note that even now MIA also provides Qualifying Exams for admission to MIA but the passing rate is by far amongst all the lowest. By solely joining professional accoutancy body like MICPA, ACCA, CIMA and CPA does not qualify yourself as Chartered Accountant (in Malaysia context) or Certified Public Accountant (in Australia context) and so forth. Thus, you are still required to join MIA to be CA in Malaysia even if you already are a member of any professional accountacy body. Correct me if I am wrong.

However, in employment market, Malaysia specifically, qualification of any professional accountancy body (whether you are MICPA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA, ICAS, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAA, NZCA or CICA) is perceived as equivalent to MIA membership. Please refer to Accountants Act 1967, Part II of Schedule 1. In addition, the Listing Requirements (LR) of Stock Exchange in Malaysia also clearly spell out the same criterion for a director or person to sign the statutory declaration of a public listed company's accounts. Please refer to LR Chapter 9.27 of LR. Thus, there professional accountacy bodies qualifications are accepted as MIA membership admission without any examination.

But, please bear in mind that, this would not be the case for other countries national accountacy bodies. By simply taking up MICPA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA and so on does not automatically admit yourself to other national accountacy bodies. For instance, a US accounting degree might not be accepted as qualification for joining MIA but surely it is recognised by US national accountancy body due to different accounting standards adopted by Malaysia and US. For your information, International Accounting Standard Board (British/UK stream) and US Federation of Accounting Standard Board (US stream) still working together in convergence of conceptual framework on worldwide accepted accounting standards.

Usually, when we are talking about recognition of a professional accountancy course, it depends on the variant of accounting stream you are going for. For instance, in ACCA, for same paper of exmination, it has the options of different accounting stream variants, such as Malaysia, UK, International, Singapore or Hong Kong. Therefore, when forumer is over-zealously or should I say advocator of respective professional accountancy body to remark their qualification is better than other is exaggerated. Widely accepted by many national accountacy bodies are the words I prefer to use. Based on my personal experience, not all members from the same professional accountancy body shares same competency and expertise as it might have a few bad apples amongst itself.

I hope this thread would bring positive advice to readers or TS, who intents to pursue professional qualification in accountancy and not turn into a "my qualification is more popular or famous than yours" sort of things.

This post has been edited by neo6768: Jun 25 2008, 10:21 AM

The bold should be Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA Aust). Certified Public Accountant or CPA is widely used in USA. However, it is more the less the same..

I do agree neo6768 statement that TS should not compare narrowly about two qualifications in terms of popular. I would emphasize it is a matter of perception because there are ACCA grads who did well and also CPA Aust and other professional bodies grad who did as well as others. They are on par. The difference is in the individual. If you are good, no matter what you take.. where you go you will still succeed because you are good.. Its not you will succeed in future because you took ACCA or CPA.

This post has been edited by asiahost: Jun 25 2008, 11:39 AM

By registering with MIA as a Chartered Accountant (CA), you can hold yourself out as an 'accountant' under the law and practise as such, whether singularly or as an accounting firm. However if you want to conduct statutory work eg auditing etc, you will still need a licence from the Finance Ministry to do so.

In Australia, you become a CA or CPA if you join the ICAA or CPA Aust, respectively. But the accounting industry in Australia is a self regulated one, so both ICAA, CPA Aust and a myriad of statutory regulators require CAs and CPAs to hold Public Practice Certificates issued by ICAA and CPA Aust before providing accounting, auditing, insolvency etc services to the public.

These words really reaching to the heart of ppl in accounting professions, totally make sense & thats de reality.........

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Added on July 11, 2008, 11:08 amBTW, I am ACCA....the good is....I have option for direct MIA, ICPAS......the fall back...there is a dicussion issue commonly talked by UK/Euro forumers abt the ACCA vs CA like ICAEW...ICAS (UK CA bodies) & etc which always put ACCA below those CAs bodies.......But, if it is recognised then it is....if ACCA not good enough...then MIA won't accept direct entry..rite?

This post has been edited by cfng76: Jul 11 2008, 11:08 AM

Whoa why jump so fast to oversea while you are not even getting a firm grip on domestic soil.
It will be not quite relevant to discuss superiority of proffesional qualifications as this was not the only pre-requisite to excel in work.
Lets discuss what actually employers in malaysia needs first b4 venturing into foreign country (later).
Well the most you can differentiate is that x slightly better, y more famous, z can have better pay,.........etc.

1) What distinguish prof qualification from degree holders ?
The former covers wider scope, more practical biz application & worldwide recognition (most of distinguished countries).
Degree holder (will depend more on the University / college) you belong to not your merit per se (but still important).
Most public listed requires degree holder with first / 2nd class only. (which also includes audit firms like Big 4).

2) Which holder are more sought after ?
Lets start with interview process. During job intake it will be a norm that degree holder will have more applicants than prof holder.
With the homogeneous issue, one could wonder whom will be pick eventually. We can effectively use the demand & supply equation.
Well prof holders will not 100% get the job but it create a perception "stand out from the rest".

See, that's a bit myopic. These days, if you're competing with graduates with a degree only, it's usually outside the public accounting field. And here, a non-degree professional qualification does you no favours, and imho, it's actually does you a disservice as it silos you into a very narrow job potential in the eyes of mgt.

And in public accounting, you now compete with many fresh graduates who have a degree AND a degree-requisite professional qualification (or are working towards one). So again, you're overshadowed from the very start.

This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 4 2008, 06:00 AM

Everyone thought that once you get the "best" qualification you will be the "best" in field & that's it job well done.
Unfortunately life is "not all" about qualifications, knowledge or IQ.
The most important is that you can "apply" what you learn not what you know.
Do you think that once you get a Prof qualification / degree you will be outstanding from those who don't ?
From the perspective of "form" definitely yes but in terms of substance it doesnt have to be so.

You think passing exams / score distinctions makes you a "better" person than the one score lower than you ? Do you really think so ?
I was once belonged to a premier school which now has become the first batch of cluster school & i know plenty of students who scored
straight A's in every major exam they took. they study 5 hours every day exculding tuition class in schools & external respectively. Does that make them greater student?

What i must distinguish is that don't create that "false sense of security" inside you.
Feel appreciative but never feel content & satisfied of what you can achieve.
Working world is very different from academic world where success & failure is by a thin line.
Its full of office politics, deception, hustling, oppresion & injustice.
Do you think all the great leaders in politics & corporate are the best in their "league" ?
Sure degree & proffesinal qualifications give you credentials & justification of your skill & competency but doing it in real work is quite different.
Try asking your parents, seniors or peers of my view.
They won't agree with all of it but they know its the norm or reality.
There is a general saying "survival of the fittest" which conlude my overall opinion.

In short,.. YES. A resounding YES.

You are saying that a person who is more educated, may not be as skillful as someone who is not as educated. That's just a simplistic and flawed assumption.

I am saying that at a time when everybody has the same skills for the same job (and they will if they are your competitors), a difference in education is what sets you apart from the rest.

I'm not saying concentrate of academics, at the expense of skills and EQ. What I AM saying is don't think skills and EQ will compensate for a lack of a quality education - it won't, because they are lots of people out there with the same (or better) skills and EQ than you, but also with a better education.

Here's something I posted a while back in response to another person with similar tunnel vision:



This post has been edited by seantang: Aug 16 2008, 12:33 PM

Ok, What about the notion that if you like dealing with financial accounting, you take ACCA. If you do not like accounting, you take CIMA. Like, is CIMA totally management focused professional qualification? And if so, doing VT in audit firm is useless then if you want to take CIMA?
Because, my uni (same with TS, BTW) prior to sitting for last semester (BAcc Hons) every student must do 6 months of practical training. I did mine in a small accounting firm. I realised at that time I do not like financial accounting and thinking of heading into management line. So, should I take CIMA? If so, would my training (in accounting firm) be useless then?
My question is direct (to take CIMA or ACCA professional qualification) as I believe my degree is not good enough for me to advance in my career. I need that extra oomph! to make me different than others, you know what I mean?
So, any advice regarding this matter is highly appreciated.

MICPA - Toughest
ACCA - International recognition (most countries), more suitable for financial accounting (eg: hardcore audit line, finance line)
CIMA - International recognition too, but more useful if you are pursuing manufacturing industries as the focus is more on management accounting.

All depends on which field of work you wanna pursue.

I'd heard that the new regulation to register as MIA member acquired one's to enrolled with professional qualification. Degree holders should pursue with professional qfication no matter what.

Not true at all. There is no such new regulation.

Hi... can i know is micpa or acca better? i'm having a dilemma here as to choose which to further study... Now both of the professional paper do offer university student especially 3rd year to take on the paper.... but it is a tough decision between the two... can someone help me?