What is your background? Do you have a degree from a local public university or is your degree recognized by MIA?

If yes, look at seantang's comments. Go straight for MIA. No need to waste your time on other professional qualifications.

im currently 3rd year for accounting degree in local uni. Yes it is recognized, but MIA is discussing to only accept member which have professional paper right?

Since your degree is recognized, you can apply for MIA membership straightaway after getting your three-year relevant experience.
So, you don't have to waste your time getting another qualification unless you really insist on it.

See if your University is in the list below.

http://www.mia.org.my/new/members_being_application.asp

The list above is not updated. The four-year accounting degrees from UTAR and INTI International University have been added to the list recently.

A lot of write ups that are very informative can be seen here. Based on my work experience, the norm is...

If you plan to practice as an accountant in Malaysia then you must be registered with MIA irrespective of whether you have an accounting degree from a local univ or a professional accounting qualification from overseas.

If you plan to work as an accountant in the Malaysian private sector then definitely the employers will look for those with professional qualifications as these candidates are supposed to be far more well versed in accounting techniques as compared to just an MIA member who graduated from a local uni.

If you plan to work overseas then you will need a globally-recognised accounting qualification. If you have an ACCA/ICA/CIMA etc based in the UK then it may be easy for you to work in any Commonwealth countries or even in other European nations or other parts of the world, as compared to just being an MIA or just having MICPA.

Sometimes we may just brush away the thought of working overseas thinking that we may never have that chance in our life. But once you have a globally-recognised professional qualification you will know how to look for that chance and it will definitely come your way as compared to someone who doesn't have the qualification. But getting such a qualification is no walk in the park..you have to be very disciplined and it calls for hard work/struggle and more than 100% commitment. Doing a local accounting degree is nothing compared to going for a professional qualification. Through several decades I've seen a lot of students who gave up half way through their professional courses especially due to lack of focus or commitment.

This post has been edited by katakrabun: Feb 9 2015, 11:42 AM

Hi all, not sure if you heard of this news - the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) has merged with the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) since mid 2014. They are now known as Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ).

MICPA has been in partnership with ICAA since 2009, and run a joint programme - means graduates who take the MICPA-CAANZ Programme can qualify for 2 memberships and use the Chartered Accountant (ANZ) and Certified Public Accountant (Malaysia) titles. Only 5 papers for Bachelor of Accounting degree holders from accredited uni's. Most people I know taking it have completed within 2 years. Open book exams. Average passrate is high - around 70%.

There's this other benefit you get - the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA) passport. Gives you access to professional support across 11 countries around the world.

MICPA is a founding member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) so it's definitely internationally recognised. With the partnership with CAANZ, that opens even more doors to countries that only recognise their own qualifications i.e. Oz & NZ.

Also - not sure if you heard about the CSAP report - all accountants should know about this as it affects the whole country & the profession in Malaysia - http://www.sc.com.my/post_archive/public-f...ncy-profession/

You will see why it is important to have a professional qualification from a professional body.

ACCA
Look at Airasia CEO, OCBC Bank Malaysia CEO...

Hi . Anyone of you know that after completed the acca exam , do we still need to pay for any fee?
I still have an overdue annurl subscription fee , but I passed all the papers already , do I still need to continue pay for the annual sub scription fee too ?
Am I going to get any cert or what ?
What to do when I going to the interview? ( I mean I should show the employer the recent result report or what ).

Hope somebody advice me on this few issues. Thanks alot ! ☺

Yes, you need to continue paying the annual fees.

Just use your results' transcripts to apply for job. The employers will know. You don't need to wait for the cert to come.

You will get a cert directly from ACCA after you passed all exams. You will get another temporary cert if you attend the graduation ceremony.

You will get another cert directly from ACCA once you got your full membership.

You will automatically get another cert directly from ACCA once you got your fellowship.

Thanks for your advice =)
Ok. Other than annual subcripstion fee I still need to pay any other fee ?

If i no attend the graduation ceremony , I won't be receiving the temporary cert ? So I have to use the status report which is directly generated from acca website right ?

Btw, do you know when am I relevant to apply for MIA member ? Is it after I finish my 3 years working experience ?

No other fees.

If you do not attend the graduation ceremony, I don't think they will send it to you. Anyway, it's just a temporary cert.

Yes, just print out the transcript from the website to apply for job. By the time graduation ceremony is held, probably you are working for a few months already.

You can apply for MIA membership after you get the full ACCA membership meaning that you have completed the 3-year working experience requirement. Whether you need to apply or not, it's up to you.

Hey Blofeld, wanna ask you something.

If you're working already while clearing Acca, once you completed the last paper and "graduate", does your past working experience count towards the 3 year requirement for the full membership or the 3 years only start after your completed the final paper?

Thanks

Ok. Thank you to make it clear to me .

Lastly , Is the annual subscription fee need to pay for lifetime ?
And if our mentor or leader in the company ( let's say I'm not joining the audit firm , but other industry ) is not qualified from any professional body but only degree holder , can he/she verify my working experience ? Or I need to look for the employer which is qualified from any professional body or approved employer ?

Thank you Blofeld

Sure.

Relevant working experience gained anytime during your lifetime is counted towards the 3-year requirement. Including those experience gained before you registered as an ACCA student provided it is relevant.

Yup, you have to pay the fees for a lifetime.

If your mentor is not a qualified accountant, you have to get the next level higher than your mentor to sign off for you.

If there is no one in your company who is a qualified accountant, get the external auditor of your company to sign off for you.

Worst case scenario if you have no one to sign for you, you have to change your job.

So, choose your employer wisely. The best is to get a job with an approved employer so that you don't have to answer those PER questions.

Annual fees...... Omg....

This is really unbecoming of an ACCA graduate. I am not sure whether it's the system or the person but I am seriously question the quality of ACCA students nowadays ( myself included ).

You need to pay it annually until you think you don't want to be an ACCA member anymore la..

If not, why call it annual fees?

And if your boss is a mere degree holder but his company is affiliated to ACCA in some way, he could verify your work experience.

My advise, enter Audit, suffer 3 damn long years and go out explore the market.

Damn sweet.

Meaning I can apply for MIA membership soon

Good!

Thank you so much Blofeld =)

my company offers to sponsor me to pursue MICPA

and thanks to this thread, i rejected the offer

why the reject?

actually because i'm looking out for a new job, and it requires me to get bonded with the company for 4 years
and after reading through this thread, hence, the reject..